Front end repair/rebuilt.

[Zerpentyne Fire]

I will for the first time ever be replacing the 2 upper and lower control arms on me 1965 coronet 500, Also new strut rod bushing and a new Addco sway bar,,, the Mopar packs a BB/440 along with front drum brakes.. My kid will be helping me ,,,he has a nice lift at his home/garage. Is there anything I should consider or pay attention to, while doing the job,, the kid knows "Toyota's" but not much about Mopars. The strut rods will be getting new bushing one of the inner is cracked,, when the SR's go back in is their an adjustment process I should use or consider,, and when the job is done I will get the car a professional alignment. Please!,, I have never done this before,,, any advise is welcomed and appreciated,,,Thanks, Z. Fire

 

[Hemi Rebel]

Nope, no adjustment on the strut rods. Just tighten them up all the way.

 

[nm9stheham]

Yes, tighten the strut rod to the FSM spec.

On the lower control arm bushing and shaft that bolts through the K member, you don't ever torque the shaft in place while the car is up in the air. Leave the shaft nut a bit loose and set the ride height to final height, and then and only then tighten the shaft nut to spec. If you tighten the shaft in place while the car is in the air, you amy tear up the new LCA bushings when you go down the road the first time.

Note that does not apply if you are using poly bushings instead of rubber.

You will have to pull the torsion bars back to get the LCA's out. You will need a removal tool (see Summit) or make one from a pice of 3/8" palte with a couple of small muffler U-bolts though it. Don't grip them with vice grips! Nicks in T-bars create stress risers and possible failure points.

The rest of it tends to be standard front end work with BFH's, pickle forks, etc.

BTW, you can just replace the bushings in the upper and lower control arms; you don't need to replace the whole arms. (Perhaps you meant the bushings only .....)

 

[Zerpentyne Fire]

Yes sadly my Coronet has a bent Left LCA,,, and a striped/rotted, right around the BJ area Right UCA , and the old strut rod bushing seem to be cracked/dry rotted. So when I went to my local alignment shop they said, in order to do a good alignment job, the Mopar needs that minor rebuilt. The last front end rebuilt the car had was in 1988. The parts that we will be using are made by Moog Once again thank you for the advice and if there is anything else I should know, shoot me a message,, Z. Fire.