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....

The real story starts now

Not mine exactly, but another B-Body station wagon (Caprice)

A few days ago I started working on a 1989 Buick LeSabre. A station wagon, to be exact. I adore these GM cars, but not for mechanical or performance reasons. Probably from the days of riding in one all the way Up North to Sleeping Bear or decorating one for the 4th of July parade, or first learning to drive on one. Who can say?

Anyway. I have one. And it's mine. It will be beautiful. It will be glorious. It will not have vacuum leaks, bad brakes, an oil leak, sagging suspension, and a host of other maladies to sap my liquid assets (spoilers: it will). 

Luckily, it doesn't have many power features or body damage, and the rust is minimal. A new paint job ($$$) and it'll look like new. I actually like that it doesn't have a roof rack or "luxury" features like power windows or anti-lock brakes (What happened to pumping the brakes and driving slowly in the snow? It worked for our great-grandfathers!). I think the most modern feature is the cruise control, which I haven't had the heart to function test yet.

I digress. The first, easy thing I wanted to look at was the air intake gasket over the carburetor. Yes, CAR-bur-rey-tor. When I first changed the air filter (the old one was super-gross, btdubs), I noticed the nigh-complete disintegration of the old gasket. I later tried to cut a filter from some gasket paper nonsense, mostly free-hand with part of the old, stretched gasket as a template. It fit. Kinda. With help. Anyway, it's not perfect, but I'm hoping it does the job. I actually haven't had a chance to drive it since then because of other work I'm doing.

The brake warning light came on (future-tech!) and I wanted to check all the joints and brakes anyway. So into the garage and onto the lift it goes. More on the lift later.

Long story short, both rear wheel cylinders leaking, shoes worn almost completely, and front discs are pitted, but not terrible. The master cylinder was half empty from the leaking rears. I started by removing all the great, fun stuff that drum brakes conceal.

I was actually stoked that they came right off without a lot of grunting or heaving on my part. The car was used for a business (funeral home. Rad.) with relatively low miles for the age and garaged most of its life. I guess that says something about how much you love your vehicle. Or that the brakes were just that bad.

Once the drums were off, they didn't look terrible, but the insides were a mess. I think they'd been leaking since the drive back to Michigan, or had recently started when the warning light came on. Plenty of muck and lots of fluid contamination. To the parts store!

I came back from O-Reilly with new pads, fluid, hardware, and cleaner. I also came back with two of the WRONG wheel cylinder parts. I also found out that nobody knows how to turn brake drums anymore. Also that my drums were technically out of spec and not able to be turned, but that the guy at the store across town who could do it did me a favor anyway. Great staff at that location. A nice, old, Santa-bearded guy that owns a Skylark works there. 

Totally not my fault that I got the wrong wheel cylinders. The LeSabre V8 they have in the O-Reilly database isn't a station wagon, which I think makes the big difference. Bolts in the wrong locations and too small. I did a search for a comparable model, an '89 Pontiac Safari wagon and the right part came up. 1" bore wheel cylinder, everything lines up great! Gotta love 'dem GM B-Bodies.

Between getting these new parts and the next day, I should impart a word to the wise regarding the Ranger brand QuickJack. I know it says it right in the manual, but do NOT, repeat, NOT put the lifts at any angle other than parallel, or as close as humanly parallel possible. Bad things will happen. The laws of physics dictate the path of motion the vehicle will travel, and an object in motion will tend to travel in the same direction as the force that acted on it until it encounters another force. Basically what I'm saying is, the car will twist on the jacks if they're pointed in a V-shape. I had this experience, not realizing that they were so far off kilter that they weren't parallel anymore. I was focused on getting the lifts under the car on the frame without realizing that the points I was using weren't parallel to each other on the other side of the car. I'm not happy with my oversight. 

When I realized this, I was starting to do an oil change since I was waiting for the parts the next day. I happened to look at the jack blocks with my head under the car and said, out loud, "Fuck me, that shit doesn't look right."

Nearly an hour and a half later, with the missus helping, we tweaked, floor jacked, and traditionally jack-stood the car until I could get it back on the ground safely. 

If I'd known then what I know now, I would have put all four wheels back on the car (they were all off at the time) and lowered it easily to reposition. Instead, I dicked around and nearly broke something, including myself. My heart palpitations grew three sizes that day.

Anyway, tonight, we got the parts and I learned a few things about how not to change brake springs. Again, with the missus helping, we jammed the shoes back on, slapped the adjuster plate and screw in, then finagled the springs onto their bolts. Later this evening, I looked up how to actually use the brake spring tool I own... correctly...

Tomorrow it's on to the driver's side, armed with new knowledge. A job that has taken over 48 hours on the passenger side will probably take only 30 minutes this time. Life is a cruel teacher, giving the test before the lesson.