Evening folks,
Worked on the drivers side front suspension today and it was painful ;-) To drop the lower control arm one has to release the associated torsion bar which is under a load and if it got away from you could be deadly, really. Well at any rate I thought it would be pretty simple to release the adjustment plate from the reaction plate but I had forgotten that the two bolts are hidden from access by the exhaust pipes etc. Needless to say a lot of stuff had to be removed to get to them, now I'm sweating how I'll get them back in place*.
Doing one of these cars is often like an archaeologic dig, some times you find the strangest things. Todays discoveries included the fact that some one had been here before and ran into problems with getting the nut on the torsion bar mount so they didn't bother to put a nut on the end of the bolt that locks the TB in place. The other thing I found today was that the front mount for the lower control arm was held in place by 4 loose bolts, they had not been snugged up. Accidents happen, but these two little things could have lead to one.
I'll leave the rest for the picture captions.
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| Partially disassembled front suspension |
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| Brake rotor, caliper, and shield have to be taken off |
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| taking the control arm apart, TB tension held by the shock absorber, once the axle carrier is removed then I'll put the jack under the lower control arm to hold it then release the shock and drop the control arm down relieving the pressure on the TB |
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| Just the various tools and BFH's required for this job |
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| Almost there, one additional comment-the lower ball joint was very worn/loose |
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| Going... |
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| Gone |
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| Control arms before cleaning |
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| Control arms after cleaning, will need to decide if I should paint them.... |
Well folks, it's been a long day, I worked in a nice Mtn Bike ride and got the AC working on Pearle my 73 2+2
'That's All Folks"
Cheers,
Lynn
5 1/4 hrs
I found the same thing when I refurbished the suspension on the yellow 69. The nuts were left off of the right side torsion bar tie plate as well. That driver's side tie plate is so danged hard to get to. I managed to tighten the nuts with the exhaust in place by using one of those swiveling ratchet connectors and it was still very tough. I used lots of wood between the lower arm and my jack when relieving the pressure on the suspension and it was definitely dangerous. Of course, I had some tutoring from Jerry so that probably saved my life or at least my vision.
ReplyDeleteI remain amazed how much you get done in one day. I cleaned and painted a couple of things, and ordered some parts, and ate lunch. That was about it.
Not right side. Left side torsion bar tie plate. :-\
DeleteCorrect, I was going to say 'right' but that would just confuse things ;-) I am dreading getting them back in there and the nuts on and tightened. When I did RJ I recall that it was a PITA too and I used a box end wrench with some tape in it to hold the nut while I gently turned the bolt, very gratified when the nut caught the thread!
DeleteThe TB's are very dangerous as you well know but I'm going to do the reverse of the disassembly and attach the shock link before I install the stub axle carrier. That way the lower control arm is 'caught' in the center of the rubber pad of the floor jack and less likely to slip off compared to the way I used to do it by lifting on the lower ball joint that has been installed on the lower control arm.
Thanks for your comment Drew,
Cheers,
Lynn