Now for some of things I did wrong on this job – perhaps you can learn from my mistakes. Take the brake caliper and rotor off before disconnecting the lower control arm and guide rod. With the spindle dangling from the upper control arm it’s difficult to stabilize the knuckle to have leverage to free the brake caliper bolts. I had to loosely reattach the tie rod to get the leverage I needed.
Also, I unnecessarily panicked while pressing the lower control arm bushings in. I had a Master Ball Joint kit from Harbor Freight, which has a cylinder that is pretty close to optimal (just a hair to large – but did the job) to press on the ring of the caps that goes flush against the lower control arm once pressed in. While pressing the opposite side cap on, I thought I had deformed the other cap and started over with a new lower control arm bushing that was intended for the other side. That was a drag because I had to remove the bushing I had just pressed in (cut off end of cap and use a puller to push bushing out). I spent a horrifically long time with the press being careful not to deform the caps on the second set only to realize later test fitting the lower control arm back in the car that I that I had in fact not deformed the caps earlier as I had suspected. The caps did indeed need to be crushed further and should touch the cylinder that runs inside the inner bushing (I know, pics really would help). If you don’t crush the caps until the inner bushing’s cylinder is flush with the outside plate of the cap, they protrude too far off the ends of the control arm and won’t fit back on the car. Doh! Experience comes with practice I guess. That ordeal was a HUGE time waster.
Another gotcha occurred during reassembly when bolting the lower control arm to the new ball joint in the steering knuckle. As I started tightening the nut, the whole ball joint started spinning. There is not slot on the spindle or a hex key opening on the top of the spindle to apply a counter hold. Eventually after staring at the problem for 30 min (I was exhausted at this point), I realized that if I installed the spring and carefully lowered the car with the wheels turned (as the brake caliper was suspended from the sway bar), the spring would press the lower control arm down and the tire on the ground with the weight of the car would push the steering knuckle / ball joint up, preventing rotation of the ball joint and making tightening the nut a snap. Something to note, unless your arm is calibrated for tightening torque, “Kinetik Auto Equipment Tools” on eBay also offers a 22mm crows foot, which would allow you to use a torque wrench on that ball joint nut. At the time, the largest crows foot I had was a 19mm. So I had to use an open end 22mm wrench. I’m just that way – I like to torque everything possible to spec. So plan ahead!
Last gotcha. There are these crazy small bolts that hold the bottom of the shock to the lower control arm (requires a 10mm 12pt socket – 6 point won’t work). Of the two bolts, the inside bolt will not want to line up with the lower control arm dropped because the strut leans in at an angle, covering the bolt hole. The angle prevents getting a socket in there square and you risk damaging the bolt. Assuming you have not put the spring back in the perch, you can make the angle on this bolt better by placing a floor jack under the lower control arm and lifting it up and thus compressing the shock. I always start my nuts and bolts by hand and I could not get the bolt started. The problem was a bunch of old blue Loctite and some dull threads – not a winning combo when trying to start a tiny bolt. After some carb cleaner and running a tap and die through the bolt hole and bolt – it went in like butter . You might just buy new bolts – they would be cheaper than a tap and die set. Of course, that further delayed reassembly. If there was a perfect tool for that little bolt I’d recommend the SK ¼ metric 12 point flex socket set #1336. A set is not cheap at $100-$110 on eBay. FYI - eBay store seller “CBM Tools” is one of my favorite S-K tool dealers – good prices, fast shipping.
Just doing one side took me ALL day (good 10 hours). Granted I was taking some pictures, testing different tools, learning as I went, had some obstacles to overcome (mostly due to ignorance – I’m not a veteran mechanic and this is my first “rebuild”). The second time around when Rashakor came over to see how it was done, I had the other side done in about 4 and a half hours. Once you know what you are doing it goes a lot faster. Also know this is a lot of physical work. I’m in decent shape for a 38 year old, and I was sore as hell the next day after that first long day. Being a mechanic is tough on the body – my hat goes off to them. There is great satisfaction learning how do stuff yourself, and usually the labor savings alone pays for any tools you might need, but pick you battles!
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PIC 1 - tight angle on strut & lower control arm - shows 12 pt flex socket vs regular 1/4" 10mm
PIC 2 - flex socket in action