Choppin Block control arms on a fullsize chevy.

I have a different suspension going in...hydraulics!!! But anyway, I am working on a 97 tahoe which has the same front frame and such. I ordered DJM uppers and lowers. Mainly because they have a coil bucket and I will be running a coil under style setup with the cylinder over the spring. My point here is that with the DJM arms, my hub center is almost 15" from the ground. That means I would be laying on a 30" diameter wheel/ tire combo. Perfect for a 255/30R24 or a little extra for a 275/25R24. Laying on a 275/30R24 will be very close. I may have to pull the camber all the way in, right now it is all the way out. The only things I have clearanced for are the front a-arm pivot and the steering. I have not touched the rear a-arm pivot. The lower plate just barely clears the stock coil bucket, which by the way I have not trimmed any of. I also have the DJM spindles. Just think... alot less cutting up, and the fact that it is juiced. It will lay 24's without the hassle of butchering up and replating the entire front end, PLUS it will lift higher than a typical bag setup. Not to mention ride like stock!!!

---------------------------------------------Originally posted by tre5I have a different suspension going in...hydraulics!!! But anyway, I am working on a 97 tahoe which has the same front frame and such. I ordered DJM uppers and lowers. Mainly because they have a coil bucket and I will be running a coil under style setup with the cylinder over the spring. My point here is that with the DJM arms, my hub center is almost 15" from the ground. That means I would be laying on a 30" diameter wheel/ tire combo. Perfect for a 255/30R24 or a little extra for a 275/25R24. Laying on a 275/30R24 will be very close. I may have to pull the camber all the way in, right now it is all the way out. The only things I have clearanced for are the front a-arm pivot and the steering. I have not touched the rear a-arm pivot. The lower plate just barely clears the stock coil bucket, which by the way I have not trimmed any of. I also have the DJM spindles. Just think... alot less cutting up, and the fact that it is juiced. It will lay 24's without the hassle of butchering up and replating the entire front end, PLUS it will lift higher than a typical bag setup. Not to mention ride like stock!!!---------------------------------------------I am also running hydraulics.  The truck use to be bagged, but I am switching over to 2 pumps myself.  I am running powerballs up front and accumalators at all 4 corners, so I don't have to deal with springs in the front.  Didn't you Z the front end of that Tahoe?  Isn't that the reason that you will not have to cut out the spring pockets for the control arms to completely fold up?  I am new to the whole Z'ing the front end, so I am learning as I go.  We cut the top of the frame on my truck and lowered the body mounts.  I guess I am asking how far you Z'd the frame.  Is the front crossmember now parallel with the bottom of the frame that will lay out?  If so, then you still have to get the front crossmember to lay and I am actually surprised that their control arms will lay the front on a 24 with that little bit of cutting.BTW, I have 2 DJM drop spindles also.

JeremyAlso, what inch drop control arms did you purchase from DJM?  Is the pictures of the 3" drop ones, it looks like the spring pockets in the lower one is dropped down below the surface of the control arm.  Would the control arms offer enough lift to clear a 24" tire under the fender before the ball joints bind up and lock out?

Edited: 5/14/2009 3:02:52 PM by 1redchvy

factory control arms, upper control arms pie cut with moog ball joints..on a 275/25/24....but the 30 series ...I would recommend the ekstensive arms..........

The front crossmember is level with the bottom of the frame. It is basically a 3/4" step (or Z). The total step is 3", but 2 1/4" of that is the amount that I cut off the bottom of the frame. DJM makes 3 different types of lower control arms. 2" drop overall, 3" drop overall, and one that comes in thier 4" drop package. The package comes with 2" drop springs and the lower arms are a 2" drop. I got the ones that are to be used in the 4" drop package.  I did not get the springs, only the arms. The difference between the 2" drop arm and the 2" drop arm used with the 2" drop spring is the ball joint angle. The ones designed for a total of 4" drop are obviously better if you are going lower. Also going with these instead of the 3" drop ones means that I wont have a spring pocket hanging down as low. I still have a lot of coil in there also. I am just running the stock coils cut down a couple coils, this will keep the factory spring rate. The amount of drop in the control arms has nothing to do with how much lift I will get. As long as the cylinder is completely compressed when it is all the way down, it will get the full 8" of travel. Being that the cylinder is inbound on the arm it has some leverage working as well. I suspect I will get 13" of lift out of it. That is the only thing that sucks about doing hydraulics... they are harder to work with when doing installs. There is no hooking up a schraeder valve and cycling it with your shop compressor.

