School Me on Front End Parts

[bluex]

Yeah, I remember that tragedy. Does it drive ok now? Better with the tubular arms?

I don't notice a large dofference but I do still need to have the alignment dialed in to my specs 100%. It's close enough to not wear tires but it isn't perfect. It drives nice an straight again, like it never happened....

 

[idahovette]

What's your specs, just curious as to what works for your truck ,your area?

 

[bluex]

I found these a while back on the 67-72 board. You want as much caster as you can get, up to 7* anyhow.

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[idahovette]

That's about the way I have always set up most that I do. 0 driver's side -.25 pass camber , as much caster I can get, sometimes hard to get over 4. Then 0.10" give or take for the toe. Depends on wear for the toe. Another trick is whenever the engine is out portapower the frame apart to make up for camber. Over the years the frame will fold in and you end up short on camber, this is on inside frame mounted A-arm cars only. As a caution, toe is the biggest wear factor so be careful on the toe-out setting

 

[idahovette]

Didn't mention ,these are for rear drive cars only , you front drive only guys are on your own!!

 

[fried_daddy]

Just weld it on the lower side of the A-arm under the bushing. Supports the open side to prevent collapsing when you remove and install the bushings. Weld it , grind it off ,if you want ,then coat it with your choice of coverings

Ok. Gotcha.

Like this, I didn't really specify how much to be done an I think the Fab guy just used the length or width plate he had laying around.

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Thanks for the pic. Concept is 100% clear now.

 

[73c20jim]

That's about the way I have always set up most that I do. 0 driver's side -.25 pass camber

Drive on crowned roads a lot???

 

[idahovette]

Drive on crowned roads a lot???

Yeah , here in our area there a quite a few 2 lane roads with a crown to get the water off easier. Works pretty good except for the truck tracks. Back in the day mopars always set there independent fronts +1/2 on the left and +1/4 on the right, didn't help much they still drove like CRAP!! Radial tires were a big help on them. I learned from an old body shop alignment guy, Cliff always said "forget the specs read the tires". It seems to work, He did alignments for 40-50 years and taught me in 69 just before he quit. Started out on an old John Bean Visualiner, the one that looked like it had outboard motors on each side with about 6 hi-wattage bulbs in them. Kept you warm in the winter ,but burnt the holy heck out of you in the warmer months.

 

[MikeB]

It's been a few years, so I can't remember exactly how I did it, but I got my bushings out without welding scrap metal to my A-arms.

Wish I could find the YouTube video that gave me the idea. But it was brute force using a large drift punch to deform the bushing housings. And once one bushing and the shaft were out, I was able to push out the other side on a 12-ton press.

Removing the lower ball joints was almost as bad. I've never seen any that had such a tight fit. They laughed at my ball joint press, so I had to get creative and got them out (and new ones back in) with the 12-ton press, and a variety of sockets, etc.

I used Energy Suspension bushings, and they were very tight, but a minor challenge compared to removal of the stock ones. I learned to use the included grease liberally!

I probably spent 8-10 hours on the above -- not including removing and reinstalling the A-arms.

 

[legopnuematic]

It's been a few years, so I can't remember exactly how I did it, but I got my bushings out without welding scrap metal to my A-arms.

Wish I could find the YouTube video that gave me the idea. But it was brute force using a large drift punch to deform the bushing housings. And once one bushing and the shaft were out, I was able to push out the other side on a 12-ton press.

Removing the lower ball joints was almost as bad. I've never seen any that had such a tight fit. They laughed at my ball joint press, so I had to get creative and got them out (and new ones back in) with the 12-ton press, and a variety of sockets, etc.

I used Energy Suspension bushings, and they were very tight, but a minor challenge compared to removal of the stock ones. I learned to use the included grease liberally!

I probably spent 8-10 hours on the above -- not including removing and reinstalling the A-arms.

My grandfather brought over his OEM ball joint press kit, so I used them on the lowers and they came out surprisingly easy, the uppers were a pain in the ass, but I ended up getting them out. Found a new disliking towards rivets... I decided to buy the 8oz tube of the Energy suspension grease so I shouldn't run out lol.

 

[bluex]

It's been a few years, so I can't remember exactly how I did it, but I got my bushings out without welding scrap metal to my A-arms.

The metal wasn't just to remove or install the bushings, it is to strengthen the arms to help them from getting damaged. Its very common to catch an bend them on a low truck since they are the lowest point of the suspension.

 

[MikeB]

My grandfather brought over his OEM ball joint press kit, so I used them on the lowers and they came out surprisingly easy, the uppers were a pain in the ass, but I ended up getting them out. Found a new disliking towards rivets... I decided to buy the 8oz tube of the Energy suspension grease so I shouldn't run out lol.

Isn't that weird that I had a problem with the lowers? I did a 69 C10 several years ago, and it was a piece of cake using the ball joint press kit.

You just reminded me that it took a long time to get the uppers out too. Grinding off the rivet heads was just a start. Still had to knock out 8 rivets, which was harder than just smacking them a few times with a drift and 4-lb sledgehammer. I did a 55 Chevy a while back and it probably didn't take an hour removing all 4 ball joints.

What doesn't kill us makes us stronger.

 

[MikeB]

The metal wasn't just to remove or install the bushings, it is to strengthen the arms to help them from getting damaged. Its very common to catch an bend them on a low truck since they are the lowest point of the suspension.

Got it. I had just never heard of that problem. My truck has 2.5" dropped spindles and stock springs, so it's probably not something I need to worry about.