Front suspension rebuild

[ososbob]

Quick questions, one as I was removing the steering connecting rod, the rubber piece was damaged. Can that be repaired or do I have to buy a new con. rod? Also it appears someone has tack welded the bushings on the A arms on. Is this normal?

[RRoller123]

You can buy just the tie-rod ends, from the various vendors here on the forum. They also sell the whole tie-rod assembly as well.

[ososbob]

OK need some expert advice. I'm trying to install new ball joints, I can't seem to get them seated all the way. Once the bolt gets so far the whole ball joint stud spins. Do I need a special tool?

[djape1977]

if it's a lower balljoint, put the carjack under it and lift it up untill you start to lift the whole carm then tighten.
if it's upper one, do the same and then hit it from upside with a big hammer, then tighten

[81SPIDERMATT]

another way i have used is to buy a nut that does not have the plastic center and tighten that down till the balll joint "seats" then take off that nut and put on the self locking nut that came with ball joint .... the jack underneath and the hammer work great also

[blurple124]

untill you start to lift the whole carm

I'm doing this as well and drying to figure out if you meant "Car" or "Arm."
I feel like this is an important detail.............

[81SPIDERMATT]

untill you start to lift the whole carm

I'm doing this as well and drying to figure out if you meant "Car" or "Arm."
I feel like this is an important detail.............

arm

[djape1977]

typo.
CAR

[ososbob]

Thanks for the help, I finally got everything back together I did hitting the upper ball joint with a hammer and that did work, could not find a nut that fit without the nylon ring and jacking the lower A-Arm up did not work...seems you need the engine in for the weight to make it work that way. The other thing I tried, and worked, was Jack the lower A-Arm int the steering spindle then putting the nut on a bit. At that point I used a ball joint fork between the nut and steering spindle and hit it a few times till the lower ball joint seated. Using the fork seemed to work real well and no damage to nut or spindle.

[dmwhiteoak]

That looks good. Is that rubberized undercoating ?

[giuliot60]

Looks real good. Side shots too?

[BEEK]

very nice. great attention to detail

[ososbob]

Thanks for the compliments, I'm trying to pay attention to detail. What you see as "undercoating" is the original rubber undercoating the car had when I got it and a bit of touch up high temp engine paint. As for the side shot here it is (with wheels on) The picture is not showing all of it but you can go to my albu here http://s1170.photobucket.com/albums/r52 ... sto%20Mod/

[randiego]

I recently Purchased new upper and lower control arms from IAP as they were on sale to go with the correct height springs that I got from Allison's in Upland. They came complete (New bushings, bolts, ball joints and painted) and are made in Italy, NOT CHINA.
On sale, it was cheaper (and much less hassle) to buy the assemblies vs. rebuilding my A arms.

Being old school, I wanted to put zerks in the ball joints as a "sealed" ball joint has no way to introduce grease into it. I asked the IAP rep how one was to grease a "sealed" ball joint? He said that he uses a hypo-dermic needle to inject grease into the boot ! ! ! ? Ever try to get a heavy viscosity material through a tiny needle? And it would not get down under the ball portion of the joint. Any way, being old school, I attacked the issue as I was taught many years ago. So for any of you "newer" mechanics, there is an easy solution to running "dry" ball Joints. This method may not work on all ball joints but it will work on the ones that I got from IAP.

Solution; I drilled through the bottom "cap" and then through the inner poly cup stopping as soon as the drill got through the cup (you will feel it when it is through), tapped and threaded the cap, and used a magnet to clean out any metal that was internal from being drilled and tapped. (I used a q tip to make sure that I got all of the filings).

I installed the zerk and pumped in grease till I saw the boot start to swell. VOILA ! Now I have serviceable ball joints and do not have the issue of premature failure due to lack of lubricant. As you add grease over time, the excess will "weep" out of the top of the boot that is held in place by a wire ring. It is easy to wipe the excess off as you are servicing your ball joints.

I recommend doing this every 5K miles and this should keep you from premature failure of your ball joints due to lack of lubricant. You can make a weep hole by drilling a small hole in the rubber boot pointing to the front so there is easy access for cleaning up the excess as it exits the ball joint. Hope this is of help to you out there who have "sealed" suspension parts.

Randy

[giuliot60]

Thanks Randy. Good stuff. I know Vicks is selling a set for each wheel for less than $100, but I think it's Chinese. You say IAP has Italian made. Got to check them out.

Bob, I took a look at your photobucket. Amazing. What a transformation. I love the red engine, and how you're incorporating the red/black through out. Can't wait until I redo my engine, but it doesn't look like it's going to be anytime soon. Maybe when I hit 100,000 miles.

Did you have difficulty removing the A frames related parts? Spindle, ball joints, etc. Any tips before I do mine? I'll probably go with the new replacement parts.