well , I have to put this off another weekend , because the upper ball joint aint budging.... you can see by the picture that there is no way I have the room to strike the upper ball joint bolt in order to get it to pop out.... is there any kind of fork similiar to like a tuning fork that would get thicker as it goes down ? , where I could pound it inbetween the balljoint and the controlarm until it popped ? or any other ideas that I may not have thought of at this point ?.....ROB ? ..... so far ive used a combination of propane heat and a BFH to pound on control arm , but it is not doing anything .....like I said there is no room to strike the balljoint stud itself with the lower control arm in the way.

 

Yes it's called a pickle fork and most parts stores loan them out.

 

OR, you could just remove the upper control arm pivot shaft bolts and lift the inner edge of the control arm up over the frame (requires some jockeying of the spindle with a jack, and possibly removing the shock absorber) and pivot the entire control arm out through the opening in the fender liner, where it's easier to reach with the control arm bushing press, then put it all back together the opposite way...

On the other hand, a pickle fork and a BFH has worked for countless generations - just be aware that you may wreck the boot and need to get a new one. Also, remember to reinstall the ball joint taper with ABSOLUTELY NO GREASE, OIL, DIRT, OR FOREIGN MATERIAL on it, or bad things will happen.

- Eric

 

thanks guys , ill go to the part store and check it out..... hopefully Yearone will get my metal gas line here one of these days also so I can take care of the bushing and the gas line all in one day..... and then move on to the fenders and the rear quarter repair.

 

yea , I got called into work to process a breakdown delivery and im waiting for the fed ex truck to come and get it.... its friken 1:15 A.M. and the stupid truck is coming from Chi town ..... its like 85 miles to get here , you would think they could of sent a truck friom closer wth ! oh well , big money for me woohoo

 

looks like my lucky day is tomorrow .... tracked the gas line via ups and it should be delivered today , and the pickle fork is at the auto parts store waiting for me to rent..... so tomorrow I will do the repair on the control arm bushing and the gas line.

 

got the fuel line from Yearone just a bit ago..... does not look right to me for some reason , but ill have to go downstairs and match it up on the car.....kinda forgot that this motor is from a 76-79 Olds , not sure if that would matter on this particular part. .... heres a pic.

 

should I use any kind of teflon tape on the threads where this line connects?.... like plumbers teflon tape (that I have in abundence)

 

If this is like other fuel lines, it has flange fittings, which DO NOT use teflon tape or other thread sealants. The seal is made at the contact point of the flange on the end of the tubing. There ARE flange sealants in existence, but they shouldn't be necessary.

- Eric

 

Just my 2 cents... You shouldn't need teflon tape as the seal is made at the flare on the line both at the carb inlet as well as at the fuel pump.

As far as separating the upper ball joint from the spindle, use the BFH to hit the spindle knuckle that holds the tapered shaft of the ball joint--not the control arm. But a pickle fork will work as well--but as mentioned earlier, it has the potential of messing up the boot...

 

I should of known that (maybe it was a self test) because I use to sell and make hydraulic / air hoses and fittings for a living back when and the way the fittings seat is key.... I beleive the SAE seats ( american ones ) were 45 degrees and the european ones were like 33 degrees or something.... point is that the seat where the two parts come together is sufficient like you said. thanks

 

Finally , the pickle fork comes through.....

 

Yeah!

 

This old beat up piece of plumbing pipe works great as a breaker bar.... I use it all the time.

 

I was having a very bad day to say the least , but I managed to get the POS bushings out.... hammer time !



You would not beleive how long it took me to get this far , but this is as far as I can go today..... to be continued tomorrow.

 

In order to get the new bushings in the rest of the way , im gonna have to buy a 1-5/16 or 1-3/8 socket to just fit over the rubber on the bushing and meet flush with the metal bushing lip so I can hammer them on the rest of the way..... any other ideas to get the bushing in the rest of the way ? I may have to review some of Robs threads to get some ideas , but I think mine will work good. It figures that I cant remember how I did the passenger side 4 years ago.... I did both upper and lower A frame bushings , replaced the ball joints , sandblasted the spring and A frames ( used Por-15 ) and even cleaned up the frame on that side and Por-15 that to.... but then I lost my restoration place and had to put the car back together.

 

I know , I know...... I should replace the ball joint , sandblast the A frame , and Por-15 it ..... unfortunately I have to have this bad boy done so I can drive it to work monday..... lol I can always take it apart again .

 

this is what I used to pound the upper control arm bushings in when I did the passenger side.... its like it was made for this , because its the exact size I need and its heavy ( 40 yr old lead plumbing pipe )

 

I got my son in on the action today , but he didnt really take any whacks at it though , he was just posing.



lol , we had to upgrade the makeshift control arm pounding stand , and needed a bigger hammer..... I had my son leave the area when I was whacking on this thing , because stuff was flying.

