Christos

I bent my frame in an accident, and had it pulled. Now that i have been driving it around a bit, i noticed the new tire i purchased is nearly worn down on the outside half, because my front passenger tire is so off with its caster/camber.

If you look directily at the front of the car, the tires would look like this.

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simple as thoes two lines are, you get my drift. (it is quite a bit more subtle than that, but still easily noticeable) I took the tire off, and noticed that all of my front suspention goodies were bent, and looked awful. im surprised the mechanic let me drive the car out of his shop in this condition.

I have seen performance front end rebuild kits for sale, but i was wondering if anyone knew what a typical mechanic would charge me for a front end suspention rebuild, if i supplied the parts.

I Just want to get an idea on a price, to know what im looking at for a fix.

Thanks!




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1986 IROC Camaro
305 TPI "LB9"
3.23 gears
Doesn't know enough about cars.
AIM: jesusathome

Jed

Depends on what is bent. Tie rods, your idler and pitman arm, even a center link may be included in such a rebuild.

A bent spindle, A-arm or strut would need to be replaced before anything else is done.

As far as front suspensions and alignments go, because few customers actually know anything about this area of their vehicle, frequently the bare minimum is done.

So what's bent?

NTChrist

Would a rebuild with nothing damaged be possible to do at home? Every single grease boot on my car is split, and the steerings sloppy as hell. I'm going to buy the poly bushings, but I'm wondering if this is possible with the usual hand tools. If it's not (I don't think it's going to be) possible to do myself, how much $$$ are we talking?
Thanks.

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No guts, no glory.

Christos

wow, i never thought about that. Im sure you read my sig though. Im not sure exactily what is wrong, only that some parts which were small, and connected with rubber brushings looked bent. Im just assuming its just the suspention components. I guess i will have to have the car professionaly looked at. I wasn't aware the front suspention could be so complicated!

Thanks for the quick responce!


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1986 IROC Camaro
305 TPI "LB9"
3.23 gears
Doesn't know enough about cars.
AIM: jesusathome

Jed

Cristos, see if you can find a shop that specializes in doing suspension work. Its hard to suggest anything else without knowing the extent of the damage.

NTChrist, You can do a rebuild at home but if you've never done it before, you may think its a pain in the *** . And you'll need some tools. You'll need a ball joint press to remove/install the ball joints. Also, the busings usually do not come out easily. I usually burn the rubber part out with a torch and then push the metal bushing sleeves out of the A-arm with an air chisel.
In my opinion, those are the most difficult aspects of the job.

However, you could just bring the A-arms to a machine shop along with the new ball joints and busings and have the shop press out the old and press in the new.

Tie rods - just count the number of turns it takes to remove them, and put the new ones on the same amount of turns and you'll be close.

Everything else is easy, and in the service manual.

Hope this helps.

Christos

Thanks for the info!

I already know this is beond my simple car-fixing abilities, so i will just have to have a suspention shop check it out.

I will post later on the results (might be a while)

NTChrist

Jed,
Thanks, I think I'll just take my bushings to a shop. It sounds a lot harder than I expected. As much as I'd like to take the suspension completely apart, mess something up, and have to get it trailered to a shop... I think I'll skip the first step and go straight to the pros.

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No guts, no glory.