Stock control arms: Steel or aluminum?

thewhitestallion · March 31, 2014

i would just wait... but for what it is worth, I have a 14 sierra slt ccsb z71 4x4 3.42's and I have aluminum control arms.

lefty421 · March 31, 2014

My crew cab Z71 Standard bed has steel, so who knows!!

My crew cab Z71 short bed has the aluminum arms. LT 2LT 4x4 5.3L 3.42 made in Mexico.

Sounds like you got whatever they had on hand at the plant the day your truck was assembled.

Edited March 31, 2014 by lefty421

B33tl3 · March 31, 2014

My Sierra SLT Crew z-71 has Aluminum (silver) control arms.

Edited March 31, 2014 by B33tl3

Inacanyon · March 31, 2014

thought every crew 4x4 will have aluminum. guess its a lottery

Edited March 31, 2014 by disc0monkey

Inacanyon · March 31, 2014

My crew cab Z71 Standard bed has steel, so who knows!!

Steel on my crew cab Z71 standard bed also.

Aluminum is part of the Z60 pkg as elcamino pointed out above.

are these 4x4s?

bearman95 · March 31, 2014

well I'm just totally confused then. Does your RPO have both Z60 and Z71?

No z60. Just z71

punk007 · March 31, 2014

are these 4x4s?

Yes mine is 4x4. Silverado crew cab, standard bed 6'8", Z71, LT, 5.3L, 3.42 ratio, All Star pkg, no other options.

It does sound like it's random.

LS 1st Gen · April 1, 2014

are these 4x4s?

Yes. 4x4 Z-71 LTZ.

Plwtwo · April 6, 2014

I may have to swap my Aluminum upper control arm for steel to get the drop I want up front. You have to have steel uppers to use Mcgaughys 2" drop spindles.. Grrrrr!

Jacksfan98 · April 6, 2014

I have aluminum upper and lower Control arms on my GMC AT.

surebuttercringe · April 7, 2014

Crew Cab LT Z71, non 4WD and I have steel.

Definitely sounds random, but I bet there's some minute configuration that determines what it gets.

racerkvn · April 7, 2014

I will bet your new Denali comes in with steel arms on it. My 6.2 High Country 4x4 has steel arms and as far as I've been told the High Country trucks (and I'd bet the Denali's as well) will not be offered with the Z71 suspension due to ride quality.

racerkvn · April 7, 2014

PLWTWO, the reason you'd need new control arms is because if you press the stock bushings out you won't be able to press the cam bushings in that come with the drop kit. Aluminum makes it a one time press fit and therefore non serviceable for bushing replacement. Which ordinarily wouldn't be a big deal since they are non serviceable ball joints anyway.

T.gleason · April 7, 2014

I will bet your new Denali comes in with steel arms on it. My 6.2 High Country 4x4 has steel arms and as far as I've been told the High Country trucks (and I'd bet the Denali's as well) will not be offered with the Z71 suspension due to ride quality.

Denali's are available with the z71 pkg, you can get them with the z60 or z71 suspension. Also to add to the list here my ccsb AT 6.2 has aluminum, never gave it much thought but after reading all this I went and looked.

hotrodz37 · April 7, 2014

So basically from what I'm reading the answer is that there is no definitive answer based on specifically optioned/configured vehicles?

My obvious last resort is to wait for arrival to determine. I was hoping there was a way to know in advance to save time in ordering but from what I can find (which is nothing specific) it is a crap shoot with regards to what you get.

That is ok. I appreciate the info. It appears to be one of those things that could be one way or the other and GMC/Chevy doesn't have any specific record of how/why something is done. I'm fine with it. I have so many other things to get that this will just have to wait until arrival. There are worse things that can happen. This one wont cause me to lose sleep. When it does arrive I'll certainly post what wound up being underneath it.

When I was ordering a leveling kit I was wondering about this as well and then it dawned on me. Use a magnet, problem solved. If it sticks its steel, if not, aluminum.

Edited April 7, 2014 by hotrodz37