Part I - Suspension
Cruising toward your car show for the weekend down
the highway, enjoying the sun and the sound of the car.
All of a sudden you find yourself trying to get your car back in the lane
you were just in. Whew that was close; luckily no one was in the lane next to
me.
Front suspension and steering linkage take a lot of
abuse over the years. Poor tires, shocks, alignments, all of these contribute to
rapid wear. Rebuilding a front
suspension and steering linkage will bring the handling and control back to your
car.
Performance front suspension rebuild kits are
available from numerous manufacturers. Two of these are:
Performance Suspension Technology and Energy Suspension.
NAPA and other local parts stores sell stock parts. Cost difference is
not all that great between stock and performance items.
A front suspension overhaul kit normally includes
upper and lower control arm bushings, upper and lower ball joints and sway-bar
bushing and end-link bushing kits. I suggest also replacing front springs while
this overhaul is being done.
This overhaul is not something that everyone should
tackle. If you have a big block,
car a coil spring compressor will be needed.
Small block cars can be easily reassembled without a spring compressor.
Jack up vehicle and support it on jack stands on the frame behind the
front fenders. Remove front tires, sway-bar end-links and sway bar.
Remove cotter pins in the upper and lower ball joints and outer tie rod
ends. Loosen but do not remove the
nuts on the ball joints and tie rods. To
remove tie-rod end, use a “pickle fork” to loosen the joint. Remove front
shocks. Use pickle fork to loosen upper and lower ball joints. Place a jack
under lower ball joint and support lower arm.
Remove upper and lower ball joint nuts and remove rotor or brake drum
assembly and support brake assemblies on a box or hang with a tie down.
CAUTION do not let the brake assemblies hang from the brake hose.
Place a long bar through the coil spring and down through the lower
control arm. Slowly lower jack and
let lower control down. CAUTION coil spring is under great pressure and can be
dangerous. With bar still through
spring use another bar to pry out coil spring.
With spring removed, the upper and lower control arm bolts can now be
removed and the control arms removed from the vehicle.
Check in your local phone book and locate a shop that can press in new
bushings and ball joints, this will cost around $60-$100 depending on who does
this.
Re-assembly is a little tricky sometimes. The lower
control arm is the most difficult to install. Lube the lower bushing ends and
the sides of the frame where the arms are to be installed. New bushings are
normally quite snug. Once in place
install bolts and then install upper arms and prepare for installing coil
springs. This works better with two people and a spring compressor.
Place jack under outer edge of lower arm, install coil spring in place.
The lower arm has two holes drilled in the spring pocket, the end of the
coil must be installed between these two holes otherwise the car will not sit
level.
Once coil is in place install brake assembly and place upper and lower ball
joint nuts on and tighten before lowering jack.
The final job is to reinstall the sway-bar bushings and end-links.
For additional information or tech tips contact
the author!