Redoing Front Suspension

[Tuggy24g]

Not to highjack this thread, but why are A arms for gbodies so much more expensive then other years car?

 

[mhsmonte]

Not to highjack this thread, but why are A arms for gbodies so much more expensive then other years car?

I've noticed that to... You can buy the tubular control arms for a 1970 monte Carlo for half the price of the gbody tubular control arms...

 

[seawolf18]

I am in the process of completely redoing the front end of my car as well. I went with all moog parts for my car. The best price I found for the parts was at rockauto. If you are replacing your a-arm bushings, you will find they are a major pain. I had to take mine to my local machine shop to have them replaced. I also had him press the ball joints out of the lower arms as well. I tried to get one of the ball joints out with my ball joint press, but instead of coming out the ball joint exploded leaving the main part still in the arm. My machinist said he had a hell of a time getting the bushings and ball joints out without destroying the a-arms.

 

[mhsmonte]

I finally got all of my parts together to redo my front end and do a blazer brake upgrade...

My question for this post is should I buy a bushing/ball joint tool from harbor freight to install my new bushings and ball joints or should I just pay a auto mechanics shop... I don't plan on ever changing them again but I just wanted some opinions from this forum!

 

[Fox80]

I have an OTC ball joint/bushing tool set, it doesn't work very well to do bushings on these cars. The uppers have to have the shaft in place so it makes the tool almost useless. I just cut pieces of scrap tubing to keep from crushing the control arms and use my press, it's pretty easy to do, getting the old ones out is the hard part. If you wanted to box the lower control arm do it now it makes it even easier, a piece if 2.5" exhaust tubing with a slot wide enough for the shaft to fit works good for the upper

 

[mhsmonte]

I have an OTC ball joint/bushing tool set, it doesn't work very well to do bushings on these cars. The uppers have to have the shaft in place so it makes the tool almost useless. I just cut pieces of scrap tubing to keep from crushing the control arms and use my press, it's pretty easy to do, getting the old ones out is the hard part. If you wanted to box the lower control arm do it now it makes it even easier, a piece if 2.5" exhaust tubing with a slot wide enough for the shaft to fit works good for the upper

Thanks for the info! I have had my car off the road for two months and I kind of want to get it back on the road pretty soon before it starts snowing! Since you said that the OTC tool set isn't very good how much should it cost if I get a mechanic to install the bushings and ball joints for me?

 

[mhsmonte]

I finally found some lower control arm bolts and now I'm looking for the size of the bolts that attach the blazer spindle to the hub????? And I also had a question on if loctite should be used and which bolts should I use it on while reinstalling all of my parts?

 

[Thiessen1978]

So did anyone end up using the kit from Rusty Nutz and Rodz or whatever it was, the ebay one? And if so what was the quality?