Rear Short trailing arms

[Likuski53]

All the parts books list the newer arms as a different part number from the old ones. Looking at them there is the obvious change in the bushing ends. My question is can you use the newer arms( they appear a bit sturdier) instead of the older (pre-'78) arms. To measure the lengths and widths they seem the same except for the different bushings. Has anyone tried this with success? I am going from an '80 Chassis to a '74 chassis.

[So Cal Mark]

they can be interchanged, but the early bars with the hourglass type bushings can be rebushed

[Likuski53]

Thanks, Mark, I started out to rebush them all but the multifit bushings look pretty bush league after trimming off the surplus rubber on the smaller ends. They look fine on the long arms. I just wanted to make sure that I wasn't deluding myself with the measurments.

[So Cal Mark]

are we talking about the arms on top of the axle, or the lower arms?

[Likuski53]

This is the upper arms the shorter set of the 2.

[So Cal Mark]

hmm, I haven't tried to rebush any of the upper arms.

[Likuski53]

I bought some bushings from Bruce's, that are supposed to fit both arms. The longer lower arms look fine when you do them but the short upper arms have surplus rubber pushing out past the steel bushings after you push them in. They are good and tight inside the arm portion but you need to trim off the excess rubber to not pinch it in the bracket. It is functional but not pretty. If you compare the rubber bushings on the bench after removing them there is about a 3mm difference in width from the upper to lowers.