Author Topic: Front suspension help  (Read 2018 times)

swade41

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Front suspension help
« on: August 31, 2011, 10:08:18 PM »
My king pins are loose and I bought a set from Willow Run, I've had two people say you do not need to ream the bushing and two that say you do. Which are right ?
 My other problem I noticed while looking at the king pins is that the lower spindle bushing looks loose also. When I let the jack down it looks like there is slop where the spindle and A arm meet. I see that there is a cross bolt that goes through the lower A arm, then through the spindle and once again through the other side of the A arm.
 How do I replace this bushing or is there such a thing ? What does that big nut do that is inside the A arm and next to the spindle, it takes a 1 1/16 or 1 1/4 open end wrench ?



Fid

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Re: Front suspension help
« Reply #1 on: August 31, 2011, 11:11:56 PM »
My experience has been sometimes you need to ream the bushings.  Last time I did it, I had to take the spindle to a Machine Shop and have them reamed or bored a bit. Another time, I didn't.
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Corsairdeluxe

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Re: Front suspension help
« Reply #2 on: September 01, 2011, 10:08:38 PM »
I have a N.O.S. HJ reamer and no possible use for it. It'll go cheap.
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kfnut

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Re: Front suspension help
« Reply #3 on: September 02, 2011, 06:55:01 AM »
What is the size of the reamer and how much ?
Thanks
Michael

swade41

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Re: Front suspension help
« Reply #4 on: September 02, 2011, 09:53:10 AM »
I do have a few reamers out in the garage that I aquired with a tool box purchase, would I match the reamer to the new king pin ?
 What about that threaded rod that attaches the A-arm to the spindle, how do you  disassemble it ? I have a mechanic that can do the king pins if I can't but that bushing in that cross bolt has me worried. Is that something that just get driven out or does it unscrew out of that bigger nut ?
 I would like this car in a show next weekend if possible so kinda a time crunch.

joefrazer

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Re: Front suspension help
« Reply #5 on: September 02, 2011, 11:41:07 AM »
To properly replace the bushings in the lower suspension arm, it should come off the car. That said, the outer pin is a long threaded bolt and at the other end is a cap. In the pictures, we're looking at the cap. There are also rubber seals that should be in place too.

swade41

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Re: Front suspension help
« Reply #6 on: September 02, 2011, 12:55:23 PM »
Thanks, regular right handed threads ? The side I will be doing is the left (drivers) although the picture is of the right.
 The reason I ask is because I tried removing the right side to change the springs and the broken wrench in the picture is the results. I put that wrench on the big inner nut next to the spindle and used a breaker bar on the outer cap. What I got was the broken wrench and you can also see where it pushed up the metal on the A-arm.