[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by chevyrestoguy

Thanks. I had a co-worker tell me the same thing about the saddles, and although I can see where he's coming from, I had to disagree. To me, the locating pins serve a few purposes. First, they index the control arm at a certain location in relation to the center crossmember, which in turn, helps establish the factory-spec'd caster angle. Plus, they ensure that the rotation of the control arm occurs at the control arm bushing and not on the circumference of the shaft. If the rotation occurs at the circumference of the shaft instead of the control arm bushing, it will wear grooves in the shaft at the contact point with the saddles. If it wears excessively, then the shaft will become sloppy and wear out the other suspension components prematurely . True, the saddles/U-bolts hold the shafts tightly, but during the constant abuse that the suspension sees during normal use, they help to keep the lower control arms from moving from front to aft. If the control arm was only secured using the u-bolts/saddles and hit something hard directly on the forward face of the control arm, it could move the arm back slightly, changing the alignment. I may be over-thinking it, but I think the locating pins serve a very important function.

I think you're 100% correct on all counts.