front suspension

[geraldchainsaw]

i will work on the front suspension, but maybe i can get some help, has anyonje ever worked on the lower arm bushings?,   r they hard to take aprt and put back together?,  never done it, juust sent to cantors for the standard front end kit,    and will replace as things go,   right now it seems like the shop i go to is getting more interezted in my money , like i said any help out there?

[briney]

Geraldchainsaw,

It's interesting that you would make this timely post. I had just responded directly to another member about my brake and suspension update yesterday evening.
As far as the suspension on my Ranchero went, I was in denial of it's condition.     I should have replaced the bushings and tie rods when I was doing the spindle conversion for the disk brakes. 

Putting it on the rack and trying to align my ranchero was pointless first time around. Once on the rack my friend who doe's front ends for a living started shaking and manhandling the ball joints and tie rods. Bottom line they were worn out. Apparently they were the original ball joints and the tie rods were probably somewhere around 30 years old at best. 

I swapped some favors with my friend and he helped me get the front kit that I had ordered from Kanter Auto Products on the car. I'll tell you 50 year old bushing and lower control arm shafts come out real hard. It took both of us about 6 hours to do the job. 

If I had it to do over again I think I would have paid him strait to let his shop do it, which according to him was about $750 for the labor and a few less bloody knuckles for me.   

At the end of the day the alignment is perfect now.

Good luck if you choose to do it yourself.

Patrick / Dallas 

[shopratwoody]

I took mine apart a couple of times for bushings etc...Drag Racing used to be hard on the bushings.
The balljoints are pretty straight foward. I don't have a little press tool to put in the bushings, so I take the 'A-arms
down to a shop that does and then reassemble all the new parts.
Good Luck, Ron
BTW, a floor jack in the right place under the lower a arm is the way to remove the pressure from the ball joint.
I think that's covered in the shop manuel

[Hoosier Hurricane]

If you take the lower A arms out yourself, please put a short chain through a coil of the front spring and chain it around the frame.  There is a lot of energy stored in that spring, and if something slips, it will escape in a violent fashion.  I recommended this to someone on a site a couple years ago, and he wrote back in a few days and thanked me.  The jack had slipped and the spring came out, restrained by the chain.  He had been directly in the line of fire of the spring.  It happened so quickly he had no time to react.  Please be safe.

John

[Marc]

I'm right in the middle of putting my front end back together too. Definitely have the bushings removed and replaced by a shop with the right tools if you don't own a press. Everything else can be done with little trouble at home. If I can do it, anyone can!
  John's right (as usual). Take every precaution to make sure that spring can't take off on its own. Don't trust the jack by itself. That spring will jump out and ruin your day in a hurry. Good luck!

[JPotter57]

By the way, you can go to your local autozone and get a spring compressor to take them out.  Tool loan program is great.  You pay for the tool up front, use it, then bring it back for a full refund of the tool.  Coil spring compressor is something like $48 to use it as long as you like.  Bring it back when you're done.  I have a Snap On compressor, but it is nice to know you can get one for free any time you need it.....