Should I be nervous?

[MopaR&D]

I'm about to get into rebuilding the front end in my '70 Duster and needless to say I'm kind of nervous about it. This is my biggest "repair" I've ever done and I'm worried I'll do something wrong, or it'll take forever/be a PITA, or I'll have to spend an arm and a leg for specialized tools every 5 minutes. I rented a front-end service kit from Checker for three days (just a bunch of pullers for tie-rod ends and such), but other than that it's a socket set, breaker bar, and other hand tools. There isn't really any rust anywhere under the car (thank GOD!) and I've already gotten the brake disc/caliper assembly off, I'm just hesitant to proceed. Will I be able to have this done by Saturday morning, or should I prepare to have my mom drop me off at work for a couple days into my work week? BTW I have a Polygraphite + sway bar kit from PST.

EDIT: I also wanted to ask, what's the order I should take things apart? The FSM isn't specific on that.

 

[AdamR]

You need a special socket for the upper ball joints and the control arm bushing need to be pressed in/out. Other then that its not hard.

 

[MopaR&D]

Could I use my neighbor's vise for pressing the bushings?

 

[SnakeSkinDuster]

I just did this to my duster a few months ago, it was my first time also so i can identify with your worry. Buy the special tool for the upper ball joint, i got it from Mancini for like $35. The upper control arm bushings can be taken out with an air chisel, but you have to be very carefully and need a bench vise. It was such a tedious act that it might be a good idea to go to a shop to get them pressed out. I did it at my tech school with a teacher who is also a mopar guy, so i can't give you a DIY timetable. But it took me a day and a half of constant work (approx 8 hours).

just my non-experianced 2-cents

 

[68 A]

to get the upper ball joints apart i put a big adjustable wrench on it, and they came right off. I work on a farm, so i just borrowed the 24" adjustable. I bet a pipe wrench would work too, maybe a pipe on the end for more leverage. I had the cut my upper control arm bushings out. I broke the bolts off trying to get the nuts off, so i tried with a sawsall but was taking forever, so i borrowed the torch from the farm and cut them out. It does start a bit of a fire, and burn the paint off the inside of the engine bay.

Getting the rest of the bushings out and the new ones in i put the control arm in a vise, and got some long bolts and washers and big sockets and used them as a press (picture attatched)

I also had the heat up the lower control arm to get the bottom ball joint out.

Its not too hard, probably the longest part was trying to get the upper control arm bushings out since they were seized up.

remember, you only have to get the front rebuild done, sway bar can be added later.

good luck

o yea, i didn't change the lower control arm bushing, i couldn't get the torsion bars out.

 

[6pk2goDemon]

If you've never done this before, I would suggest doing 1 side at a time. That way, if you get stuck on reassembly, you can look at the other side.

If you decide to do both sides at once.......Be careful and don't mix up left and right on the upper control arms. They look similar and will mount up, but won't work when you get to the alignment shop. :happy10:

 

[MopaR&D]

I'm doing the passenger side first. I need a 15/16" socket and that ball-joint socket, but other than that it's been going okay. That's good to hear that I can add the sway bar later, as I don't feel like going under my car for a little while (gives me motion sickness from laying down on a flat surface). Those breaker bars are life savers too! I know I'd be sitting with a broken ratchet and a sore arm if I hadn't bought that breaker bar.

 

[edbux]

I had my uca bushings pressed in and the ball joints swapped out at a local shop
for $40. Of course, the arms were off and I had the parts. That might be easier than fighting with it at home.

 

[MopaR&D]

Those UCA bushings are a PITA!!! I got one almost all the way out with the socket/through-bolt trick, but now it's stuck at the end because the rubber keeps squishing out the sides. I'm trying to figure out a way to pull it the rest of the way out, but I'm thinking I'll just have to have them pressed out. I'm willing to bet that there is a press in one of the labs at the U.S. Air Force Academy where I work, I'll see if I can take it out tomorrow.

