The suspens(ion) is killing me

I feel like I've been out in the jungle for two weeks, surviving on scraps and making do with crude tools I've manufactured from sticks and leaves. Then every so often I find a small cache of good luck and it keeps me going for another day or two.

Working on the front end of this wagon (or any car, I assume) is time-consuming and terrible without the proper tools. If I'd known then that I would make good use of an air hammer and a specific joint separator tool, I might have been done inside of a week. As it stood, I only just finished all four ball joints and both sides of complete tie rod ends last weekend. Happy 4th of July, indeed.

The first problem came up shortly after I lifted the car and took the wheel off. Actually, the trouble started when I popped the boot on the factory upper ball joint on one side when filling it with lube. Later, it turned out that the factory joints are riveted to the control arm and necessitated the use of the air chisel and then a punch to knock out all four rivets.

At first I tried using a cold chisel and a BFH, but I may have ended up insane for the noise and I could have carved a life-size replica of Michelangelo's David for the time it would have taken me. Air hammer and chisel later, done in 20 minutes.

Removing the joint itself was another obstacle. I banged on that poor control arm for the better part of two hours, prying at it with a bar, and finally I decided to try jacking up the spring assembly itself to get the weight of the knuckle to help me break it loose. With some jiggery and shuffling of my other jackstand, it finally popped out.

Now, I thought I was the cool kid for doing one of four joints after getting the new one on and torquing everything down, even as far as getting the cotter pin in. Boy, if I'd known then that leaving it apart would make getting the bottom joint out much easier... The ball joint press I borrowed from big daddy O'Reilly barely fits in between the control arms as it is, never mind fighting the knuckle itself out of the way. Working on the joint with the press was a big accomplishment once it finally broke loose. It really requires you to crank the screw to get it out, even with a box wrench "extension" (two wrenches locked together). I was reasonably worried I would break the, a) ball joint, b) press, c) the wrenches, or d) all of the above. Turns out, it was fine.

Getting the new lower joint in, however. To hell with that flaming garbage. First it doesn't want to seat, then I don't have four hands to hold it in place while I get the press in place, then it seats at an angle and makes the press do weird things. After struggling with it for a day (yes a whole godforsaken day), I was able to get it seated mostly straight enough that it straightened out while pressing it beautifully. I make it sound so simple here, like it was a boom-pop-twist-click and done. Not so. Even after I did one side, the other side was still a pain to press in. Beware.

So while I was under there doing ball joints, taking out the tie rod joint from the knuckle made moving things and access much easier. But then I said, "Why the hell wouldn't I just get new ones while I'm down here with everything pulled apart and I'm covered in grease and my handshurtand I'velostthefocusofthisprojectohgodwhatcouldIpossiblygetmyselfinto." Seriously. That's how my inner monologue sounds.

Anyway, the joint was trashed, totally sloppy, so I broke them loose with a sweet little tool from Harbor Freight. It's like 20 bucks, but it had some wicked good reviews and most importantly, It Works(tm). Popped the joints right out, got the new parts from papa O'Reilly for much more than 20 bucks, and installed them remarkably easily. Actually I think the tie rods were easier to take out than putting in. I might have been much more frustrated with them if I had tried to replace just one tie rod because the adjusting sleeve that connected the inner and outer was just rusted junk. To my credit, replacing both was the much better route, and the nigh 30 year old car needed them anyway.

I moved on to the other side which only took about two days, working after my usual job for a few hours until I couldn't stand not being able to see in the dark. To shorten an already longer update, the important wearing parts are new and the ride is much tighter now. I do need to do an alignment, however, or at least adjust one of the tie rods. It seems to pull somewhat to the right.

Brakes are still great and I still love this car. I need to get an estimate on some surface rust and paint job....