| Q: |
Front-end rebuild - General
|
| |
How difficult is it to perform a front-end rebuild by myself? Is there a step-by-step online guide to doing this someplace?
|
| |
| A: |
Doing it yourself is easy. There are several pain in the arses
though. First, removing the rivets holding the ball joints in place
on the control arms. You may be able to chisel them off manually but
you will probably need an air chisel. Same goes for removing the
tapered tie rod shafts-- I guess you could probably hammer them out,
although this is ugly. You will most likely need a spreader that fits
into the air tool. You will obviously need to rent a spring
compressor as well.
Once you get it apart you are pretty much there. Make sure you count
the number of turns as you remove each tie rod end and screw the new
ones in an equal amount. With the proper tools you could do it in a
few hours-- without them you will struggle for a whole day or more.
I'm not sure its worth it to do it yourself unless you are like me
and don't trust ANYONE working on my cars. Then you will punish
yourself endlessly. Keep in mind that most tire shop jockeys are
butchers.
Good luck!
|
|
| Q: |
Front End Rebuild on a '68
|
| |
I am getting ready to rebuild the front end on my 68 coupe. I've never done this before and am wondering what I need to know. I know I need to dissasemble the whole front end, but what else? What tools would I need? How long does it take (I'll have a couple of buddies helping out)? Is there anything I should be aware of, any possible problems?
|
| |
| A: |
I'm in the middle of doing mine on my 69 convertible.
About the only special tools that you need are a set of pickle forks and a BFH.
Standard set of tools, jack stands, liquid wrench, beer, etc.
I bought a kit from PST and it is very complete.
Also, unless you have a lot of patience and strength, you should take your
upper and lower A frames (control arms) to a machine shop to have the bushings
pressed out and in as well as the ball joint in the lower arm.
BFH's kinda work but it's well worth the $60 or so you will pay to have them do
it.
Hopefully I'll have mine re-assembled this weekend so that I can get it aligned
and ready for HAN.
|
| |
| A: |
I rebuilt my '69 coupe with a kit from PST. All and all it worked out great.
As far as tools you need: ball joint separator to separate the spindle
from the ball joint, possibly a cold chisel, grinder or air chisel if your
upper ball joints have never been replaced (factories are riveted in), an
arbor press if you want to remove and replace the A-arm bushings yourself
(not difficult if you have access to a press). It would also be good to have
a smaller ball joint separator for the outer tie rod ends if you're replacing
them.
The first side of the car i tackled took me about 5 or 6 hours. This was
fairly long compared to the other side which only took about 3 to 4 hours.
One other thing was the coil springs. On my car there is no way possible to
use a spring compressor without making it a permanent part or the car.
So.... i had to use about a 5 foot bar to push the spring in by sliding the
bar under the outer edge of the spring and push the bar up which pushes the
spring inboard. A couple of these and it will go into place. But doing this
you need a floor jack placed under the lower A-arm so you can jack the A-arm
into position and secure it by threading the nut onto the lower ball joint to
hold the A-arm up. It may not be the safest way but it works. If you take
this route be sure to remove the grease fitting from the lower ball joint so
it doesnt get broken off. The book will tell another way but its would be
pretty difficult to compress the spring and then line up the A-arm bolts.
Anyway good luck its not hard as long as you dont rush.
|
| |
| A: |
Hey guys, I was a technician and did a lot of front end work, and never
needed a spring compressor on a GM F car (first gen) or GM A car (second
gen - 68-72) unless it was too much spring. The spring can relax to the
point where you can jockey it out with a prybar (very big!), and pop it
back in with a push from the heels of both feet (spring needs to be
lined up well at bottom). Spring compressors get in the way, unless you
get the one that goes inside the spring with each end having 2 hinged
hooks. I can't remember who makes that one though!
|
| |
| A: |
I have to agree, I have had the springs out of my 69 firebird 400
with only a jack under the control arm with car supported on jack stands
once lower ball joint comes loose with a couple of good smacks with a big
hammer just lower the jack until all tension is off the spring well you
never get all the tension off but most all of the tension will come off of
it enough that as he said it will come out with a big pry bar and back in
with both your feet on it.
|
| |
| A: |
get a copy of july 1999 hotrod magazine.
they did a 67 camaro with a pst kit. i did my 67 'bird following their
pictures,,it worked great! took me 2 days with no work farmed out except
allignment.
|
| |
| A: |
Well, we finished the front end rebuild today and what we did was use the spring
compressor but only half of it (one side). It was enough to allow us to shove
the lower part of the spring onto it's perch and then we used a jack to raise
the lower arm.
On both sides the upper part of the spring seemed to be off it's perch after
raising the lower arm so I stuck a big wrench up in there and pried it back in.
It made a HUGE pop so it scared the heck out of us the first time.
|
|
