Yesterday, a mechanic friend put in new control arm bushings and ball joints in my Golde Top. That car had totally deteriorated upper control arm bushings. It would literally shift on braking and hard turns a half-inch either way. I only drove it on side streets. Now I can take it out on the highway. I'm happy.
This car had never had any front suspension work since leaving the factory. After 76,000 miles the lower ball joints were still tight, but I replaced them since the assembly was apart.
A couple of things I noticed on disassembly. The upper control arms don't look like they were completely painted. It seems the control arm were dipped, and the the ball joint area was left bare. The linear division was apparent. I could not tell anything about the lower control arms, the paint was mostly gone. I choose to repaint the whole arms, since it looks neater.
Also there was a yellow marking stripe on the spring. The springs were marked to specify for weight car. Mine is a sunroof with a 352 and A/C. I recreated that. It makes a nice restoration touch.
Original spring with stripe.
New stripe on spring.
Newly installed painted control arms with new hardware. Note yellow stripe on spring. Also note the grease retainer for the new lower ball joint is nylon. The originals were rubber.
My friend, master mechanic Mike at work. He is a perfectionist.
This procedure is not easy and potentially dangerous. These cars have heavy springs. Mike used a combination of a spring compressor and a jack to get the lower contol arm in place. Alignment of the lower ball joint into the spindle took some effort.
I will write it up and put in the tech section of the main site at www.sqaurebirds.org/control_arm.htm .
This car had never had any front suspension work since leaving the factory. After 76,000 miles the lower ball joints were still tight, but I replaced them since the assembly was apart.
A couple of things I noticed on disassembly. The upper control arms don't look like they were completely painted. It seems the control arm were dipped, and the the ball joint area was left bare. The linear division was apparent. I could not tell anything about the lower control arms, the paint was mostly gone. I choose to repaint the whole arms, since it looks neater.
Also there was a yellow marking stripe on the spring. The springs were marked to specify for weight car. Mine is a sunroof with a 352 and A/C. I recreated that. It makes a nice restoration touch.
Original spring with stripe.
New stripe on spring.
Newly installed painted control arms with new hardware. Note yellow stripe on spring. Also note the grease retainer for the new lower ball joint is nylon. The originals were rubber.
My friend, master mechanic Mike at work. He is a perfectionist.
This procedure is not easy and potentially dangerous. These cars have heavy springs. Mike used a combination of a spring compressor and a jack to get the lower contol arm in place. Alignment of the lower ball joint into the spindle took some effort.
I will write it up and put in the tech section of the main site at www.sqaurebirds.org/control_arm.htm .
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