Re: Playing with suspension bits

[Dan Bubb <jdbubb@ix.netcom.com>]

This is great detailed information.
One thing about marking the camber bolts. It's extremely difficult to
get them back in EXACTLY the same position. And that isn't a big deal as
far as camber's concerned. BUT, small changes in camber do affect toe
quite alot and toe misalignment will cause tire wear. At least check
your toe if you don't get a full alignment.
On a side note, setting toe using the old parallelagram string method
works great if you do it right and it doesn't cost a dime.
Dan

Colin wrote:
> 
> Hi,
>      I noticed a couple questions and comments around taking the front end
> suspension and associated bits apart and thought I'd comment based on some very
> recent experiences.
>      First, if you plan to remove the axle as part of this adventure, loosen
> (just a turn or so) the bolt that holds the outer end to the hub.  You'll
> really want to do this with the wheel on the ground and the parking brake set.
> A breaker bar with a 30mm socket on the end is a good idea, that bolt is tough.
> After you get the car on jacks (or a hoist if you can get to one) you should
> probably leave the axle attached at both ends, although you can also loosen
> (but not remove) the bolts holding the inner end to the differential if you
> want.  There are only a couple reasons you might want to remove the axle at this
> point.  I'll point them out as we go by.
>      The most difficult part working with things that connect to the control
> arm is probably going to be the balljoints.  A couple things you probably want
> to keep in mind if you need to take them out.  First, if the balljoint is held
> in place with a clamp (no nut on top of the balljoint, big bolt running across
> the front) as it is with mine, you absolutely have to remove that bolt.  The
> balljoint has a groove cut into it that the bolt passes through.  It was
> moderately rusted on mine and a major pain, but you really need to do this.
> Second, you really should spend the $20 or so and get a pickle bar.  Get the
> kind you can beat with a heavy hammer, not the kind that fits on an air hammer
> (unless of course you have a compressor and air hammer).  I've heard it said
> you can pop out the balljoint by beating on the lower control arm with a
> big hammer.  I've never tried this, so I don't know if it will actually work.
> It seems a bad idea to me, though, because you'll have to remove the drive axle
> first and you run the risk of bending the control arm when you start hitting
> it.  If that happens, you'll probably never be able to get the alignment right
> without replacing the arm.  Finally, you'll also need to remove the front
> anti-sway bar to disconnect the balljoint from the hub.  The only warning about
> the pickle bar is to make sure the prongs aren't going to go through the dirt
> shield and possibly hit the rotor, because you'll have to really hit it to
> break the ball joint free if it's been there for any length of time.
>      If the balljoints aren't new, you'll probably want to replace them
> regardless of what else you had planned.  They're quite inexpensive and enough
> of a pain to remove that you don't want to do this more than necessary.  If,
> like mine until recently, they've still got the factory rivets in, you'll want
> to remove the entire control arm for that.  You can drill the rivets out on
> the work bench this way and it's a lot easier.  The remaining things attached to
> it are quite easy to deal with.
>      Do not remove the control arm mounting hardware until after you've broken
> the balljoints free.  Otherwise you run the risk of overextending the inner CV
> joint and that will cost.  You could, of course, remove the axle and release
> the back half of the control arm before tackling the balljoint, but it gets
> really wobbly at that point and you'll probably need all the leverage you can
> get to free the rest of the pieces.
>      If you're planning to remove the hub the next bit you want to go after is
> the outer tie-rod end.  If you chose wisely, the pickle bar you used on the ball
> joint will work here as well.  If you don't plan to replace the end, grease the
> prongs on your pickle bar to reduce the chance of damaging the boots on the
> tie-rod end.  If you split one, you have to replace the entire end.  If you do
> replace either or both tie-rod ends, very carefully mark where it sits on the
> tie-rod before you remove it.  You'll still need to have the alignment done
> (after replacing a tie-rod end it's unavoidable, I think) but you'll be able to
> drive it over if there's no highway involved without too much worry.
>      The other important not to miss thing you'll need to remove to pull out the
> hub is the brake assembly.  Easiest way is to get the 2 19mm bolts holding the
> entire unit to the hub, slide it free, then wire it to something not being
> removed.  You probably don't want to let it hang by the brake line.
>      The strut/sping don't attach to the control arm, they bolt onto the
> hub/bearing assembly.  If you mark the relationship between the strut mount
> plates and the hub, you can probably get away without an alignment.  You really
> should get one done if you've disconnected this many suspension parts, but I
> saw a pretty good tutorial on a DIY alignment check (on the web site) that will
> probably cover you if you're very careful.  Work on the nuts, not the bolts,
> especially on the top of the mount.  You'll notice the upper mount bolt is
> eccentric.  If you start cranking on the bolt head instead of the nut, you'll
> probably damage things you'd rather not have to replace.  Penetrating oil
> (Liquid Wrench, or whatever) is definitely going to be your friend here.  The
> top of the struts are attached (at least on my 87 8v) with two little bolts and
> are very easy to remove.
>      How you approach the last few bits depends on what you're doing.  If you
> plan to pull everything out, do the strut to hub connections before you do the
> top mount bolts for the strut.  The two pieces together are heavy enough to
> be annoying and difficult to handle effectively.  With the lower control arm out
> of the way, you should probably remove the axle just before you actually
> disconnect the strut from the hub.  The good news is that with the ball joint
> out, you can move the hub quite a bit and it makes pulling the axle out pretty
> easy.  Then, when you remove the strut to hub bolts, you catch the hub before
> it falls on the ground and when you remove the upper strut bolts, you catch the
> strut.
>      Some other useful (IMHO) things to keep in mind.  If you're replacing the
> struts it costs about the same to have a garage disassemble the strut/spring
> and reassemble with the new parts as it does to rent the spring compressing
> tool for a week-end.  Around here, anyhow, it cost me $40 to have new struts
> assembled with new springs and renting the tool would have been $35 for the
> week-end.  You really!!!!! do not want to start undoing the spring retainer
> on the top of the strut without either compressing or cutting the spring.
> You will get seriously injured.  This is also a good opportunity to check a
> bunch of things including the differential seals, brakes, etc.  Finally, don't
> undo or remove anything that you don't absolutely have to.  The more things you
> fiddle with here, the more likely you are to need alignment, break other
> things, etc.
>      I apologize for the length of this post, but I just went through all of
> this and I wanted to pass along the benefits of my misadventures while they
> were still fresh in my mind.  I learned the hard way (for example) about
> over-extending the inner CV joint.  I learned about the bolt on the balljoint
> clamp the hard way as well, after beating up on my pickle bar for over an hour
> with no results.  The second balljoint took about 10 minutes to release once I
> knew the trick.  Finally, before you start seriously working on your car, get
> the book.  I have the Haynes book, and it's not bad, but I've heard Bentley's
> is better (at the very least, Bentley's doesn't assume 'roccos, Jettas, etc are
> all the same as far as I've heard).
> 
> Cheers,
> Colin
> 
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