Front suspension parts

[kenny]

i know this started a while back and i wanted to follow up and encourage you to save a bunch of money and do it yourself if you are still thinking on it. i can not give my opinion on the bushing type as i have not used mine yet however i chose poly and i have finished putting it back together. i took my suspension out myself, my car is a shell with no motor so i took everything out included k member. 1st i removed torsion bars, then lower control arms. then i took upper/lower ball joints loose and removed spindle/brake assembly. then couldnt get roll pin out of strut rod so i cut the pin off down into the treads a little so i could get the nut off and removed the rods. then i took the k frame with the steering stuff and sway bar still attached, after it was out of the car i broke all that down. i took the lower arms to a local machine/tool shop and had the pins pressed out for $5, my poly bushings reuse the shells so i didnt have them removed, i also paid $25 to have the upper arm bushings pressed out and that also covered pressing the new ones in later. the sway bar and strut rod bushings dont need any heavy tools. then i took the whole lot of parts and had them sandblasted and primed for $125. when i got them back i painted it all up took the upper arms back to have the bushings pressed back in, and i was able to put the lowers back in myself greesed them up could get them about half way back in by hand the used a big c clamp to push them the rest of the way. put the steering back to gether with new tie rods idler arm and pitman arm, i did pay $10 to have the pitman arm changed out i was not strong enough to even get the nut loose so i paid the local shop to do it with air tools took them about 15minutes. put new upper and lower ball joints in while i had the brake hubs/drums off to get at the lower ball joint bolts i changed the bearings, races, and brake shoes as well. i had $310 in the bushing kit that came with all the bushings, all ball joints, all tie rods, all bump stops and an idler arm, and rear leaf spring/shakle bushings. then i paid $65 for a pitman arm, about $125 for brake shoes/hardware, and wheel bearings. and i have about three week ends of time in it, one taking it apart, one painting parts, and one putting it together. so total cost was some time, $40 shop labor, $125 sanblasting, and $375 in suspension parts. when you figure in the brake and wheel bearing cost of $125 and probably $40 worth of VHT spray paint my whole front end total is only $705, i know $705 is a lot but i think i probably also have a lot more done than the shop who gave you such i high price for changing your bushings. if you just wanted to do bushings, ball joints, and tie rods and pay people to do the pressing on the hardest ones but do the work yourself with parts you could be at less than $500.

[gcoupe72]

Thanks for documenting and sharing your experience
Sounds like you did a great job!