The Achilles Heel Of The Classic Era Mopar - The Dreaded Lower Control Arm Bushing
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- Опубліковано 20 сер 2024
- The torsion bar front suspension was one of the key engineering features that distinguished Chrysler Corp cars from their Ford, GM and AMC competitors during the 1960s and 70s.
But, as tough and effective and versatile as the Torsion Air suspension was, it has a design shortcoming that has cursed all aging Mopar A, B, C, D, E, FMJ bodies with unpredictable handling and difficult, unorthodox repairs.
This is the story of the Lower Control Arm Bushing. Why it exists, how it works, what makes it suck, and what you need to know before you rip in to repair or replace yours.
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I did a complete tear down on my 73 Challenger and used the PST poly bushing kit with the grease pivot pins. Made a world of difference
Good to know 👍
That's the first thing I replaced on my 66 Satellite. I went with Mancini Racing greasable pivots and bushings. Time will tell how well they hold up.
It's been a few years, but I used something similar on my "67 and 75 darts. The zerks are well cared for.
Mancini Racing has some nice solutions for our Mopars including suspension items as you mentioned. Alot of Mancini parts when into my '66 Plymouth restoration.
Firm Feel Inc. has upgraded parts as well, as used by Rick Ehrenberg (Ebooger) of Mopar Action mag.
I raced stock body Mopars on circle track for 25 years and they held up well. I even used Mopar racing torsion bars. I can't say it's a bad design.
Ditto...
Being able to use two spanners at once to set the camber and caster sure would help getting it to turn-left-only real nice. Take a leaf out of the left rear and putting it in the right sure wouldn't hurt either.
@@PiDsPagePrototypes : Best rear end add on is the anti twist bar that the 60's Imperial has from a vertical tab just right of the pumpkin , with a heim jointed bar, to another tab on a bar spanning the frame at the seat back...
Agreed, we did to, we have had about 30 Mopars in the family since 1967, never had a problem with replacing them, super easy to change it out should you need to do it a red assed monkey could do it in no time at all. 😃In fact I have a 1967 Chrysler Imperial Crown and tomorrow I'm doing the lowers on that car that’s been in the family since day 1. First time we have needed to change them, so I would say if they lasted 57 years that’s not bad of a design actually. The problem with this car is that the lower bushings are UNOBTAINIUM to get impossible , Rare Parts does not do them anymore , finally I found a set of compete control arms at AMS Obsolete Salvage in Georgia but Craig Stanley
from West Hempstead, NY had just the bushings on the shelf, life saver 120 Bucks for the pair. They are a huge bushing only used from 1967 - 1973 in Imperial period. I will take photos of the process tomorrow and if any of you want to see let me know PM and I will send them to you. Reg
I actually don't mind doing these on Oz Valiant, one of those jobs people despise, but I'm cool with them. The "Special tool" we use, is a 1-3/8" tap. Screw it into the outer shell, then press out the tap. Welding a washer in, is another accepted practice too. One point to remember, is to only tighten the main nut fully, after the car is at ride height and settled.
Hope it all goes smoothly Tony.
Good point about tighten bushes at ride height otherwise they will chew out quick, same for all the other bushes on suspension’s
Don't forget to lube the bushes - they're meant to rotate on the shaft, but stop sideways or vertical deflection of the arm on the pin. If they're not lubed and not sliding round the pin, they bind and tear apart.
Urethane bushings on a VC Valiant with the right alignment settings, turn them from a understeering cow into a neutral to power oversteer dream, mountain roads go from being risky to wicked fun, picking on ricers and euro sports in the corners. :D
@@PiDsPagePrototypes Love the VC Valiant's. Great car
An old tractor mechanic I worked with many years ago showed me you could shrink a bushing or a bearing race by welding inside it with a stick welder.
