67 Plymouth Fury 2 K member

[DirkRhodie]

Goodday so I'm needing advice on the K member removal.
Is it possible/advisable to make a cross member stand with wheels and clamp it to the rear of the K member then lower compleat K member with the front wheels still attached?
Reason then it's a complete unit and in my opinion easily to move around work on once pulled away from the vehicle?
Lastly if it can be done what should I take special note of so when replacing it lines up perfectly?

 

[1970FuryConv]

The front subframe does not have a K-member.
Detaching the strut rods from lower control arms can be a task
For moving the subframe, I used a jack at the front and a moving dolly at the rear.
I needed to have mine welded, so I removed suspension and brakes.
Your plan sounds workable, but the subframe itself is not heavy. Easier to work on with nothing attached
I would carefully mark position of the subframe versus the body mounts. Otherwise there is a section in the shop manual on aligning it with the body.

 

[edbods]

Detaching the strut rods from lower control arms can be a task

For what it's worth, on my 67 fury I got my strut rods out by removing the front nuts first, then the rears after. The rears kept spinning the rod, but I was able to work it back and forth with a 12v cordless impact while grabbing the bar tight with my free hand. Rattled my arm like crazy but it worked.

 

[1970FuryConv]

For what it's worth, on my 67 fury I got my strut rods out by removing the front nuts first, then the rears after. The rears kept spinning the rod, but I was able to work it back and forth with a 12v cordless impact while grabbing the bar tight with my free hand. Rattled my arm like crazy but it worked.

So are you saying with 1967 Fury, strut rods can be removed separate of lower control arms LCA?
For my 1971 Fury, Front nuts removed first. Rear nuts keep rear of strut rod in tapered seat on LCA so front nut is easily removed. Having a bent strut rod didn't help
@DirkRhodie problem with removing the front subframe with the suspension attached is that with my 1971 Fury, strut rods can only be removed to the rear of the front subframe, so a strut is removed during or after the LCA is removed. Factory shop manual for 1971, page 2-14 specifies that strut rod and lower control arm are removed as an assembly.
Maybe 1967 is different

 

[MoPar~Man]

I built this 3-wheel contraption to do this.

The engine and trans was still mounted to the stub frame when it was rolled out. But I also had removed the fenders and radiator support so there was nothing in the way. I did not have the car lifted very high, just enough to take the front wheels slightly off the ground. I did not put any support under the back end of the car. Only supports were under the rocker panels just in front of the front doors.

I made no marks or anything in terms of where the stub was positioned before I removed it. There will be shim plates located on the front mounting perches. In my case they were heavily rusted and unusable. For re-assembly, I installed the new stub first:

What I would have done now at this stage, if I were to do it again, would be to mount the rad support and the fenders to check for vertical alignment or height at the front, and install new shims as needed so that the door to fender gaps are correct. If you have a 2-door car, you might want to check the alignment of the doors. I did. I adjusted my doors so they fit better when closed. I also put shims to move the door hinges on one side outwards (only by 1/16 inch). A lot of times the back end of the doors sag a little and when you close them they are forced up into place. I corrected that on my car.

In terms of the stub frame, the gap between the front edge of the door and the back edge of the fender is what you are working with. For the gap to be even the front of the stub has to be in the right place (vertically), and that's where the shims on the front perches come in. There are shims (or, there can be shims) under the rad support, but the stub has to be first in the right ball park. So in the photo now is the time to adjust the perch shims. I did it after the wheels / suspension / engine was installed, I thought I had the shims set correctly but I had to remove them, it was a pain because of the extra weight and reduced access. You have to err on the side of having the front of the stub on the low side, so that's having more perch shim thicker than you need, but only by 1/32 or 1/16 of an inch. And don't expect that the left and right perches require the same amount of shims - they likely won't.

There's really no side-to-side or left-to-right movement that is possible or adjustable once the stub is bolted (even loosely) to the car.