 

well , after I bent the flanges back as best I could (maybe the hammer was too big ) .... make sure if you do bend the flanges a little bit that you bend them back , otherwise the bushings will wear out real soon ( the nut spins on the washer when you move it up and down instead of the washer spinning on the rubber ) so its all ready to install.



I hope I dont pay for this decision to not replace the bolts on the frame that holds the control arm on , but I spent how many hours dealing with this and im out of time..... I had to remove the steering column shaft doing it this way though , and I notice I didnt get one part of the flange on one side perfectly straight either .

 

actually not the end at all , I still have to repair the gas line along with a million other things , which I will try to do the gas line before work tomorrow .... other then that it drives down the street just a little bit better then before.



and yes , there were shims and I put them back where they came from lol

 

Not to be a wisea$$, but why didn't you use an upper control arm bushing puller and installer, available for "free rental" from major auto parts stores, like Advance Auto, even if you don't buy the parts there?

Oh, and for future viewers, that's a galvanized steel pipe, not a lead pipe - a lead pipe would have assumed an interesting shape the first time you hit it with a hammer .
I think a lot of people these days have never actually seen a lead pipe.

Nice work, by the way - Glad you got it done!

- Eric

 

I tried using those pullers before and I would of been there for another day trying to force that in and more then likely you will bend the control arm.... it seems the only way it works ( ive only done that a couple of times so im no expert ) there is a great deal of force you need in order to remove or install the bushing , especially on the lower control arms... and old return plumbing pipes from the 60's and 70's DO have lead in them , ( at least thats what I was told by someone who builds houses )and they are not used today... except there are still some left in my moms house.... lol I got blocks of lead in that same basement I was working on my car at , I was going to make fishing weights out of them... im also going by the smell and the weight of the pipe , but I could be wrong , but it has that lead kinda smell to it

 

heres the old one I took off , you can see where the thermostat was cooking the rubber.



yea , I had to do more then tweek that line to get it to fit , almost crimped it trying to get it lined up.

 

and heres the other end of it ..... car started and it dont leak , now I can move on to bigger and better things.

oh yea , my intake manifold gasket is shot and is leaking outside of the motor

 

MDchanic , maybe your right about the puller , I seen another thread with a control arm puller and it looks different then the one I tried to use a few years ago.... the one I seen in the other thread that you posted looks like it would work well....your probably right about the galvanized pipe too.... sorry for my ignorance. lol , almost forgot.... i forgot about the rag in the above picture and when I got to work and removed my battery cables i noticed it still on the manifold quite hot.

 

I am glad I have a Florida car! It has some rust on it, but nothing like what you have on the control arms! My bushings came out fairly well, and the new performance ones went back in fairly easy. It made a WORLD of difference in the handling. Also had it aligned afterwards.

 

yea unfortunately I had an alignment done to , and the garage never mentioned the bad control arm bushing which would affect the alignment I would think , but the car drives about the same thankfully.... my car was from Ca originally , but made its way to WI before I bought it.... it does have some rust holes in the rear qtrs and a hole in the fender , but no holes in the floor anywhere and the frame is in great condition , so im pretty happy ... gives me something to do

 

maybe someone could shed a little light on this one....

1. I noticed my brake pedal has been a little soft lately , going about half way to the floor.... the resevoir is full and I folded the diafram back in place (spelling) and the brake pads are about half gone.... no leaks anywhere via wheel cylinders or calipers. any ideas ? maybe the master cylinder ?

2. if I jack the motor up to change the oil pan , do i need to remove anything else besides removing the motor mount bolts ? so I dont break anything I may not be thinking of.

3. If uncle Jack was on the roof and the ladder fell down , would you help uncle Jack off ? j.k. disregard question 3.

 

I can't say reliably about raising the engine, but when I did it on a 68 98, that's all I had to do.

The brake sounds like a bad master cylinder, but you might want to bleed them all first, because it could just be air in the system.

- Eric

 

Thank You MD... I REALLY do appreciate that I at least have one guy reading my thread .... what happened to your car , and where is the restoration thread we want pics

 

There will be no restoration thread for my car - maybe a "slapping together" thread if I get a chance . I'm not particularly fond of any post-'70 or '71 cars, and this car was a rat from square one.
I'm just putting together something I may be able to have fun in.

... and you're welcome!

- Eric

 

My $.02...

1 Your master cylinder is probably leaking by the internal seals.... tou may want to look at the fluid... If it has turned disgusting, flush the system and put in new fluid (after changing the master cylinder of course!)

2 Fan shroud might be in the way for the jacking operation... Dont remember anything else in the way but it has been a while!