vsi1600

I'm about to dig into this on my 1990 4wd Pickup DLX. I have all the parts (mostly MOOG stuff) just haven't had time to dig into it until now.

Not expecting the the ball-joints to be that big of a hassle, but getting the bushings in/out looks like it will be. Even with a press it looks like it might be a handful getting the ones that are already in there out.

Won't really know exactly what I'm looking at until it's apart, but anyone who has done this before, please share any tips you might have!

I'm also changing my idler arm, and steering stabilizer strut (moog and kyb) and doing new shock struts KYB GR2 all the way around. Total suspension overhaul!!

TIA for any tips

Tombo4Lo

If ur useing bushings that have outer sleves its a pain in the "a" to get em pressed out and pressed back in. had to bassically cut mine out. Its a little easier is u have the type of bushings that require the use of the old inner and outer sleves. another tip. before removeing the tortion bar bolts clean em well and put antisieze or atleast wd40 on the threads before u back the nuts off. I snapped one and it was a bad day

vsi1600

Very good advice.

The bushings I got came with the outer sleeves... Good thing I don't need the truck running again right away. I have a couple days at least.

mightymouse

iTrader: (6)

Good luck man looks like one helluva project! Take pics and do a write up if you can i'd like to see it done. Only advice i have mirrors the previous so make damn sure you put some pb blaster on the torsion bar adjustment bolts. When i changed mine out they were seized and when one snapped it went through the floor pan. Be careful and go ahead and pick up some new torsion bar adjustment bolts before you start. They're cheap and are good to replace if you're tearing into the suspension. First step should be addressing the torsion bars.

vsi1600

Thanks for the heads up on the torsion bars! Would not have thought of that myself... Should I actually look into changing the bars themselves...? Don't think I could get new ones from the dealer, and if I could $$$$$ ...wouldn't hurt to salvage some newer ones from a local yard, just not that many good Yotas to be had at the local yards.

There is a dealer with very very friendly/helpful parts people right down the street from me, so getting new adjustment bolts is no problem

I found the bushing replacement instructions in the manual, and they use a special tool with a press. Not going to get the special tool, so I'll just have to see what works...

mightymouse

iTrader: (6)

If you want to replace the torsion bars they're a few after market ones online like sway away. That being said you shouldn't have to do so unless you add a winch or heavy after market bumper.

vsi1600

A winch is actually in the master plan as an eventual add-on once all of this essential stuff is taken care of. I'm not looking to add a super duty winch though... just something that could pull me out of a ditch, when the truck is more or less empty. I know that not all winches are created equal, so I'd probably be looking to get something at the high end of the "doesn't require installing a massive bumper" scale, unless I find out that it would be useful for my application.

Calipers are off on both sides and hubs disassembled. Axels come out next (these are getting replaced too) then the control arms after the hubs and rotors. Forgot to PB Blast the torsion bar hardware before I finished work late last night, but I'll get it right now before I go out to pick up some more parts.

New rotors and stainless steel brake lines are required.

Tombo4Lo

Also, if you r planning on re useing the stock tortion bars make shure to mark them at each end. on both ends there are splines wich go into the control arm at one end and into the the bracket that the tension bolt goes through. If not it can b a pain in the butt to get the front end set nice and straight. Pink nail polish works great.(remind me not to take my socks off infront of anyone)

vsi1600

Haha, great tip! Wasn't entirely sure what they wanted me to mark in the manual, because I actually never separated mine here. I just left them connected and pulled the whole bar straight back, still plenty of room to get the UCA's out.

Update: The tortion bar bolts have been removed, the old fashioned way Almost got one of them all the way off before it broke, but no dice. I was actually able to loosen most of them a good bit, relieving most of the load, then when I knew it was time, I stuck a block of wood under the end with the nut, between the floor, and my friend Mr. Giant cranked the bar for me. It's fun to watch the head twist almost a full turn without the end of the bolt, before it finally snaps!

Popping the ball joints was pretty straight forward, although one was suuuper tight. Pickle fork alone wasn't enough, had to use a gear puller on the bottoms. Pickle fork + hammer on the top.

Putting a bit of fresh paint to keep the rust away on the LCAs, which both had a bit of rust, but leaving the uppers as is. Not a show truck afterall. Bushings next....

Here is a pic of my trick suspension setup:

Tombo4Lo

im not shure if you have auto zone in your area but they care an inexpensive seperator for the joints brand name o.e.m. it lookes like kind of a U shape with ears at the end that point in one one end and a long bolt at the outher.

