I'm going to do a front end rebuild. I purchased a set of A arms to sand blast paint and put the ball joints and bushing in , so that when I do the rebuild they will be ready to go and not be down longer than needs to be. The A arms came from a 91Rs and I have an 82 Z. Will this idea work?? Is there something else I need to check. The last thing I want to do is clean them up put in new stuff and they not fit.. Any thoughts would be great.. Thanks in advance..

 

that's a good plan but there are a few other parts to consider, like tie rod ends and sway bar bushings. either yuo can blindly swap out all the parts or look for and replace only the worn parts. with front ends with any age to them i prefer to use a torch as much as i can instead of a wrench and trash everything and replace it all. shocks and sway bar bushings are things that get torched off. tie rod ends and sleeves get trashed.

 

I'm doing the whole thing. I bought struts, shocks, springs , wonder bar & SFC from TDS, Sphon frontend rebuild kit, upper strut mounts, Sphon lower control arms and panhard, motor mounts and all the sway bar bushing and end links. So I have a bunch of suff to put on. But looking at it ans reading scores of treads from this board.. the A arms look to be the hardest with how they look and pressing the parts in. So I thought I could take my time and do the A arms up nice before I took it all a part. Thanks for your reply.. If you see anything I missed nows is the time to tell me..

 

Yes they will work.

THat's the way I usually do it; get another pair, put the new stuff in them, then it's that much less work I have to deal with while the car is disabled.

I think you'll be amazed at how much difference all that stuff will make. The only thing left is to rebuild your steering gear; that will get rid of all remaining steering play, it will drive like a brand-new car except better.

 

Thanks for the replys. Is there any easy way to get the ball joint and bushings out. Any tips would be great...

 

A seemingly common problem with a-arms appears to be that the end links oval the hole they pass through. You might consider either purchasing ones that are in good shape or repairing (weld and grind).

JamesC

 

Yes, take them to a machine shop. For around $10 per bushing/balljoint they will press out the old and install the new. It may even be less since you'll be having them do both A-arms completely.

The last time I repalced all the balljoints and bushings it only cost me $36 at the machine shop. Recently, I had (1) balljoint pressed in/out and it ran me $13. Some shops may have a minimum fee they charge, so the more you have them do the better the price.

 

These are just like that. The hole is somewhat sloted. I thought you should be able to weld the hole and grind off excess. Would it work to weld a thick steel washer the size of the hole??