Tony, I went through that the first time on my 1969 Roadrunner. What a treat! I used a thick washer welded to the metal outer piece and pressed it out. I have 3 more Mopar's getting the rebuild. Go over to Harbor Freight, or Northern tool and get yourself a 20-ton press. I know you are a way more experienced mechanic than I am, but it'll save you some aggravation. I believe I will try the newer style ones on my 70 Road runner. All the best from N.C!
Tony I just pulled my set out of the mailbox for my 67 GTX about ten minutes before you put this video up! What are the odds???? Carry on I'm watching! LMAO!
I think the most surprising thing to hear this time is that Tony doesn't have a press. I have one, and I do one half of one percent of the stuff he does. And mine gets used on occasion.
Right? A Harbor Freight press isn’t that much money and is plenty strong enough for bushings.
Press? I use a bottle jack and the bumper of my truck as well as a block. I work on tractors all the time. Always works for me and its mobile. Cheers.
@@luke8210 that is a press.
I'm running the urethane bushing kit on my Dart including leaf spring bushings. Seems like it works pretty good. Ride is more harsh but handling is better.
I was watching Roadkill Garage and Dulcich had a special tool he made for this......worked pretty slick.
The air chisel actually works nice to remove them old bushing steels. Also the inner ones come off pretty easy if you heat them with a torch and use an air chisel to push them off the shaft.
Came here to say that. Aso it is somewhat critical that the nut be tightened at ride height. The rubber isn't supposed to slip at all, all the movement is supposed to be in the rubber.
I recall being 25, laying under a car in my driveway, staring at a rear control arm bushing and wondering how I was going to get it out without making the car fall on me.
@@bbb462cid yeah I was a technician for 20 plus years and worked in a shop. Lifts make things easier
@@HILLBILLY_HARD Thank God I have two buddies with lifts, one abut 6 miles away, today. I ended up using an old steering shaft as a drift, pounding it with a sledgehammer, while I was safely next to the car. Took for-evvver.
Late 70s running A body cars with B body front clips on oval tracks we would torch the rubber out of the bushings and machine a UHMW plastic bushing and reassemble. Self-lubricating. zero looseness, never had a problem after that.
Delrin bushings
I know back then you didn't see very many 440 & 426 hemi Charger, Most of them was 383 & 318. I love your Charger
I deal with similar bushings quite a bit , I usually run a die grinder down the outer shell ( just enough to weaken it ) then use a sharp chisel next to the cut to collapse it . Care is needed, but it works good
I can see where that welding a washer onto the bush to remove them could be used in other situations, thanks for sharing, all the best to yous and your loved ones
I bought and installed a poly-graphite kit from PSC in my old ‘68 Dodge Coronet in 1990. The outer shell of the lower control arm bushing stayed in the lower control arm. The car was from SoCal and I was lucky because there was no corrosion on the car. The suspension cleaned up with degreaser. That same suspension set up is still on the car today, and I have put over 20,000 miles on it with no issues.
I remember a dude in school went over a speed bump coming into the lot, and the right side didnt come back up.
Blame rust,it ripped the arm and torsion bar out of the body.
Ooohh I hate it when that happens 🥴, it will definately put a quick end to an otherwise good day.
🤪 I hit a speedbump in my high school parking lot entrance in my mom's '68 New Yorker early enough one morning it was still dark. The sorry #%**$&@
Being a dentist way back I took the lower control arm's of my Roadrunner to the surgery. Lunchtime I used the turbine drill to cut a groove into the metal housing and got it out fairly easy. Now I'm retired and my '66 Fury needs it's bushings replaced🙈. Just hate even the thought of doing it. Thanks for the great videos Tony👌
Steve Dulcich has a trick to rebuild these. There is a video out there where he does it. Weld a washer to the bushing and use a hammer to knock it out with a big bolt.
Thanks for shedding light on this and showing how the torsion bar is attached. I have a couple of C-bodies from the era and I’m as yet not overly familiar with Mopars from this era.
