how to attack my front end swap?

[69gmcc10]

I need some help with deciding how to attack swapping the drum front end on my 69 to the 72 front end on the parts truck I have.

What are the pros and cons of moving the entire 72 crossmember to the 69 chassis vs transferring the pitman arm, idler arm, steering linkage, changing out the ball joints to take the later spindle and installing the 72 spindles on the 69 arms?

Thanks in advance

[catch2otwo]

I would leave your cross member in place and swap in new parts. What exactly are you trying to achieve?

When I did my 68, I used pb arms, 68 cpp drop spindles, and 68 steering linkage. The CPP spindles take the 73+ disc brakes and the PB arms are available with the 68 ball joints. For me I didnt see much advantage in swapping cross members.

[69gmcc10]

Originally Posted by catch2otwo

I would leave your cross member in place and swap in new parts. What exactly are you trying to achieve?

I am doing a disc upgrade in the 69 and I picked up a 72 c-10 for a real good price just for the breaks.

[tinydb84]

Ive done both. If the engine is in then I would just swap parts. If the engine is out then I would do the whole crossmember.

[69gmcc10]

Originally Posted by tinydb84

Ive done both. If the engine is in then I would just swap parts. If the engine is out then I would do the whole crossmember.

The engine is out of both trucks, can you please expand on why that would be a difference maker? I by no means do I intend this question to challenge your statement or validity, it is just that my thirst for knowledge makes me curious. Thanks

[tinydb84]

No worries. I like to know the why behind the reason too. With the engine in you have to support it to pull the cross member. So you pull the carb or use a chain on the heads and the cherry picker is right in the way where you are going to drop the crossmember. The bolts are harder to get to with the engine towers on.

The difference really is just access to all the bolts. Plus lining it up and getting it in place is easier if you can put a jack right in the center which would be blocked by the cherry picker.

Maybe I'm paranoid but I don't like being under a truck in the air let alone the engine floating above my hands when getting the bolts out. Too many potentials for failure.

[michael bustamante]

but think though too, you ll most likely want or need to replace ball joints, end links etc. you can doo all that easier if you just swap parts and not the whole crossmember, also you ll need to swap brake lines as well, and the master cylinder

[69gmcc10]

Originally Posted by michael bustamante

but think though too, you ll most likely want or need to replace ball joints, end links etc. you can doo all that easier if you just swap parts and not the whole crossmember, also you ll need to swap brake lines as well, and the master cylinder

Yeah, I planed to swap out tie rod ends, pitman arm, idler arm ball joints just for my own piece of mind, but I didn't think of needing to swap break lines. Now, the pre 71's have a different hose mount location on them than the 71-72 does, correct? So if I do want to use the 72 brake lines (and I do) I will need to use the 72 crossmember?