The Dodge Challenger Message Board

Can anybody give me a good indications as to prep of the underside when replace the old rubber bushings for a new polyeurethane kit.

What problems will or should I encounter?

What do I need to be mindful of?

You mean suspension bushings? Which ones are you doing?

Front or rear? Both?

UCA bushings?
LCA?
K-frame?

A Big 'Fookin' hammer is nice, A Heavy Duty Air Impact Gun and a powerful compressor,a blowtorch to heat up 'stoobborn' fasteners. Thats how I prep things Wayne!:lol: The right tools like a torsion bar clamp & a long breaker bar with 1/2 inch drive end, upper ball joint driver. To name a few Oh, and I always slice open my hand(s), at whatever I do, it seems like anymore, so heavy gloves might help.

dave-r wrote:You mean suspension bushings? Which ones are you doing?

Front or rear? Both?

UCA bushings?
LCA?
K-frame?

To be honest Dave Im not sure, its a bushing kit for a 70 Chally- a company called energy suspension.

I will post some pics of the kit contents.

airfuelEddie wrote:A Big 'Fookin' hammer is nice, A Heavy Duty Air Impact Gun and a powerful compressor,a blowtorch to heat up 'stoobborn' fasteners. Thats how I prep things Wayne!:lol: The right tools like a torsion bar clamp & a long breaker bar with 1/2 inch drive end, upper ball joint driver. To name a few Oh, and I always slice open my hand(s), at whatever I do, it seems like anymore, so heavy gloves might help.

A hammer I can do
A breaker bar 1/2 inch, I picked up a savage one at Santa Pod, Dave reckoned it was a good deal and a nice piece of kit

What does a torsion bar clamp actually do, apart from clamp

Ditto for a ball joint driver.

It allows you to remove the torsion bar whithout 'hurting' it. Clamping down on the surface of the bar with a pair of vise grips or any tool that leaves marks or gouges on the steel is a No No. The clamp allows you to hammer on the clamp instead of the torsion bar. The ball joint is screwed into the upper A-Arm. It can be a bitch to remove. The ball joint socket allows you to 'grab' the joints hex flats and you can remove it with the special socket and the Air Gun.

airfuelEddie wrote:It allows you to remove the torsion bar whithout 'hurting' it. Clamping down on the surface of the bar with a pair of vise grips or any tool that leaves marks or gouges on the steel is a No No. The clamp allows you to hammer on the clamp instead of the torsion bar. The ball joint is screwed into the upper A-Arm. It can be a bitch to remove. The ball joint socket allows you to 'grab' the joints hex flats and you can remove it with the special socket and the Air Gun.

Some photos would be cool!!

RedRaven wrote:

airfuelEddie wrote:It allows you to remove the torsion bar whithout 'hurting' it. Clamping down on the surface of the bar with a pair of vise grips or any tool that leaves marks or gouges on the steel is a No No. The clamp allows you to hammer on the clamp instead of the torsion bar. The ball joint is screwed into the upper A-Arm. It can be a bitch to remove. The ball joint socket allows you to 'grab' the joints hex flats and you can remove it with the special socket and the Air Gun.

Some photos would be cool!!

Me ,,photos,,surely you jest I do have an article though! Are you gonna replace the whole 'front end'?

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The article is price wise,,10 yrs. ago so it might have increased in price somewhat. I like to use www.justsuspension.com and www.firmfeel.com NO cheap inferior parts, only OEM quality or higher. I have used both suppliers with excellent results. Bill Kanouse at Just Suspension and Dick Ross at Firm Feel. I just went and greased my R/T's 'joints' with Amsoil Long fiber synthetic Race Grease

Thanks dude, thats the Sh^t I be needing!!

Since you decided to tackle the job, I would suggest do all components at the same time.

As for tools you will defintly need the speciel socket for the upper ball joint. T-bars can be removed with a pry bar between the K frame and Lower Control Arm Unit when you get to that point.

A good hammer and handler help matters in some situatiions but a pickle fork works good too. Timing your proceedures help alot too if you don't have a vice and such.

Dave had an old thread about using spare sockets and ab bolt to remove the upper control arm bushings. That was slick,

Just get started and everyone will join in to help add their tips.

Ok thats great I will post a pic of the kit so you can see whats what.

I recognize some of the bushings and where they should go but not all.

Where should I start?

Oh I was considering giving the underside a good going over with a wire brush, would it be advisable to use these?

Also when Im done cleaning the metal of surface rust what should I use to seal?

Yes those wire brushes will be ideal. You can also use a "rust converter" when cutting and welding are not practical.

Check out the products at http://www.frost.co.uk/
They have all the products you need for this sort of work.

RedRaven wrote:Ok thats great I will post a pic of the kit so you can see whats what.

I recognize some of the bushings and where they should go but not all.

Where should I start?

Get her up on stands and remove the brakes first. What type do you have anyways?

While you're at it, maybe check the fluid hoses and such. Moving old hoses around can cause cracks in the lines.

It does keep going on you know... This repair will possibly show another, that one may also lead to another. It's just the way it goes with a 40 year old car.

The rewarding part is knowing everything is tits. Bye the way, what happened to the tits Wayne?