aftermarket trailing arms

I thought they were all made by the same company.

I've been doing some research. There are differeing versions.

Van Steel and VBP claims their arms accept the stock size poly bushings. Others have a smaller poly bushing. There is one made with tube....Global West with johnny joints.


Van Steel also has a version with Johnny Joints instead of stock bushings.

cannot say anything negative about the JohnnyJoints, but the stock arms fully welded are just fine....
if you don't have a blaster and welder then the cost of blasting and welding might exceed the cost for two bare aftermarket arms.....

VanSteel offsets made from 1/4" steel with JohnnyJoints would be my choice, VBP probably sells that option too.....

The offset trailing arms on my 70 are from Tom's Differential. I'm pretty sure they're made by Tom. Guldstrand also sells offset trailing arms...they're just a little over $1000....thats for bare trailing arms.

I think the Tom's arms are for drag cars operating in the 1000 hp range. They're pretty beefy. If you ever wanted to build a C3 suspension to use off road in the logging industry, you'd want to use Tom's offset trailing arms.

MYBAD79 said:

cannot say anything negative about the JohnnyJoints, but the stock arms fully welded are just fine....
if you don't have a blaster and welder then the cost of blasting and welding might exceed the cost for two bare aftermarket arms.....

VanSteel offsets made from 1/4" steel with JohnnyJoints would be my choice, VBP probably sells that option too.....

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That's the thing. My trailing arms are torn up a bit, bent? and rusted. I could pick up some used ones but by the time i went to the trouble to clean them up, re-bush, weld and paint them, i'm close to the price of the aftermarket arms. The current stock arms show signs that the rear spring mount area has been bent down. There's one corner at Mosport where the suspension loads really hard and i may need to run a really really stiff spring to keep from bottoming out, so stock units may not be fine.

I'm reluctant to go the Jonny Joint route as it's an unproven option. Hell, i'm punchy about just running a fiberglass spring after the breakage.

The price ranges from $450 for straight poly to $650 for the Van Steel units with the Johnny Joints. There are NO aftermarket arms available with rubber bushings.

JJ is not unproven, rock climbers use them all the time!

Doesn't VanSteel make these with stock rubber bushing? Even if they don't offer these, I don't see why they couldn't just make you a pair that accepts the stock rubber bushing.
actually, I wonder if it's the same size bushing and maybe you can just remove the poly and install rubber.... in that case just order a pair without bushings....

I got my stock powder coated trailing arms from Bair's Corvette's in Western PA. Came with stock rubber bushings.

If you are going to Corvettes@Carlisle, take your old arms as cores and swap them for newly rebuilt trailing arms.

Twin_Turbo said:

JJ is not unproven, rock climbers use them all the time!

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I've used them all the time, they're indestructable, rebuildable, but after years I've not rebuilt mine.... how's the for an endorsement? (wish I could get a commission from them in the form of more JJs)

I got the Van Steel units. They are beautiful. I'm guessing they're probably twice the weight of the stock trailing arms.

turtlevette said:

I got the Van Steel units. They are beautiful. I'm guessing they're probably twice the weight of the stock trailing arms.

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Pics?

I have looked at the JJ's before and thought if they would fit in the stock trailing arms they would be a neat upgrade. My question to that would there need to be any other changes needed if JJ's were added to stock trailing arms?

Eddie 70 said:

I have looked at the JJ's before and thought if they would fit in the stock trailing arms they would be a neat upgrade. My question to that would there need to be any other changes needed if JJ's were added to stock trailing arms?

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Hi Eddie, long time no see

the JJ fit the stock arms just fine, all it takes is a hole saw and some welding:

http://www.vettemod.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2315

MYBAD79 said:

Eddie 70 said:

I have looked at the JJ's before and thought if they would fit in the stock trailing arms they would be a neat upgrade. My question to that would there need to be any other changes needed if JJ's were added to stock trailing arms?

Click to expand...

Hi Eddie, long time no see

the JJ fit the stock arms just fine, all it takes is a hole saw and some welding:

http://www.vettemod.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2315

Click to expand...

You're so excited about them they're still on the shelf gathering dust?

I remember doing this on Denpo's trail arms.

My son first welded piece of scrap 1eight inch thick steel who would block the tip of the trail arm and provide good and thick material to weld the Johnny joints main body



Then made the hole


Good solid material to weld all around


Fitted the piece into place


Then welded it solid.

After that I drilled it down to the center and put a greasing zerg.

turtlevette said:

You're so excited about them they're still on the shelf gathering dust?

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no, I installed the rebuilt arms with the JJs.... they don't restrict the arm from moving like the bushings do. With evevering bolted up except the wheels you can feel how easy the half shaft moves in/out - the difference is that the bushings (poly or rubber) would have to flex to allow this movement.
This made me rethink the entire setup and I decided to go with upper strut rods and slip shafts.
The rear suspension feels great now.

here's my rear suspension thread with pics:
http://www.vettemod.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7894

denpo said:

After that I drilled it down to the center and put a greasing zerg.

Click to expand...

looks like you're using the same green sticky grease that I used.... seems to be good stuff.....

MYBAD79 said:

looks like you're using the same green sticky grease that I used.... seems to be good stuff.....

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Lucas X-tra heavy duty grease.
I also go a box of timken synthetic grease I bought from Gary Ramadei, but I keep it for highly solicited parts like Ujoint and wheel bearing.
So you're saying the wheel are floating with the JJ, hum, looks like I'm good for some more mods :smash:

denpo said:

So you're saying the wheel are floating with the JJ, hum, looks like I'm good for some more mods :smash:

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not floating any more than with normal bushings, you can just feel it easier....

Kid Vette said:

turtlevette said:

I got the Van Steel units. They are beautiful. I'm guessing they're probably twice the weight of the stock trailing arms.

Click to expand...

Pics?

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Three comments.

1. These are not welded the whole length of the arm. I'm wondering if that's to allow for some flexablility.
2. Can anyone tell if those are stock size bushings. I don't know if that's an advantage or disadvantage. If they are, it allows me to go to rubber later.
3. I wish they would have welded a strap from the swaybar mounting platform to the spring bolt mounting platform for extra strength. Maybe i'll do it.