New front end coming soon

[rizzjc]

Passenger side was too far out to drive to the alignment shop. Had to remove the TRE and adjust it. Somehow, I managed to mess up the threads on the bolt. Won't go back on. Off to the parts store for an exchange.

 

[rizzjc]

They just finished putting the new tires on. Now they're gonna have to earn the $189 they charge for the 5 year warranty. I expect they'll be cursing me in a few minutes.
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[rizzjc]

It's kicking his butt out there. They said I shoulda put the camber kit on the passenger side. I think this guy might be taking the rest of the day off.
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[2000StreetRod]

Joining the fun

My alignment shop just told me all my ball joints were shot and I need the right tie rod end replaced. I jacked up my Sport (150K miles) to confirm and found the upper ball joints were good but the boots are shot (also no grease fitting). The wheel bearings were loose (not torqued to spec) and the lower ball joints were very worn.

Because of all of the discussions on the forum about replacing the control arms and because I have another vehicle to drive I've decided to attempt the job myself. I want to thank all of you contributors for taking the time to share your experience. The photos have been especially helpful!

 

[rizzjc]

Good luck with it! I'm sure you'll get it done a LOT faster than I did!

The camber on the passenger side is 2 degrees out. That must be a lot, 'cause I can still see it. Kinda odd, since EVERYTHING is new, and I'd expect them to be able to get it dead on with the stock adjusters (apparently it was the DRIVER side that had been replaced before). I gotta check the ride height to see if I should jack up the torsion bars. I would think that would help some, but easy enough to replace the camber bolts now, and bring it back in for an alignment. I'll give it a week or two to "break in", but not too long - don't want to wear out my new treads!

I have a slight rattled on the passenger side, when i hit a bump. I think it's the sway bar end link spacer. I torqued the bolt to spec, but I'll have to snug it down a bit.

 

[CDW6212R]

Don't adjust the torsion bar(ride height), that alters the alignment. They should have asked you during the alignment if they could play with the torsion bar then. As you move it farther from the stock height, the alignment becomes farther from the best specs. Beyond a certain point, they can't get it aligned right. You need the camber washers, those help a little, they provide more range of camber adjustment.

 

[rizzjc]

Well, I need to check the ride height anyway. Before I started, all 4 corners were different. I figured I might need to tweak it anyway. And I can get it aligned any time I touch anything. I got a 5 year unlimited warranty on the alignment.

I got more adjustable Moog camber adjusters, which I used on the driver side, but they seem to be about the same size. What I could do is use the bolts I got off the driver side, and put them on the passenger side, since they were the replacement ones. When I did the passenger side, it looked like they were the replacements, but apparently I was wrong.

 

[rizzjc]

OK, please make sure you put all the bolts back in! I've been driving around for the last week, hearing a noise on the passenger side whenever I went over a bump. I thought it was because I did not tighten the sway bar end tight enough, and the metal spacer was banging because it was loose. I finally got around to tightening that tonight, but it didn't help at all. I looked at it again when I got home, thinking that it must be the bolts holding the shock to the lower control arm. I was right .... but was not expecting to find no bolts at all!!!! Shock is just banging up and down against the lower control arms. Yikes!

Here's the kicker. I can't find the bolts anyway. They're not in my pile of carnage still in the garage, where I put everything. I can't believe I forgot to put them in. I guess it's possible that they got tossed, and didn't make it to the pile with the rest of the parts. I don't remember the banging when I was driving to the alignment shop, but I also can't think of any reason why the shop would have had to disconnect the lower shock mount.

 

[storlied]

Small possibility they .. both fell out?...

 

[rizzjc]

Small possibility they .. both fell out?...

I'd say it's unlikely, but who knows. No other good explanation, though I was pretty careful about torquing everything to spec. Other side is fine.

Gonna try to find the right size tonight and get this fixed.

 

[CDW6212R]

That will be about 5/16" in size, and close to 1.5" long I'd guess. How does it drive, besides the bolts?

 

[rizzjc]

Drives great! The rattling was annoying though. All fixed now. Found a M8-1.25, 25 or 30mm long. All fixed.