Control arm work SOS

[brocephus93]

Hey y’all

New to this forum. I am rebuilding the front end on my friend’s
1993 Chevy Van G20 — American Vans conversion
I could really use some advice from the van community to get me through this. The short version is at the bottom.

The Long Story:

In order to pass inspection, this van needed lower ball joints and tie rod ends/idler arms. My goal was to spruce up the whole front end for him for cheaper than the mechanic and get it rolling like new. Has 125k miles, rebuilt engine. It’s a sweet machine. I am an experienced home mechanic. I’m not an expert, but I never back down and I always prevail. I’ve rebuilt a motorcycle and I’ve replaced the clutch in my pickup solo, replaced suspension, exhaust, light engine work. Learned from a lot of mistakes.

Here’s where I’m at:

We ripped open the first corner and I have been having trouble sourcing parts. It seems like the G10/G20 control arms have been recently discontinued. I had some G30 ones shipped in to check ‘em out but they weren’t the same so we returned them.

Today I just received the first control arm back from a mechanic after I had them install a ball joint and shaft kit. The shaft kit being the control arm shaft and bushings/hardware.


The Short:

Amidst my lack of vintage Chevy knowledge, I believe I am now stuck with a G20 arm with a G30 shaft mounted in it. I checked back at rockauto and they JUST took down the listing for a G20 shaft kit, a week after I ordered and received a receipt for specifically that. They must have sent me the wrong one and the proper one must have JUST gotten discontinued.

What I need to know is can any of you out there help me with parts sourcing or experience from people who have dealt with this. Otherwise I’m considering the possibility of obtaining frame clamps from a g30 and mounting them on the G20 subframe, or getting a junkyard control arm and only replace the ball joints. But I like to replace worn parts, it’s just who I am.

The first photo shows the new control arm shaft I believe to be for a g30 with me holding the g20 u bolts over it. The g30 control arm I previously ordered had a shaft just like this. Third photo is full original setup.



I love y’all, thank you for reading and sharing experiences.

[MountainManJoe]

Welcome to the forum.
Please post your questions to the G-van section, not Astro/Safari. Thanks.
I'll move it for you now.

[brocephus93]

Sorry about that, thank you.

[WoodButcher]

I think that new shaft was installed w/o the shaft tube and "insulators"