GM really did win this round with the massive lower "A" frame instead of the strut rod.
Tony you are equal parts artist, engineer, mechanic, craftsman, economist and thespian! All rolled into one person!
Great job, I'll be watching your great vids for a long time.
Thank you.
I definitely want to see a video of those non press fit bushings!
There super easy, You just tap the pin into them with a hammer, grease them with provided grease and push it into the old shell
As uncle Tony said, "It's knowledge you don't want to know."
@@alexlandsberger1423 yep, .. just watch out for that grease !! It's like pine tar. Should stay put tho. ?🤷♂️
@@Torquemonster440 i use ams oil synthetic grease as much as possible
@@Torquemonster440 I think it's actually worse than pine tar it's like a chemical resistant silicone grease. I does stay tho, Ive done two sets of poly bushings and the grease stayed for 4 years before selling them
Better than disassembling the entire car to replace a timing chain.
Or half a car for an alternator, or @zz end removal for burnt bulbs.
Had to take the entire front suspension out for the control arm. The control arm won't fall out till you take out the hub and loosen the 3 disc dust plate bolts, id loose to try the cocaine they had, it must have been something
Thanks for the tip on welding washer into the bushing. Would have saved a lot of chiseling
I did one on a dart a while back and it wasn’t too bad. It wasn’t too good either but it wasn’t the worst thing I ever did at work. The bushings were completely gone and I replaced the worst side for my sales guys personal car. I just remember having to take a lot of stuff off and put a lot back but overall wasn’t terrible job… my snap on air hammer and a torch was very helpful with this job.
Those snap on air chisels are lifesavers. I don't remember this being a bad job either.
They are not that bad Tony. I have done them a bunch of times. But to my advantage, I had at my disposal a press and a lathe and a drill press. I usually turned both sides around in 3 hours, wheels off to wheels on.
Many many years ago I talked with Global West Suspension about bushings for Mopar control arms; they produce the Del-Alum bushings for other makes; they said it could not be done properly for the lowers because of the strut rods. The control arm can't move up and down on its pivot in a perfect single plane because the strut rod makes it move slightly forward and back during travel, and the 'give' in the rubber bushing was needed to prevent binding (or bending) of suspension components. Urethane has a little bit of give (Global West's delrin bushings did not).
I've never tried urethane but I do remember spending many hours trying to replace the stock bushings (with new stock bushings) back then.
I thought you were going to say the Achilles heel was the upper ball joints...at least on the A bodies. It seemed like they didn't last as long as they should. I loved almost everything else about the cars though and I didn't even mind changing the other front end components when they eventually wore out. The only other complaints I had about Mopars was all the electrical power being fed through the bulkhead to the amp meter and those pesky wiper pivot seals leaking.
Man I always wished I could rebuild a transmission myself and rebuild the bottom end/short block of an engine myself. I was fine with the top-end but I never did Master the bottom end. Keep up the great videos Tony.
Man oh man you're right about sending all those amps thru the firewall bulkhead block into the dash. I knew 2 guys who had Hemi cars that they got out of storage and started up to let them warm up. Both went in the house and came back out to a marshmallow roast. I always thought there was fusible link protection for the whole car. One guy didn't know why his car burnt, the other guy said it was rodents chewing the wires. He figured under the dash. ben/ michigan
My brother had a 1970 Dart Swinger 340 back in 1973. He hit a pothole and the anchor bolt snapped off flush at the shoulder where it met the rubber bushing. His car was suddenly very hard to steer. We stopped and looked underneath the car and couldn't see anything initially. I had him go inside and move the steering. Spotted it right away. We limped home and bought a new control arm assembly. Probably if we knew better we could have bought the new anchor stud and pressed it in. That was the only trouble we ever had on probably a dozen Mopars back in the 70s. Drag cars and street cars. I personally like the design. We didn't own many high mileage ones though? Great video as usual!