 

[MoPar~Man]

I recall that the LCA's had to be moved backwards out of the stub a little to allow the strut rods to be taken out. This requires that the torsion bars also need to be out of the way. There wasn't enough play in the LCA even when it's fully dropped for the strut rods to be taken out. When re-assembling / re-mounting the LCA and strut rod, be sure to mount them at the same time. Don't mount the LCA and torsion bar first and then stuggle with the strut rod.

 

[edbods]

So are you saying with 1967 Fury, strut rods can be removed separate of lower control arms LCA?

Ahh right...yeah I might've had to push the LCAs towards the back come to think of it. Been a few weeks since I took the front suspension apart.

 

[DirkRhodie]

I built this 3-wheel contraption to do this.

View attachment 719525

View attachment 719526

The engine and trans was still mounted to the stub frame when it was rolled out. But I also had removed the fenders and radiator support so there was nothing in the way. I did not have the car lifted very high, just enough to take the front wheels slightly off the ground. I did not put any support under the back end of the car. Only supports were under the rocker panels just in front of the front doors.


View attachment 719527

I made no marks or anything in terms of where the stub was positioned before I removed it. There will be shim plates located on the front mounting perches. In my case they were heavily rusted and unusable. For re-assembly, I installed the new stub first:

View attachment 719528

What I would have done now at this stage, if I were to do it again, would be to mount the rad support and the fenders to check for vertical alignment or height at the front, and install new shims as needed so that the door to fender gaps are correct. If you have a 2-door car, you might want to check the alignment of the doors. I did. I adjusted my doors so they fit better when closed. I also put shims to move the door hinges on one side outwards (only by 1/16 inch). A lot of times the back end of the doors sag a little and when you close them they are forced up into place. I corrected that on my car.

In terms of the stub frame, the gap between the front edge of the door and the back edge of the fender is what you are working with. For the gap to be even the front of the stub has to be in the right place (vertically), and that's where the shims on the front perches come in. There are shims (or, there can be shims) under the rad support, but the stub has to be first in the right ball park. So in the photo now is the time to adjust the perch shims. I did it after the wheels / suspension / engine was installed, I thought I had the shims set correctly but I had to remove them, it was a pain because of the extra weight and reduced access. You have to err on the side of having the front of the stub on the low side, so that's having more perch shim thicker than you need, but only by 1/32 or 1/16 of an inch. And don't expect that the left and right perches require the same amount of shims - they likely won't.

There's really no side-to-side or left-to-right movement that is possible or adjustable once the stub is bolted (even loosely) to the car.

Thank you so much what you done is exactly my thought process.
My front end is completely stripped and engine is out only the transmission is still to be removed, doing a restoration so a lot ntto go over and replace what's needed.

 

[MoPar~Man]

Thank you so much what you done is exactly my thought process.
My front end is completely stripped and engine is out only the transmission is still to be removed, doing a restoration so a lot ntto go over and replace what's needed.

If the engine/trans is out, then you practically don't need anything to support the stub when you roll it out. If you have a mechanics creeper or furnature or moving dolly that's all you're going to need.

But you need to park the car somewhere where it will sit while you have the stub out. And you need to support the body properly before you drop the stub.

By the way, you seem to be missing an interior body panel on the front passenger side. What happened?

 

[DirkRhodie]

If the engine/trans is out, then you practically don't need anything to support the stub when you roll it out. If you have a mechanics creeper or furnature or moving dolly that's all you're going to need.

But you need to park the car somewhere where it will sit while you have the stub out. And you need to support the body properly before you drop the stub.

By the way, you seem to be missing an interior body panel on the front passenger side. What happened?

Basically I removed it to replace the lower half of it due to rust same as on the driver's side it covers the vent inlet on both sides so am fabricating the lower halves.
Repro panels or a doner are non existent for this particular car in South Africa.
I am of the understanding that's it's the only one here ....was imported in rhd from Canada directly to Zambia.