It jus makes it alot easier. Some times the jaw pullers like to bend or jus not work at all. There r two sizes of them, both r needed but will pop everything that needs to b popped on ifs 4x4's.

I know u have allready got urs loose but for next time u gotta pull em it will make really quick work for verry little dollar

vsi1600

Thanks for the tips Tombo. I could def use a better tool for popping ball joints, I'll check an Auto Zone the next time I am in the east bay, nothing but Kragens near me at the moment.

Well I finally got it done... Here are some pics from the job. I don't have any pics of us pressing the bushings out, but it's pretty much the same thing, in reverse. As a note: we definitely couldn't have done this without access to a lathe to cut down press tools to exact size. So make friends your local lathe operator today or go take machine shop!


Pressing in the LCA bushings


Pressing in the larger UCA bushing which needs to go in before the shaft. For the removal, we pushed out the rubber of the smaller bushing, with the shaft, then removed the shaft, then pushed out the sleeve of the smaller bushing, then pushed out the bigger bushing. run on sentenze, lol


Pressing in the smaller UCA bushing after putting the shaft in. I DON'T recommend doing it this way, but if you have a small press, it's really the only way... Reason being: this whole bushing is supported in with only one seat (all of the rest have two), and it's really prone to bending for that reason. That pictures shows only one pipe to prevent the arm from caving when we press... It started bending pretty much right away with only 1 pipe and ended up taking 3, and I still wasn't happy about it, but we got it in there without ruining anything, luckily. The tool on the very bottom is the took which we used to press in the big bushing. The best way of doing this is cutting a slot out of a pipe, putting that around the shaft, using it to support the inside of the smaller bushing seat, and then hanging the whole UCA in the middle of the table, supporting the slot-pipe deal with two arbor plates, etc. It's very very hard to press it straight the way we have it pictured here...


New rotors, new bolts, new oil seal, Mobil 1 synthetic MP grease. It needed the rotors badly, the rest was a "why not?" deal, who knows when it was last done.. You have to pry out that seal to get to the inner bearing.


Cheap Cardone Select CVs from Rock Auto. They seem to be pretty high quality axles, but the seal they came with was damaged in shipping due to lack of packaging, so I had to buy new seals from the dealer. The new seals aren't a perfect press fit, but there is no play in them, they just turn if you spin them.. JB Welded them on, and that's the result. Customer service at Rock Auto is being very helpful about the shipping damage. The reman axles I ordered at Napa Auto were in terrible shape, one was INCREDIBLY stiff, and they charged me a restocking fee when I tried to return them. Three thumbs down for Napa on that one.


For some reason the axles don't stick out enough to get the snap ring on. The spacer/washer is already on in that picture... The bolt that goes on after the freewheeling hub body worked fine. Running it without the snap ring right now. If anyone thinks this will lead to death for some reason (if the end bolt shears??) or can think of why it doesn't stick out far enough, let me know. If the seal I used on the knuckle in the above pic looks wrong, someone let me know please. There were a couple listed in the parts catalog, and that one was smaller than the one that came out, but the seal itself was in the same place, and it fit fine. I think it's just the supercession of the older version.


Axle comparison. Cardone = top, OEM = bottom. The splined section of the Cardone axles is slightly longer, but overall, they are the same length, and the snap ring grove is in the same place.

Everything back together! New brake hoses, rotors, pads, outer tie-rod ends, swaybar end links, shocks, idler arm, CVs, ball joints, bushings of course... and some new rubber too.



Oh, and who could forget this...

Thanks to mt_goat for giving me the idea of coating them in anti-seize. It makes a mess, but I'm sure it will pay off down the road. And yeah... There is oil from the tranny on the floor of the truck that's getting tossed out of the rear seal... Don't worry, tranny rebuild is next on my list of things to do

After an alignment, it's a much, much nicer ride than it was before. This truck had been BEAT before I bought it, and it was still going strong, but everything we replaced was shot. Should have taken some pictures of the shocks, but they were rusty and didn't spring back at all when compressed. I still have some negative camber that they couldn't take out without flipping the eccentric bolts (which they didn't have time to do) so I'll bring it back to have that taken care of after I flip the bolts to give them more room to adjust. Steering is much much better, but it still feels like it needs a little fine tuning, it feels all over the place when I straighten out after changing lanes on the freeway. Some 'slop in the middle' is how I'd describe it. Maybe I need to do the pitman arm too... either that or the camber. The toe .09 deg on the left and .06deg on the right now, so steering wheel vibration is totally gone at high speeds.

Anyways, thanks for all the input