Uncle Tony, I love my 2003 Toyota Matrix. It has almost 200k miles on it. It runs like a champ, burns a little oil, handles great on the twisty mountain roads I live near. It is a four door hatch back. 30 miles per gallon. That little 4 cyl. 1.8 liter engine with auto trans. is very zippy and fun. I am not trying to impress anybody or race any body. I was a hot rodder back in the 1970's.
I did not finish your video before commenting, but that poly bushing is what I used, worked great. Don't expect much resistance when installing the pivot pin.
I had my Coronet front suspension rebuilt with poly-graphite bushings. It was a huge improvement, but squeaked all the time afterwards.
Used the Prothane bushings many times easy to install.
I re-bushed and rebuilt the front end of my 73 nova with sledge hammer on a tree stump. Took two days and a huge amount of determination. I was 19 or so. I still have the car.
That’s one of the first things you should replace Besides the brakes. And also all ball joints. Including the tie rods. Steer and stop should be at 100% then figure out powertrain/electrical after the foundation is set.
I worked at K-Mart Automotive in 1974. Almost all the work I did was front end work and brake jobs. Mopars were my bread and butter with the front end stuff. Nearly new Dusters, Satellites, Chargers and Road Runners would come in and I could make money betting the front end was worn out already. Lower ball joints seemed to be the biggest offenders, but control arm bushings and idler arms were right up there in the frequency of needing replacement. I'd put it on the rack and invite the customer to accompany me while I inspected the suspension because I knew I was going to sell them some front end parts. I jiggled the idler arm of a road runner once and the thing literally fell apart in my hand. It was a wonder there hadn't been a tragedly already. As impressive as Mopars were in most ways, I was least impressed with the quality of the front ends they designed.
Hardly believable, had MOPAR's all my adult life (over 60 years) usually over 200K miles each,
never had one fail, usually replace the joints around 125-150K miles....
You are over thinking it. I pop those out with an air chisele in seconds.
I just tore down and redid the entire front end on my 86 Chrysler fifth Ave…took me 2 weeks… hammered out the damn bushing with a chisel as the manual said. Never had more regrets
That B body float has a big part to do with this from what I'm understanding, or any era mopar with this setup. Thanks UT!
64 Dodge shop manual recommends using a 1-3/8 inch tap, inserting it half the depth of the bushing. Then use a hand press and a blunt drift to force the bushing out. I thankfully haven’t had to replace mine yet.
Nightmares of my youth doing them with no press. But on these rusty northern cars usually by the time you actually got the torsion bar and the arm out the actual bushing was the least of your worries.
Going into the cold winter months here, so my 69 Barracuda is getting a complete front end overhaul. Always good to read and hear others experiences, saves a guy some grief for sure. Luckily i have a press at work. My kid brother got me watching your channel Tony.... good stuff!!!
Rebuilding my 67, then 75, darts, I welded steel plates to the bottom of each arm to stiffen them for better handling with a hole drilled to access the torsion bar adjustment bolt. Pivot bolts with zerk joints and poly bushings throughout, lots of grease. I won't say they tracked like Ferraris, but they were better than new. I drove some new darts over the years, so I knew. Thanks Tony and family.
I had a 71 New Yorker and the the first time I put my foot in the carburetor and just as Uncle Tony said that front end came up and went 3 lanes to the left! That was scary 😳. 😆
That is the exact reason I went with Chevy's all those years ago That torsion bar set up is freaking crazy A pain in the ass oh and did I mention crazy.
He didn’t complain at all about the torsion bars. You think it’s crazy because you’re unfamiliar with it.
Moreover, you avoided a whole brand of car because if you’re unfamiliarity with a well-designed system? That says a lot.
Thank you Uncle Tony for all the content.
*Sarcasm alert* Living in the rust belt, my favorite part of any project is working underneath it, especially suspension work! There's nothing like rust and dirt in your eyes, hair and mouth!
