Energy Suspension Question!

[dartkory]

So the time has finally come to do the energy suspension front end rebuild on my 1966 Dart. The kit I'm getting comes with the inner and outer tie rods, upper and lower ball joints, and idler arm. Has anyone done this to theirs yet? I'm just wondering what I should expect, such as what specialty tools I might need, other than a pickle fork if any others. Thanks for any input. -Kory

 

[omahamoparguy]

special socket for the upper ball joint. sometimes you can use certain tools to seperate the ball joints other than the pickle fork, but a pickle fork will work just fine. are you going to do the bushings? do a search /lots of info on FABO about doing this. dont forget the BFH.................... (BIG< FRIGGIN< HAMMER) LOL. can be a frustrating job sometimes so, have patience too.

 

[Commando66]

What about upper and lower a-arm bushings? Strut rod bushings? New pitman arm? Also, a rebuild kit for the steering coupler.

 

[dartkory]

i'm going to be buying the pitman arm as well, but as far as the other bushings, I was gonna check em out and hope I don't need to change em cause this is my daily driver and need it back on the road asap, and i'm mainly worried I'll run into issues and have it down for even longer. Do you know the size of the socket? or are they just universal? Thanks -Kory

 

[Commando66]

If you are planning on replacing the pitman arm, be prepared for some fun trying to get the old one off...a real bugger. The ball joint socket is a specialty tool made only for removing Chrysler ball joints. You want the smaller one of the two if you have the original ones in your car.

 

[dartkory]

awesome thanks for the help, I'm gonna go pick one up tomorrow. -Kory