How much trouble will it be to rebuild the front end?!

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fredsmedina

fredsmedina

6 Dart 7 MOPAR OR NOCAR
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Sacramento / Elk Grove CA
i need to completely rebuild my front end on my 67 dart. i have no clue what i'm doing, but i wanted to know if anyone has some tips or advice for me? thanks in advance!
 
The tough pieces are the control arm bushings. They have to be pressed out and pressed in. Most everything else like ball joints, tie rod ends, and steering arms are unbolt/bolt-in installs.
 
not really a bad job if you take your time and look at it before you touch anything. get a factory service manual and you should be fine.
 
thanks guys. hopefully it isn't too bad. right now, the only thing stopping me is money!!

as soon as i get the cash, i'lll be ready to start!!
 
Plan on updating to a 68 and later idler arm. You'll need a tiny amount of welding done on the 67 K-member.
The cost difference for the one year only 67 idler arm ( if you can find one ) will pay for having the lower arm bushings pressed.
 
I did mine not to long ago. The hardest part is dealing with the torsion bars and getting them out. There are a few guys around that have made a homemade tool to help remove them. Like said above pressing out the arm bushings is a pain also. I had to heat mine up with a torch them press them out. Good luck
 
i'm not ready to do the front end rebuild quite yet due to finances. but i am just wondering if anyone near the sacramento area has some of the front end tools that i''m gonna need to get this complete rebuild done on the front end? just a question. thanks people!!
 
Fred, although not in the Sac area (only 1 1/2 - 2 hours away), I have a few of the tools for the job (upper ball joint, torsion bar and several pickle forks). Let me know when you are ready to go through it and if you can't find the these locally.
 
You might get a whole lot of work done for what those special tools would cost. Unless you plan on doing front end work regularly you dont need to invest in specialized equipment.
Between Thanksgiving and Chrisrmas there will be lots of dealership service mechanics standing around with no work. On flat rate no work means no pay. Thats the best time to get some "off paper" work done. Those guys have bills to pay a gifts to buy too. I know this because I've been there.
You will need a pickle fork and a 4 lb shop hammer. Then just take the upper arms to some good ol boy one day and the lower arms on another day. along with the new balls and bushings ofcourse.
 
thanks redfish for the infor on the 68 idler arm. what exactly will i need to weld the k member for? will i be making clearance for the 68 idler arm.? or what?

and i'll keep all that stuff in mind about taking them to a shop to get the stuff done. thanks
 
I think I can answer this one for Redfish. The 67 K member only has one support for the idler arm whereas the 68 K member has two. To use the 68 idler you`d have to weld an upper support on to the K member. The modification could be cost effective because a 67 idler arm is way expensive (over 100 dollars) while the 68 idler is a fraction of the cost.
 
GTXperience said:
When you are ready to do it, keep in mind Redfish's suggestion in post #5.
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Longgone said:
I think I can answer this one for Redfish. The 67 K member only has one support for the idler arm whereas the 68 K member has two. To use the 68 idler you`d have to weld an upper support on to the K member. The modification could be cost effective because a 67 idler arm is way expensive (over 100 dollars) while the 68 idler is a fraction of the cost.
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makes sense. thanks for that info. i was planning on buying an entire front end kit though to do the rebuild. would you guys here on FABO recommend buying a complete kit or would it be better probably to piece together my own. because by piecing my own together, i would be able to get this 68 idler arm.
 
fredsmedina said:
makes sense. thanks for that info. i was planning on buying an entire front end kit though to do the rebuild. would you guys here on FABO recommend buying a complete kit or would it be better probably to piece together my own. because by piecing my own together, i would be able to get this 68 idler arm.
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You can save a lot of money buying everything in a kit. The only reason for buying things seperately would be if you were using some custom parts like C-body tie rod ends or offset upper control arm bushings. All of the parts for your 67 should be the same as the 68 except for the idler arm. So if you planned on changing to the 68 arm you could simply order a kit for a 68. PST is a sponsor of the site here, you can click on their site and see what they have to offer. I`ve used them for 3 cars so far and their prices are very competitive.
 
