Spent the day doing the rear suspension...

[Adam Connell]

Well I'm just happy my hands are in good enough shape to type. Got starter yesterday around 2 and worked until 7, and then again this morning at 10-8 tonight... I'm wore the hell out. That all does include breaks and parts store trips to get things like new suspension bolts. Damn 1/2in bushings...

So I did everything back there... here's what I did:
- Speedway upper and lower control arms
- DSE sway bar
- KYB shocks
- Duralast Springs P/N RCS5379S

Here's the run down... Lower control arms, no big deal other than having to get new bolts and drill out the mounts to 1/2in! Shocks, are super simple and I am honestly mad I didn't do them sooner. Springs were simple enough, but to get the stockers out I unloaded the suspension and cut half way through them with a cut off wheel and then jacked the rear up to break them. They fall out after that. Tape the insulator to the spring when reinstalling new springs. The new duralast springs are shorter and come out much easier.

Upper control arms... F*** U! I did not buy the special tool, and the ball joint press I borrowed from my neighbor was horrible... I easily spent well over HALF of my time getting the old ones out and new ones in. I don't even want to talk about it... I will never again do them without the special tool, or the right kind of C clamp ball joint press. I am a specialty oil field service technician, and this was the single biggest mechanical headache I have ever encountered in my life... They don't make words mean enough for those evil bushings. My hands tell the tale pretty clearly!

DSE swaybar was super easy to install. I was worn out and taking my time and I still maybe only had an hour into the installation.

Didn't drive the car yet, it got dark right as I got the car back on the ground. I'll tighten her up in the morning and go for a drive and let yall know how the new setup works!

After doing the rear I am highly considering just paying a shop to do the front!

The best part of my day was nicking my thumb with the angle grinder this morning and saying " awww F***, that's gunna need stitches! Where's the super glue?" loud enough for my neighbor to hear... apparently the way I said it was quite hilarious! I'm not sure if he knows I wasnt kidding haha!

 

[Boost231]

Pics or GTFO

 

[charlief1]

The front is much easier Adam, believe me. The only thing you really need to do is remove the steering shaft and disconnect the down pipe. Also make sure you have the suspension loaded when you tighten up the bolst, front and rear.

 

[John Larkin]

The front is easier but getting everything changed over is time consuming unless you have the right tools.

Charlie, you have mentioned torquing everything with the suspension loaded more than once. I just did my lowers and did the uppers last year. Once I had everything installed, I set my jackstands under the lower control arms and let the car's weight sit on them. Then I torqued the upper and lower bushings. That is what you mean, correct? Same effect as having the wheels on as far as I can see.

You can leave the downpipe and steering shaft in no problem. It's the wheelhouse that gets in the way of the torque wrench. I could torque the forward upper nut no problem but the rear was shrouded by the wheelhouse and I had to guesstimate with a large wrench. (My forearm torque guesstimater had just been calibrated so I feel good about it ).

Note to file: Autozone's free rental ball joint press is excellent for pressing ball joints out but reinstalling them, no way. Gotta find someone with a 10-ton press frame. A few pieces of 1.75" and 2" exhaust pipe is the key to easily reinstalling bushings with a small sledge. And Autozone's coil spring compressor works great as well but they just scare me in general.

 

[Adam Connell]

The front is much easier Adam, believe me. The only thing you really need to do is remove the steering shaft and disconnect the down pipe. Also make sure you have the suspension loaded when you tighten up the bolst, front and rear.

For some reason I woke up this morning with the desire to do the front... I'm not sure if it was that I felt like the rear beat me just a little bit, or I am just a glutton for punishment! haha I think a lot of my attitude is the fact that I work on frac pumps and monster trucks for a living, so the fact that this was even a challenge gets under my skin...

Any special tools for the front? I've already done the jeep steering shaft and I'm quick at getting my DP out too, so I might start the battle today. I've got Sunday and Monday off too, so I might take today off to give my hands a day to recover and make sure I am not just doing the front out of spite haha! Im about to go out and torque the rear.

Overall I went through and analyzed the entire process again in my head and realized the only thing about the doing the rear suspension that was difficult was the upper bushings on the axle housing. Other than that it wasn't bad at all. Knowing what I know now and armed with the right tool, I feel I could get the job done 4-6 hours. Having to drill out those bushings, get all the rubber out, slice what I could with a cut off wheel, and then finish the cut with a hacksaw took some time... Getting the new ones back in was actually the worst part. I'm still trying to figure out if the speedway bushings might have been slightly over sized. I had to sand them down slightly and actually take off some material to even get them started. I greased them, froze them, beat them, did every trick I know, and still fought for every millimeter. I know they were supposed to be pressed in, but at one point even the mini sledge wasn't helping.

 

[charlief1]

To load the suspension you need to have it sitting on the wheels. If you have it loaded in any other location it's not fully loaded and will put stress on the bushings. You can get away with it in the back because you have a solid axle but with the fronts it's more like a lever. Kind of like grabing a rachet in the middle instead of the end while trying to turn a bolt.

As far as special tools go a spring compressor and the ball joint press as well as a air chisel. Use the air chisel to collapse the bushing shells and then you can get the bushings out easier. The spring compressor to remove the springs. The way I use it is through the hole in the bottom of the control arms but I've got a plate that I put on the bottom instead of the claw. This pulls the spring down on the arm and unless you're replacing the spring you don't need to remove it until everything is back up in place.

The upper bushings are fairly easy but the lowers are a PITA normally if you're not used to doing them. Use a chisel on the air gun and start by cutting the bushing shell. One it starts to collapse then look and see if the lowers are staked in place or not. If they're stock they will be. Use the chisel to remove the stakes. Then the side that has the flange on it you can get the chisel under the flange and use it to start getting the bushing out. If you have any problems PM me and I can see about calling you to guide you through it.

 

[turboc87gn]

I didnt remove my steering shaft or downpipe when i did mine...i took my control arms off (make sure you keep track of what shims go where....) As far as the a arms a concerned i took mine off dropped them off at the machine shop down the street with the bushing kit and the ball joints...i spent $120 bucks and when i got them back they were clean sandblasted with all my new goodies installed in them....take the tierods etc apart as an assembly and use it as a guide for the length when assembling the new stuff.....Be careful not to strip the treads for the frame when removing and reinstalling the swaybar...I used a jack to keep the bar tight to the frame while removed and installed the bolts.