MngreLMatt

Did both strut bars today, tension rods, strut rods , whatever it is you'd like to call them.

Anyhow, just wanted to stop in and say that I am by no means a master mechanic. I'm just a young guy who wants to learn and save a few dollars if he can. Makes a big difference when you're going on minimum wage.

This job was very straight forward, I ran into few problems and was ablento get everything finished with skid plates and tools put away in about 4 hours. Granted, this is my first time doing any suspension work. In addition to posts already about this topic, jacking up the lower control arm just a tad while installing the new bars was a good trick for me. I also got to use my new compressor and impact today.

Long story short, aircat 1150 and HARBOR FREIGHT cro-moly impact sockets did the trick. Another good thing to have is a U-Joint, I don't think I could have done it without it.

Once you get under there and check everything out, you''ll get a feel for how everything related to one another. Very cool!

Coming off of factory units at 217xxx I'm super excited to see the ride difference, going in for an alignment tomorrow. Regardless of how perfect you can mark the camber, I'd rather get a perfect alignment to match the factory new parts - that's just me.

If it is your first time doing suspension work like it was for me I would definitely heed the advice of giving yourself several hours for the entire job. The last thing you want is to be crunched for time.

P.s. I'll have to lost the pictures of the old bushings - huge tears in the rubber under load.

Matt

MngreLMatt

Also, if you have any questions about the procedure feel free to contact me. I'll give you all the help I can.

PureDrifter

iTrader: (10)

I hope you remembered to:
1- properly orient the bushings in the arms (if you didn't just swap the whole arms), and
2- remember to not torque the chassis-side (bushing-side) of the arm until you let the car down off the stands, otherwise you'll just tear the bushing apart.

fixmiester

I second what PD said; surprisingly, those steps are probably the most important part of the job, but overlooked by many folks. Then, all their work is wasted.
Steve

timmy0tool

iTrader: (7)

correct! the bushing needs to be tighten when loaded, or as stated, when the car is on the ground.

most folks don't have this ability to tighten on the ground so the next best thing i do is put the lower arms on jackstands, lower the car on them so the full weight of the front end is on both arms and tighten the bushings then. be careful where you place the jackstands (not on the ball joints), and have a safety just in case. put another jackstand, rim, or jack somewhere to catch the car if the car would to ever slip off the jackstands!

MngreLMatt

Thanks for the tips everyone.

I don't have acces to a ramp or anything like that so I used the method that Timmy posted, turns out I didn't do so bad, my camber was spot on the right side and just a tad off on the passenger side. I'm getting a little creaking from my 15 yr old sway bar bushings now, I'm assuming because the bar moved around a little bit when I was taking the strut bracket off and moved whatever remaining grease that was in there out.

Anyhow, definitely an improvement in ride quality. I think the biggest difference maker right now would be the upper control arms. The ball joint has about 4-5mm of play when compressed with channelocks.

217K and still running, have to be thankful for that