first time front suspension rebuild

-
rich006

rich006

Learning as I go
Joined
Nov 21, 2013
Messages
573
Reaction score
141
Location
Annapolis, MD
First time doing a rebuild of the front suspension, and I'll be swapping from drums to '73-'76 disk brakes while I'm at it. The car is a rust-free '74 slant Swinger with 80K miles, and I plan to replace the outer tie rod ends, upper and lower control arm bushings, lower ball joints (uppers were replaced not long ago), and strut rod bushings. Questions:

1. Do I need to replace the tie rod adjusting sleeves? I am doing the outer ends for sure.
2. Do I need to replace the torsion bar boots? (I haven't yet figured out if I'll need to remove the bars to do the rest of the job, or if they can stay in place.)
3. bigblockdart.com's disk swap page says I'll need a new rubber bushing for the master cylinder push rod. Where do I get one of those?
4. I've seen lots of nightmare stories about removing old lower control arm bushings. Won't a good hydraulic press do the job?
 
You don't NEED to replace them. The lower control arm bushing will need to be pressed in/out and you will need to remove the torsion bars. If your swapping from drum to disc brakes you will need to change the upper arms or buy the sleeve from DrDiff. The T bar boots should be ok as long as they aren't falling apart,make sure you remove the retaing locks in the back of the T bar hole. The master shouldn't be an issue either since not all had the boot to begin with.
 
The 74 Slant six car may already have the large ball joint control arms. My parts car did and it was a 74 slant car. The press will do the job if you weld a washer across the front of the bushing. Otherwise you need to burn out the rubber and split the side of the sleeve with a panel ripper, chisel or torch....
 
The adjusting sleeves will be ok. I like the solid sleeves less flex, if you have the coin.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top