The local place tried to align my '51 Ford and showed me where the upper outer pivots were shot and allowed a few degrees of negative camber once weight was applied, and on one side it neeeded the upper inner pivot(shaft) as well. They wanted $900 to R&R, which I said thanks for the info and here's $40 for the estimate NOTE: I'll call shoeboxford.com before purchasing anything! I could buy the bushings for about $100 from Dennis carpenter, or a front end deluxe rebuild kit that includes rebuilt upper and lower shafts(not just the bushings for them) for $400 delivered from Kanters. My question: How *#@*%@! hard is it to replace these upper and lower shafts and pivot points?!? I'm not even going to *touch* the kingpins as they were recently replaced(supposedly) and not giving me any trouble and I'm not going to ask for any ;-) and I understand they're awful to do. FWIW I've removed the lower arm to replace the coil spring before and did a volvo steering box install but that's about it as far as my front end experience goes. These things look suspiciously like a real SOB to install and press in bushings and whatnot. I've got a vice but no real press or anything available, I can get a 12 ton press for $120 from harbor freight, but I'd hate to do it since I'm tight on cash *and* garage space. I can maybe get a local shop to press something in if needed, dunno how hard or $$$ it'd be so I'm not sure. Any advice or experience with this? Thanks you guys! EDIT: adding a pic...basically I'm talking about doing everything circled but the kingpin
Hey man, I considered rebuilding my front end, but I opted to clip it instead. I can tell you the following, as I took my front end completely apart before changing my mind: you gotta be careful not to fuck up your A-arms when you press the new stuff in; you need something to kind of help them keep their shape when you put them on the press (can you tell I'm not a machinist?). If it were me, I might buy the new shaft assemblies from Kanter--but either way, I might have a shop press them in--just 'cause they're better at this stuff. Plus, if you go around buying tools to do this, how often are you really going to use the tools you buy? It's worth it to shops, 'cause they use tools all the time. You--maybe not so much. Lastly--kingpins suck! If I remember correctly, it's a tapered pin, meaning it comes in and goes out one direction only. I'd say leave 'em alone if you possibly can. Good luck.
Hey Theo! Good point about f-ing up the arms, maybe I can get the alignment shop to press them in for me? They were knowledgeable and didn't complain about the condition of the car, even put down a paper mat that got sucked out the hole in the floor where the trans tunnel used to be You brought up a good point though, maybe I should just start searching for tech info on upper a/arm bushing replacement...should give me an idea of what I'm in for, and I think maybe I can get an installer by the autozone loan-a-tool deal, which I surprisingly had good luck with!! I don't have my darn repair manual handy, must be at the shop, bushings just always sound like a headache to me.
Upper control arm busings aren't that tough. Pull the shafts and arms out from the car to do the bushings obviously. I usually just burn the shit out of the old bushings and just beat the metal cases off when most of the rubber is gone. Hell if they are that bad they might even fall off. Pressing the new ones in isn't hard either, it just involves a little creativity with your tooling. If you have a good vise, a press isn't needed. They don;t require extreme amounts of pressure to be installed. If you're uncomfortable, have the shop uninstall/install the bushings. I guarantee the price they gave you included expecting to hassle with every bolt and but they needed to remove. If you do the time consuming part, I'd bet they can;t knock ya more than $50 to do the busings for ya.
Thanks slowandlow63! I've always read in carcraft and stuff about people burning them out...makes sense Their bill was like $375 for labor, and $525 for parts, maybe they were buying the entire arms ready to bolt on or something, I dunno, just too much for me to even consider. Yeah if I could get them to press those things on it sounds like my $50 would buy me a lot of frustration saving and and an unbent control arm or two! Great idea!
$525 for parts is bogus. I might avoid said shop and relocate my patronage to another establishment with greater morals.
Your bushings aren't pressed in in that car. They have screw-in cans. They can be done with a good impact wrench. As long as the shafts aren't so worn that they are grooved, they can be reused. And only the inners are in need of impact. I beleive the outer eccentric ones are wrenchable. It is not very hard to do at all. The king pins are not tapered, but if they were done recently then leave them alone. You shouldn't have to touch them to do the rest. When you get it all done find a reputable alignment shop that has a guy who knows what he's doing with these. They are pretty easy to align but a lot of young guys don't have the thin wrenches or the basic skills to do it right without f'n up your hard work....Mike.
Thank you Mike! The more I'm looking at this it doesn't seem all that bad. I just wish I'd grabbed my manual before I left the shop. I didn't realize they were screw in on the inners till you said that. The outers look like theyve got some bushings/bearings/somethings/ that press in, but I'd love to be wrong about that I don't see why I can't just remove the spindle and set it aside and do the rest of the business then just bolt it back on as one piece. What could go wrong?!?
BTW..Keep them greased well after replacing. I like to use the marine grease.They should last another couple generations,if done right.. Money well spent,if you have a good machine shop do them.
Thanks Jalopy43! I'm guilty of not greasing the front end :-/ I just haven't fooled with it, I need to look up the procedure in the green bible...it's probably just as simple as putting a squirt or so in every nipple around there.
Mike's Right I Was Hoping To Read Something From Someone That Knew Fomoco Frontends. If You Look At The Pic Of My 50' Merc Frame It Has The Stock Front Clip. The Rebuild Is Easy I Went With Kanter, You Just Have To Invest In The Proper Size Sockets And Wrenches As They Are 7/8" -1-1/4" Or So. When You Go Back Together With The Threaded End Caps (YES, I SAID THE END CAPS ARE THREADED) Be Sure To Center The Control Arms And Tighten Evenly. Have Fun! Grab A Friend, Holding The Kingpin/hub Assembly, While Trying To Tighten Evenly Can Be A Bitch! Just as an added note. The dust covers from kanter are crap (too thin) you should by all of the dust covers from dennis carpenter or C & G early ford in escondido, these covers are thick and plyable like the stock ones. The kanter covers cracked and broke on me, I took every thing apart to replace. I'm happy now, just had to learn a lesson (thought I'd pass it on to you!)
awe man NOW I see this!!! I just bought some new dust covers for the uppers since I didn't like the Kanters cheapie o-rings they gave me instead of covers...now i'm gonna see if I can get lower ones too! Thanks!!
does anyone make the coil spring plate?, the one that is riveted to the control arm.....mine are cracked.
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