Longgone said:
You can save a lot of money buying everything in a kit. The only reason for buying things seperately would be if you were using some custom parts like C-body tie rod ends or offset upper control arm bushings. All of the parts for your 67 should be the same as the 68 except for the idler arm. So if you planned on changing to the 68 arm you could simply order a kit for a 68. PST is a sponsor of the site here, you can click on their site and see what they have to offer. I`ve used them for 3 cars so far and their prices are very competitive.
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thanks longgone. info helps alot. will be ordering from PST soon!

i hate how 67's are so 'odd'. but its a mopar! so everything will be costly. ha
thanks
 
Just went to PST and the price of a rebuild kit is $219 for either a 67 or a 68 ... indeed for a 57 - 89.

Here's the contents:



MOST KITS CONTAIN:
* 2 Upper Ball Joints
* 2 Lower Ball Joints
* 4 Upper Inner Control Arm Bushings
* 2 or 4 Lower Inner Control Arm Bushings
* 2 Strut Rod Bushings ( if required)
* 2 Outer Tie Rod Ends
* 2 Stabilizer Links (Bolt and sleeve type links only)
* 2 Sway Bar Bushings (for most models)
* Control Arm Bumpers (for most models)

The super kit (with more stuff, incl idler arm) is $379 for any year but 67 and $399 for the 67 ... not much diff.

If the idler arm separately bought is 67: $94 vs 68: $39. So I'd question the advisability of welding onto the K just to save either $20 or $55.
 
I got a complete rebuild kit from Just Suspensions last summer. contained all bushings, ball joints, tie rod ends, etc. Also got their "Six Pack of tools", it was an extra $200 but since we'll be doing other cars it was worth it. One of the tools negated the need to take the upper control arms/bushings to a shop to get them pressed out/in. Also came with a ball joint socket that you stuck on the end of a breaker bar, and could just pop the ball joints out. I didn't have to use a pickle bar or anything like that. All the tools in the kit took care of everything. It was great. I was able to do everything in my driveway on a Saturday, took the full day, but it was well worth it.
Oh, and I had no clue what I was doing before hand, just had read the service manual, and talked to a friend who had done it and said it was a major pain in the butt...it wasn't.
 
73duster47 said:
I got a complete rebuild kit from Just Suspensions last summer. contained all bushings, ball joints, tie rod ends, etc. Also got their "Six Pack of tools", it was an extra $200 but since we'll be doing other cars it was worth it. One of the tools negated the need to take the upper control arms/bushings to a shop to get them pressed out/in. Also came with a ball joint socket that you stuck on the end of a breaker bar, and could just pop the ball joints out. I didn't have to use a pickle bar or anything like that. All the tools in the kit took care of everything. It was great. I was able to do everything in my driveway on a Saturday, took the full day, but it was well worth it.
Oh, and I had no clue what I was doing before hand, just had read the service manual, and talked to a friend who had done it and said it was a major pain in the butt...it wasn't.
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thanks 73 duster. i agree with you. i'm not too sure about weldingn onto the k member.

but i'll see what happens. this'll be my 1st front end rebuild as well. so i'll soon find out the difficulty.

ha ha
 
I only trust NAPA parts for front suspension and brakes. So my price was $163.99 for the idler arm for my 67. The part might have been made at the same place as Advance, Autozone, internet Jap/Mex suppliers etc.... but I only feel comfortable about NAPA. I feel pretty stupid now but what can I say I didn't know about the trick RedFish spoke about.
 
dartley said:
Just went to PST and the price of a rebuild kit is $219 for either a 67 or a 68 ... indeed for a 57 - 89.

Here's the contents:



MOST KITS CONTAIN:
* 2 Upper Ball Joints
* 2 Lower Ball Joints
* 4 Upper Inner Control Arm Bushings
* 2 or 4 Lower Inner Control Arm Bushings
* 2 Strut Rod Bushings ( if required)
* 2 Outer Tie Rod Ends
* 2 Stabilizer Links (Bolt and sleeve type links only)
* 2 Sway Bar Bushings (for most models)
* Control Arm Bumpers (for most models)

The super kit (with more stuff, incl idler arm) is $379 for any year but 67 and $399 for the 67 ... not much diff.

If the idler arm separately bought is 67: $94 vs 68: $39. So I'd question the advisability of welding onto the K just to save either $20 or $55.
Click to expand...

That`s a good buy on the kit. I wouldn`t go to the trouble of modifying the K-member for such a small difference in price either.
 
Longgone said:
That`s a good buy on the kit. I wouldn`t go to the trouble of modifying the K-member for such a small difference in price either.
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yes, but this is only the kit price for the rubber ones.

pollygraphite super kit costs $459.00. i know it'll be money well spent though. well we should hope so at least!
 
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