projectX

for those of you who may be wondering...im posyting this info becouse it may be usefull to other makes allso...


First..lets go over the basic tools needed for this job..
1) 3 lbs hammer
2) ball joint fork
3) spring compressor" preferably with locking pins for safty"
4)socket set " SAE" domestic " metric" for all others
5) a comfortable seat " requierd for the long tim it will take you to wrench down the springs.
6)allen key set..or hex socket set
7) disc brake seperator tool..or a pair of plyers....

Now to what you will have to have besides the obvious lower ball joint, the reson i say this is couse to get to most of the joints..ya have to go throu so many others..and since your there and your gona hammer them out any ways..might wana replace them for a solid front end.

1) new cotroll arm ball joint
2) new upper ball joint and bushing
3) lower ball joint..obviously
4) bearing set for your wheel and seals to match....dont forget to look at the bearing race while your there.
5) break pads/ possibly roters...since your taking em off anyways.
6) some type of coating to prevent rust and or corotion after the job is compleate...paint it to match your exterior if ya like...remember to clean all parts first.

Now to the work at hand, 1: loosen lugnuts on the front end of one side only, donot attempt 2 sides at the same time...as the tool to compress the spring is expencive and ya only need one anyways..2: jack up the fromt end and remove the wheel..3: after this is done..look at your breaks and roters..inspect those for your parts list to come..4: remove your caliper by letting some fliud out in a catch basin and then removing the 19mm or 3/4 bolts on the rear of the calipers...what i do to keep them out of my way is use a wire coat hanger or some junk wire and rope em up to the sway bar..5: now ya need to remove the dust cap that covers the berings up ..to do this i use a flathead screw driver and a small rubber mallet on the grove..i work it around gently to loosen the cap enough for removal...after this is done..remove any excess grease and inspect to see what type of locking nut ya have..castle nut? or nut with a retaining screw?..if ya have the castle type..you will need new pins, if ya have the retaining type..you will want to replace the locking screw..as they tend to get bent and weekend under initial installation....cont next post

projectX

now that you have that inspected...remove it depending on type by removing ither the screw or pin ...after you have this off and out of the way..slowly wiggle your roter to loosen the bearings up and remove that allso...remove any grease and inspect the bearings and the races while your there..allso inspect the back side of the roter...now you can clearly see your spindle...this is absolutly critical to see if the spindle has any odd discoloration or fatuge at this stage...if it does...replace it rite away...a broken spindle on the hyway at 60+ mph = destryed car......now that that is settled.....you should see three points at witch the spindle is held on to the driving system...1 is the lower ball joint 2 the upper and 3 is there steering controll arm or sumpin like it...these are probly ball joints; and they are under enormouse stored energy from the ungodly amount of force that your spring is at...now lets compress that spring...depending on the tool type you rented or bought you will have to put it inside or on the outside of the spring and gripping the coils at its most maximum range...this should be a standard 3/4 bolt on top for compressing...this is the most dangorus part of this job...if ya mess up or the tool breaks; all that stored energy will be released on you...as you crank down compressing the spring..you will notice the pressure being released from the ball joints..at this point..go ahead and loosen the nuts up a few turns...the next stage is to use a tool most have never seen before....the joint fork..this tool looks like a big tuning fork..and has many use's.... to start removing a ball joint we first need to remove the nut all the way...next part is to insert our fork between the ball joint..and the bracket or arm its mounted to...the next part comes down to stamina...now ya have to beat the living crap out of the fork to push the fork forward spreading the jont open and releasing the ball joint....rinse and repeate for all joints similar...the lower ball joint is different...this can be removed with just a hammer after the spindle is removed.....cont next post.

projectX

After you have removed the spindle..you should then notice that the lower ball joint rest directly behind the main peg ...to remove the old ball joint..one only needs to hammer it out..make shure you donot hit the sides with your hammer ....after the old one is removed..i would sugest cleaning it ...this is where you repair shop comes in handy" if ya have bolt in type lower ball joints there is a diferent method not coverd in this post.....replacement ball joints need to be pressed in with a 40 to 60 tone press....we all know the average person dont have one hangin in there garage so we must suffer and pay a shop owner 20 bucks or so to press in a new one for us...after its in..inspect it for a tight seal under and around the sides..all so look for damage to the spindle from a bad pressing...if this joint should fail on you...your tire will suddenly fling out sideways and your front end will hit the ground..so its important to have the job done rite on this...after your confadent in the pressing job you have to get things organized for the new install of the spindle...for the replacement of nuts adn bolts...i highly suggest using a medium "blue type " lock tite to help secure them..all so check your repair manual to see if they might need to be torqued down..if not..id do it anyways to 65 foot lbs...not inch lbs...just in case...now that you have everything in place ya can start putting it back together by coating and parts that you can accsess..after that...you must make shure...to secure the spindle at its points with new ball joints..as you beat the crap out of the old ones..lol..once the spindle is secure..its time to uncompress the spring...while backing the tool off you will hear all types of noises...this scares even the most experienced modder..springs are no joke..be verry carfull here....once the spring is back to normal...you can put the roter back on.." if ya havent done the bearings while you were there"..this is allso impoertant to do corectly " refer to your repair manual"...once you have your roter on and your castle nut or securing nut on the spindle..tighten it till you cannot turn the roter.." donot crank on it ruining the bearing race's and or spindle"..go slow..after it turns no more...back it off 1/4 turn..and secure the castle nut or other by replacing the pins..make shure before this is done..you have replaced the grease ya removed before this step...after thats done...replace cover..and leave a smidge of grease on the inside of the cover...tap it down with the back of a driver or dead blow hammer.." soft hammer"..cont next post

projectX

now to the brakes....this part is usually done wrong without experience....remounting the caliper " its important to make shure..you mount the caliper on its mounts FLUSH" if not...you will get thin spots and your brakes will wobble or worse..they may warp and fail...to combat this...i use only grade 8 high carbon bolts...and i replace them after every brake job..i allso use locktight..the blue kind..for extra security...and i allso torque them down to 55 foot lbs....from this point on..it should be basic...remounting the tire ect....i hope this step by step helped someone.

Project X......." I race to make friends"