 

[71DartGuy]

I did mine the same way that 68 A did. WOrked great for me to get the new ones reinstalled. For the old ones, I put the arm on the vice to where the bushing was in between the jaws of the vice and used a ball peen hammer to smack them out after letting them soak in some Kroil for about ten minutes. I then took some fine grit sandpaper to clean up the hole. Then I put a socket bigger than the sleeve for the bushing and put it on the inside of the uca and then pressed it in with the vice. Lubed up the bushing and then ran them in with the vice as well. Didnt take an hour to do, just need a little patience and a securely mounted vice. Oh, and use lots of grease on the bushings!

 

[MopaR&D]

I used a big press-type machine in the engineering lab at the Air Force Academy to get the bushings in the upper control arm (I hope I didn't ruin them, I had to play around with them to get them straight). Now we're having trouble getting the old bushing shell out of the lower control arm. The inner sleeve and rubber is out, we just have to get out the shell. Anybody know how to do that?

 

[Aaron]

Heat and a chisle.
Heat the shell with a torch, then real fast hit around the upper lip of the shell with a chisle and hammer. It will collapse and fall out.

Other option is leave the shell in, and install poly lower bushings, as they "re-use" the outer and inner shell.
When I re-did my suspension it had the "Performance Handling for classic mopars" book handy, as it has lots of good info and tricks that come in handy rebuilding the front-end. It even has check-lists for putting things back together to make sure you didnt miss a part or step along the way. Somewhere there is a digital copy on the internet of that book.

 

[63dartman]

I did mine last year and used the old method of hammer and small chisel. Took forever and my forearms hurt for two days. I know they make specialty tools for removing them though and there are also some tricks they posted earlier.

 

[MopaR&D]

We started chiseling it, but stopped because it was getting late and I thought there was a better way. I guess I'll have my dad keep hitting it (he's a big guy, he can do it no problem), or I'll give it a shot.

EDIT: I was also wondering, did I need to disassemble and grease my UCA bushings (poly)? I just took them out of the bag and pressed them in with a little grease around the outer shells.

 

[2 Darts]

Adam's got it right. There are different sizes of the upper ball joint tool. The 70's used the smallest. Mine is a used Snap-On made for a 1 inch drive. I use an adaptor to get it to work with my ½ inch drive set.

Soak the upper ball joint in a rust penetrant. Even so, I've never been able to get enough leverage with a 24 inch breaker bar to get them loose. I now keep a 6 foot pipe in the garage to slide over the breaker bar for this purpose. BTW: Don't try this with a ratchet head. The last time I did, I split the head. Thank goodness for lifetime guarantees on good quality hand tools.

 

[whitey]

I'm about to get into rebuilding the front end in my '70 Duster and needless to say I'm kind of nervous about it. This is my biggest "repair" I've ever done and I'm worried I'll do something wrong, or it'll take forever/be a PITA...

Hey, I'm 35, I just finished my 73 Swinger. Before I started this project I never saw the inside of an engine, never touched a trans, never did body work. Have faith in yourself, take your time AND PICTURES!!!! You'll be fine.

 

[rebeldart]

I had my uca bushings pressed in and the ball joints swapped out at a local shop
for $40. Of course, the arms were off and I had the parts. That might be easier than fighting with it at home.

This is what I do and definitely the way to go - the rest is so easy, even a caveman can do it. measure the length of your tie rods before replacing ends so you can thread them on and get them close enough to (maybe) drive to allignment shop (don't drive on good tires any distance at all - it'll scrub 'em bald in no time !)

 

[MopaR&D]

Now I realize you guys had to use manual presses. My dad's engineering lab has these awesome hydraulic rams for testing (crushing) concrete cylinders. We just put the control arm in there and pushed a button; the motor did all the work for us. BTW I got the passenger side control arms back in and I'm currently working on getting the driver side out. This really isn't too bad and is moderately straight-forward after the stupid bushings are taken care of.