Seriously Uncle Tony, a 20 ton H-frame press from that tool store that the Snap On boys love to hate is only about $250 and the 12 ton is even less. I bought my 20 ton years ago and it's been a godsend!
Suspension is hard dirty job on most cars Old or New the same.
This is exactly the reason why I sold my '74 Scamp. I kept having issues with the front end wandering all over the place and I had no idea what to do to fix it. I replaced every bushing on the front end but couldn't get it figured out. I believe the K member was wollered out. I ended up selling the car and getting back into Mustangs. So my dive into Mopars was short lived. That lil 318 ran great though. I eventually saw the car a few times on the highway and was excited to see that it was still alive.
I've owned a lot of old Mopars over the years. I used to get them for next to nothing, because the handling was what you describe here. I called it the "Show me a rut and I'll follow it anywhere" handling. The problem was always the upper control arm bushings though, never the lower. I currently have a '73 Dart Swinger. It had the same issue when I got it. New upper control arm bushings, and it drives great.
Brother, I am sooooo with you on this. My '74 Challenger needed new bushings and I got a lesson in this awful project. I grabbed one torsion bar (passenger side) with my hand, gave it a twist, and boom... it came out. Drivers side torsion bar... whole other animal. I hammered it, heated it, bought an item from Mancini and destroyed it... I even attached a 2-ton come-along and wouldn't release. I FINALLY found a really short UA-cam video from a guy that put an electric (or maybe air) hammer on the back side and popped free. So, I went to a local equipment rental place and told 'em what I wanted to do... they rolled their eyes. It literally gave up after 2-3 seconds.... WOW! Getting the bushings out was also a #$@! Basically, had to weld a washer to the old ones and systematically destroy them with a vice. For the install I went to O'Reilly's and borrowed a tool that worked really slick. All of this stuff was new to me as I never really tackled anything like this in my life. I hope to NEVER, EVER, EVER, EVER replace lower control arm bushings again!!!
It probably helps to leave the pin to k member nut loose until it’s back on the ground resting to eliminate some of the deflection in the bushing.
That makes good sense to me. Thanks for that tip!
After 20yrs cutting mufflers off, skinning the muffler pipes, and saving the exh and tail pipes, I made my first attempt on the LC bushing. Piece of cake. I just skinned it. Just like an 8N cylinder liner, then hit it with an air chisel. Then I used a ball joint press to put it back in. You need a few resources like sockets and short pieces of muffler pipe, but it's easy. Get everything ready then heated it up. Not enough to burn the rubber, but enough to make everything smoke pretty good. I had water ready to cool it after. Then press it in and douse everything. No heat on the pin. ben/ michigan
Thanks for the tip with the washer. I plan to rebuild whole suspension on my 67 Charger this summer so you likely saved my a lot of grief. 🙃
Hi T, with all of the deepest respect. All control arm bushing are locked in place, and the arms rotate around the rubber bushing and not the bolt. The rubber bushing flexes rotationally and keeps pressure on the inner sleeve to maintain its position. This is why you have to "load" the control arm with the vehicle weight, and the spring/T Bar in place, if you don't and tighten the control arm you will over torque the rubber in the bushing when you have the vehicle sprung, leading to premature failure, or the vehicle will have the "Carolina Squat". Also you are right, one bushing was never enough for a heavy car like this, Ford trucks use two bushings.
Anyway not trolling, just adding knowledge at no extra cost 😉
Blue Mule
N.C.
Every expensive tool I ever bought I ended up using it way more often than I ever anticipated.
My first car was a 1968 Barracuda, didn't run, 104,000 miles. My Dad worked all the time. He bought whatever manual I needed.
I worked in a Harley Davidson dealership and we would weld a bead about an inch long on two sides of the inner races in the steering neck. That shrank it just enough to get it out when much trouble.
