sheesh, more parts have found their way to me. I am almost out of room. more on that in a few days.
I wanted the front suspension rebuilt next. I like to take the wheels off with the frame on jack stands. I put a jack under the lower arm just slightly pushing the arm up, not enough to lift the frame off the jack stand but enough that the arm moves up slightly. I take off the tie rod joint then take off the upper balljoint castle nut all the way, then thread it back on with only a 1/4 inch space between the spindle and castle nut. then I lower the jack so it is JUST BELOW the lower arm, about 1/4 inch, and take my BFH and tap straight on the spindle. do not hit the balljoint, dont hit the castle nut. hit the spindle right at the balljoint area. thusly (click to play)
IMG_6323 by
Rooty Tooty, on Flickr
on the fifth whack you can see the spindle drop, the spring pressure has helped and the balljoint is loose. If I am replacing the lower balljoint or installing drop spindles, I repeat this with the lower balljoint, take off the castle nut all the way, then thread back on leaving space, lower the jack slightly, whack whack whack. you can replace a spindle without taking out the shock or spring or sway bar end link.
the uppers were wasted.
when I had checked the front end the tie rods seemed loose, so planned to replace them and had bought the parts. they wouldnt come loose from the center link, my bfh swing was limited by the sway bar, but I had a new center link too so I popped it off. immediately I realized what I thought was bad tie rods was a bad idler arm, which I DIDNT have. the tie rods were actually tight and good. but I had the new parts so I picked up a new idler and popped it all on.
now the garage was empty, more in the next post.