---------------------------------------------Originally posted by 1redchvyEdited: 5/14/2009 3:02:52 PM by 1redchvyfactory control arms, upper control arms pie cut with moog ball joints..on a 275/25/24....but the 30 series ...I would recommend the ekstensive arms..........---------------------------------------------Any pics of your firewall??? Do you still have A/C? What did you have to move????

---------------------------------------------Originally posted by tre5The front crossmember is level with the bottom of the frame. It is basically a 3/4" step (or Z). The total step is 3", but 2 1/4" of that is the amount that I cut off the bottom of the frame. DJM makes 3 different types of lower control arms. 2" drop overall, 3" drop overall, and one that comes in thier 4" drop package. The package comes with 2" drop springs and the lower arms are a 2" drop. I got the ones that are to be used in the 4" drop package.  I did not get the springs, only the arms. The difference between the 2" drop arm and the 2" drop arm used with the 2" drop spring is the ball joint angle. The ones designed for a total of 4" drop are obviously better if you are going lower. Also going with these instead of the 3" drop ones means that I wont have a spring pocket hanging down as low. I still have a lot of coil in there also. I am just running the stock coils cut down a couple coils, this will keep the factory spring rate. The amount of drop in the control arms has nothing to do with how much lift I will get. As long as the cylinder is completely compressed when it is all the way down, it will get the full 8" of travel. Being that the cylinder is inbound on the arm it has some leverage working as well. I suspect I will get 13" of lift out of it. That is the only thing that sucks about doing hydraulics... they are harder to work with when doing installs. There is no hooking up a schraeder valve and cycling it with your shop compressor.---------------------------------------------Yeh, it is definately harder working with the hydraulics before everything is plumbed and installed.I see what you are saying about the lift, but I was concerned that the balljoints would lock out and run out of travel before the vehicle got enough lift to clear the fender over the tire, so it wouldn't matter what you are using for adjustable suspension.  When the balljoints lock out, then your lifting is over.  If it does get enough lift and lays without cutting the pocket, then I may need to invest in the same arms.  Can you let me know when you update your forum on the Tahoe and get the front suspension pictures up? Also, do you have any kind of DJM dealership?  Can I go through Hydroholics on a set?

I went through stylin trucks to get them. They are an awesome company to work with. Very timely shipping and best cost I could find. We do not have an account with them.

choppin blocks arms are nice. i wish they would have bent them up so you dont have to notch the frame for them because i had to notch mine alot. my stock arms layed on 20's without notching the frame the choppin block arms wouldn't lay on a 20 well with a 40 series tire at least, but they do look good. heres a couple of picshttp://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r11/project94/truck/untitled654654.jpghttp://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r11/project94/truck/untitled4654.jpghttp://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r11/project94/DSC00062-1.jpg I dont have a picture of it plated up but that was cut out to fit 24's. like i said i don't know of a company that makes arms that you don't have to notch the frame for to lay on 24's maybe theres a reason they can't bend them up to eliminate having to notch the frame.  They are nice arms i will say that! One tip, if i had it to do all over again, i would find out if i could get a discount and not have them powder coated and have them leave the balljoints out just because the powdercoating got messed up on mine because the lower arms are kinda a pain in the ass to take off and put back on, but i ended up having to get mine repowder coated, just a suggestion.

---------------------------------------------Originally posted by project94choppin blocks arms are nice. i wish they would have bent them up so you dont have to notch the frame for them because i had to notch mine alot. my stock arms layed on 20's without notching the frame the choppin block arms wouldn't lay on a 20 well with a 40 series tire at least, but they do look good. heres a couple of picshttp://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r11/project94/truck/untitled654654.jpghttp://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r11/project94/truck/untitled4654.jpghttp://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r11/project94/DSC00062-1.jpg I dont have a picture of it plated up but that was cut out to fit 24's. like i said i don't know of a company that makes arms that you don't have to notch the frame for to lay on 24's maybe theres a reason they can't bend them up to eliminate having to notch the frame.  They are nice arms i will say that! One tip, if i had it to do all over again, i would find out if i could get a discount and not have them powder coated and have them leave the balljoints out just because the powdercoating got messed up on mine because the lower arms are kinda a pain in the ass to take off and put back on, but i ended up having to get mine repowder coated, just a suggestion.---------------------------------------------I definately agree with you on the looks of the arms.  They look awesome and are a clean setup.  I wish they had some kind of a bend also.  No matter where the arms come from, you are going to have to do some cutting.  Some companies control arms require a lot less cutting than others though.