This video is very timely. Getting ready to go through the front suspension on my 67 barracuda. Thank you UT
If you go with the polygraphite bushing you just remove the rubber that’s all jacked up and leave the bushing sleeve in place . Grease up the poly bushing and slide it in . I picked up the set from Rockauto with the oversized (bushing side) pivot pin and the best thing of all is it’s greasable .
ProForged 12010003
I use a ball joint press to push the old units out .
These are a piece of cake. You don't need a welder. I thread an 1-3/8" tap into the outer shell, and press it out. Works every single time. I've been doing it that way since the early 80's and it's literally painless.
Spot on, if somebody has the arm out already....most shops would charge some stupid low fee to get them out and in, assume they come out good. Would save i'd guess HOURS of pain.
I am a GM guy to the bone. But I dig Mopars. Not all of them are pretty, but they are all cool looking. I wish there was a vintage GM channel like UTG.
All my Mopars suffered with vapor lock
Big pain in the ass. Still loved em.
It’s been a decade or three for my last mopar bushing experience and I know your pain. Usually when they were gone I’d be replacing a lot of other equally worn out parts and it offset any headaches I’d have with these. Just one of those wtf things that cause the high rates of divorce and alcoholism in the trade. I’d like to see those fancy ones mentioned. Mandala? Sound nice and precise.
Yep. Replaced the bushes on my Australian Chrysler Valiant not long ago. I could not work out where the assembly pivoted. Couldn't believe the rubber bush flex is what Chrysler intend for such an important bearing. Anyway I got the outer bushes out by welding 4 longitudinal beads spaced around the inside.. they basically fell out with a tap from a drift. The inner bushes my trucker neighbor showed me to emboss longitudinal lines on them with a cold chisel and BF hammer which stretches them so they come off. Had to use a press to get new ones in though.. they are tight!
I feel you brother. On my 1966 Satellite in high school, I had to do these and after failure after failure, I had to finally pay somebody to do them. Then 15 years later, I had a 1974 Duster with shitty lower control arm bushings. Now this is still "pre-youtube" years and I bought a tool to do them and it still sucked more than Texas in the summer time. Now, 35 years after high school I have a 1965 Barracuda that had bad lower control arm bushings. I said in no uncertain terms, "screw that I'm not dealing with them" and replaced both the upper and lower control arms with QA1 arms LOL. Problem solved forever!!
I've been doing these since 1970, probably done 15 of them on my stuff. Unpredictable handling? Difficult repairs? Huh? What planet is Tony on?
First. Nothing like pulling the hub , torsion bars, and strut rods just to replace a bushings. Love it lol
Uncle Tony, have you ever used an air chisel to remove control arm bushings? Basically, you aim the chisle between the inner parting surface of the bushing flange and the lower control arm so the chisel acts as a wedge between both. It may need to be held at a slight angle towards the control arm to get it started (all around) but be aware that too much angle will cause the chisel to dig into the arm. Once you work around the bushing, angle the chisel to push the bushing away from the control arm. Personally I have never done a Mopar bushing but I know it works well on typical stamped steel control arms and I realize there is less contact surface between the 2 parts.. Once removed, coat the control arm with a thin coating of Never-Seez so in the future it will not rust in place. I had contacted the manufacturer and they recommend it's use for press fits where corrosion can be an issue such as tie rod ends, suspension bushings, ball joint studs. It does not cause problems or a part to become loose. An air chisel is worth trying. For the ones I did, the inners were held in place by the bushings. It moved them surprising fast. I agree with the manual.
