D Cluley
Active Member
I seem to have the time & budget to do 1 or 2 projects a summer, and this year it is the suspension's turn.
The lower control arm bushings have been squeeking for a while, and last fall I noticed that the lower ball joints had a little more play than I liked. They were fine side to side, but a little loose vertically, so more "Those are a priority" than "It's time to panic" Based on that, the plan is to start with the lower front suspension as the first phase. I think the upper ball joints and bushings are still ok, but if not, they will be dealt with after the lower part is back together. If somehow, that all gets done reasonably well, then I'll look at the rear end.
So, last Sunday I got the front end securely up on 4 jackstands & started taking things off. Some of this was apart last year when I had to pull the transmission, but some of it hasn't been touched in the 20 years I've had the car, and who knows how long before that!
By Friday evening, most of it was off the car, so I laid all the pieces out with the new parts to see what I still needed.
I got the inner part of the lower bushings off of the pivot shafts, and the old ball joints free of the control arms. Strut rods have been cleaned and I started to paint them along with some of the small hardware.
The big issue at the moment is that the passenger side torsion bar is absolutely stuck in the control arm. I have soaked it from both sides with PB Blaster for a couple of days & tried forcing it with a bearing puller without it budging. The plan at this point is to see whether any shops around have a big torch or a big press and are willing to try to pop it loose. I figure worse case scenario, I can hacksaw/dremel/chisel the socket on the arm and at least preserve the torsion bar.
I still need to undo the top of the shocks and drop those out, and after getting into it, I decided that the bushings that hold to sway bar links to the frame also need to be replaced, so those need to come out. At this point, the link to bar bushings seem pretty ok, so I may leave those alone.
The lower control arm bushings have been squeeking for a while, and last fall I noticed that the lower ball joints had a little more play than I liked. They were fine side to side, but a little loose vertically, so more "Those are a priority" than "It's time to panic" Based on that, the plan is to start with the lower front suspension as the first phase. I think the upper ball joints and bushings are still ok, but if not, they will be dealt with after the lower part is back together. If somehow, that all gets done reasonably well, then I'll look at the rear end.
So, last Sunday I got the front end securely up on 4 jackstands & started taking things off. Some of this was apart last year when I had to pull the transmission, but some of it hasn't been touched in the 20 years I've had the car, and who knows how long before that!
By Friday evening, most of it was off the car, so I laid all the pieces out with the new parts to see what I still needed.
I got the inner part of the lower bushings off of the pivot shafts, and the old ball joints free of the control arms. Strut rods have been cleaned and I started to paint them along with some of the small hardware.
The big issue at the moment is that the passenger side torsion bar is absolutely stuck in the control arm. I have soaked it from both sides with PB Blaster for a couple of days & tried forcing it with a bearing puller without it budging. The plan at this point is to see whether any shops around have a big torch or a big press and are willing to try to pop it loose. I figure worse case scenario, I can hacksaw/dremel/chisel the socket on the arm and at least preserve the torsion bar.
I still need to undo the top of the shocks and drop those out, and after getting into it, I decided that the bushings that hold to sway bar links to the frame also need to be replaced, so those need to come out. At this point, the link to bar bushings seem pretty ok, so I may leave those alone.