Already played with these a few times on my own dakota: 1st was replacing whole front end...had to remove lower control arm with tortion bar attached, cut a slot on control arm then hit on ground with skedge hammer few times. That finally popped it out. Also, 2nd, i recently replaced upper ball joints. Driver side fine as i was able to cheat with jack only; on pass side i had to put jack stands under front end first. Removed caliper and considered attacking axle nut but could not find right size socket. So lossened tortion bar 10 turns and then put main pump floor jack under the brake rotor. That did it...finally
because you need a good press to install them ? Back in the day i just bought some polyurethane bushings , brought the lower control arms to my local auto parts place and they installed them for 20 dollars . not an issue at all . The Mopar front suspension was designed for stock car racing ! Tony thats a Cool trick to remove outer bushing collar if you have a welder , never saw totally gone rubber bushing , but i worked on them in the 80's to early 90's., my own cars that is .People may not like how this suspension takes bumps and pot holes , but i near the end of owning one found that front drag shocks made the ride amazing ! Adjustable Drag Shocks ! Yes on the street for bumpy roads ! no more bottoming out ! they fight the front end from collapsing and allow upward travel ! Its like stock shocks on this suspension system is designed to destroy it !
I spent the first 16 years of my mechanical career doing suspension, both standard and high performance. Those were my biggest hate. Unfortunately word got around that I knew how to do them and I was doing them constantly.
After that thorough explanation, I wouldn't mind seeing Uncle Tony remove the other side. Maybe add working on things at the end of the videos. Doesn't have to be a tutorial, but it'd be cool to see some of it. I think a good number of us would watch the entire thing
I learned so much again. Thanks Uncle Tony. Now I got to look at mine in my dad's 66 Coronet.
Wow! That video spoke volumes. You explained things I had always wondered about. Thank -you.
Now I'm kinda glad I only had bent bar Mopars. Many moons ago (1998ish) I changed the bushings in my 5th Ave with polyurethane and they came out pretty easy with a crappy holesaw and lots of water, similar to the job I did many years later on my Bronco. No press and no chisel, the only way it could be easier is if I had a oxy/acetylene torch to just burn out the rubber. Leave the outer sleeves in and squeeze everything together with a vice. What I didn't like is they don't give you enough grease, buy extra and use it liberally. After the job my old Chrysler drove like a new car but it squeaked like a million chew toys in a puppy mill.
I think the biggest problem with the F/M/J suspensions is not the lower but the upper control arm bushings. When they wear out the camber gets wonky, and if you drive through ruts the front end is all over the place. Easy to replace, easier to just loosen the adjustments and pry out the uppers and re-tighten them, at least until you get the replacement bushings.
Interestingly enough, my 1972 International Harvester Travelall Station Wagon has torsion, bars that go to the upper control arm, BUT it uses identical control arm bushings to a vintage mopar.
This is the kind of stuff that makes me appreciate my GM vehicles…. On the other spectrum a job I really despise on 70’s 4x4 half ton ford trucks are the radius arm/front axle C bushings. What a pain, especially if the truck has been exposed to road salt at some point in its life.
That’s the kind of stuff that makes me appreciate Chrysler. Funny how Tony raves about everything about Chrysler except this one, single thing, and you use that one thing to discount all the rest and praise Ford, which put springs above the control arms, as Tony points out in a different video.
If you’re a Ford guy, that’s just fine. We’re all entitled to like what we like. But if you’re going to say something bad about what I like, you better make sense and use logic or else I’ll call you out on the nonsense.
@@Dr.Jekyll the springs above the control arms is still insane to me
Aye you probably dont need this little tip but a ball joint clamp works well if you dont have a press, if you tack it to something waist high its almost a fun job. Also to anyone who may need to read this, the washer idea works if your a decent welder, if you just pucked one up from harbor freight, you either have to weld the washer to the inside, so if your weld breaks the burr still keeps the washer in place. If all else fails chisel the edges towards the inside and just lay slag upon slag till it fills up just DONT TOUCH THE EDGES with the welder
I actually made a special tool just to use to install all of the pivot pin assembly. Being a machinist sure helped there.
I hope that front disc brake swap is the one Richard Ehrenberg suggested in Mopar Action magazine--he had a great article once on how the "other guys" spindle swap was poorly engineered.
I looked it up on the web and there are some good selections for greasable lower pivit shart bushing kits, so thats good news,
Olds Toronado uses the torsion bar suspension on a full perimeter.frame. GM's first try at this set up and it drives like a dream and lasts.....
Awesome vid UT. ME to feel that way about the LCA Agggggggg. I replaced mine and installed new LCA bushings and pis that you can grease, so much better....MOPAR 4 EVER.
You'd absolutely love the kingpin retrofit for jeep ball joints, think it's available for dodge trucks too. Much like the urethane control arm bushing it will last longer and perform better. Yet another Achilles tendon undone.
Urethane control arm bushing are terrible. They don't allow the suspension to articulate like it should. Rubber bushings can last for years. For the street polys might be ok, but If it was really that good manufactures would use it. It would save their technicians so much time. Urethanes bushings pivot on the sleeve which can allow contaminants destroy the surface. Rubber twists and leaves no room.
@@foch3 grease on Teflon plumbers tape on the sleeve fixes some of that. Deflection of the rubber and the torsional spring inherent to the bonded rubber on the sleeve are downsides in my book. I want fast reacting suspension for grip and accurate handling
@@Lecherous_Rex urethane binds all the time that's why you need to grease them. Grease turns into an abrasive slurry exposed to the elements. Polys don't allow the suspensions natural buoyancy, doesn't want to return to ride height because it's binding. If it was better every manufacturer would use them because they're cheap and easy to install.
Back in the early 80s we raced Mopar circle-track. We wouldn't even bother replacing the bushings. You could get a k-member with the entire front suspension from wrecking yards for $20. We'd just swap the entire lower control-arm rather than deal with those stupid bushings. Now we would go with the urethane bushings. Nobody made them back then. We considered making aluminum ones but never got around to it.
I saw a video of an Indian guy he used a zip tie and a wrench to install the bushing the method really works ,those guys are some of the most skilled and creative mechanics in the world. you got to see the methods some are absolute genius.
Had at least 7 mid-60’s Mopars as daily drivers, but about 15 years after these were born I quit trying to house and feed them because rubber was ALL becoming pooched. Switched to Chevy Vega’s because they could be picked up cheap, bores steel sleeved, could take a 45DCOE Weber carb (with the right Offy manifold) and sometimes came with a T-10 5-speed. Then found out how easy to install a SBC mill…
I use an 1 3/8" by 6 tap in the outer shell of the lower bushing. Run the tap in and press on the tap to get it out.
Also, dont know if you knew this but the 1960 and 1961 chevy C10 pickup had torsion bars but they learned their lesson and went to coils!!!
Always a lesson with UT, thx for that. Now you will have to do a bushing install, then spring install
My dad always told me that Mopars were like Klingons!😂 I still like the old Challengers and chargers I'm just used to working on my Chevys still like the channel great job!
absolutely the first thing i do to my mopars is fix this number one problem with a mopar,the lower control arm bushings,it will never hold an alignment without them being dead on,i use urethane,i want just a little movement to offset the ripples in the road and don't want it transfering to the steering wheel,go uncle go
"It's a bad scene, a bad scene." lol... Love it.
I have a 63 Dart GT that's No.3 on my project list. Everything in the front end is toast. I've had all the parts sitting around for a few years now, and for the reasons you stated, they'll likely sit around a few more.🤨
At the time of installation, won’t all the rubber be many years old, shortening the time it will be in good service before you’ll need to replace the rubber again? If urethane, then not as much of an issue, but the ride is going to be harsh.
"overbuilt throw away cars." Never heard that excellent 👍!
Been there Many times brother! 🤦 Without a press too, it's definitely a fight. Fortunately I bought a press; and I remember the first set of these I did with it...SO Easy! 😳I was like, dammit why didn't i do this Sooner!
I look forward to the assembly video.
I feel your pain , I recently did mine in my 65 valiant, had to get my local mopar guru to change mine , beat $100 I ever spent because it was even a prick of a job for Milton ( the guru ) to do .