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I'm doing a suspension overhaul on my 84 Transam. I've replaced various suspension parts on my cars over the years but never this much in one go.
At the moment the car is sitting on four jack stands and I've got two boxes with the all the parts listed below ready to fit.
I think I've covered everything but if you notice anything i am missing/have forgotten please let me know ;-)
What is the best order to replace the following:
Center Link
Idler Arm
Coil Springs (front and rear)
Coil Spring Seat / Insulator
rear Shock Absorbers
front struts
strut mounts
Stabilizer Bar Bushings
Tie Rod Ends
Tie Rod End Adjusting Sleeve
Control Arm Bushings
Stabilizer Bar Bushings
Stabilizer Bar Links
Ball Joints
As a general rule, go ahead do the rear stuff first, then all the front stuff.
The car will likely need minor alignment after replacing the rear stuff, but will need a complete alignment after replacing all the front components. I’d rather pay for only one alignment.
Divide the car into systems, functional blocks, if you will.
The rear is EEEEEEZIE. Do that all at once. Shocks, springs, sway bar bushings & end links, all at once. Should only take an hour or 2, if you're slow like me, and get all lazy during the process besides. Only significant issues you'll face are, breaking loose all the rusted-up hardware; and, the upper shock mounts maybe being punched out of the sheet metal. Which if they are, you'll need to weld some big washers in to replace the original floor pan right there.
Front is a bit tougher. I'd suggest you go the junkyard and get acoupla control arms... they're CHEEEEEEEP and PLENTIFUL, must fit ABUNCHA other cars (they have shock absorber mounts on em after all, even though our cars don't have front shocks) so they must be the same as some other vehicles. G bodies, B bodies, S trucks, iunno; but whatever they are, there's LOTS of em. Then take THOSE to yer local tire store at about 20 minutes before closing time on a Sat afternoon, and see if you can slip the tech a yuppie food stamp or a 6 of his favorite technician attitude adjustment fluid, to swap out the bushings and ball joints for you. They're A WITCH with a capital B to do by yourself if you lack the tools.
Then, do the WHOLE front, like you did the rear. Your "new" control arms, steering linkage, struts & springs, & sway bar parts. Steering (center link, tie rod ends & adj sleeves, idler arm) are eeeeeezyest if you take the old stuff off as a complete assembly and lay it on the ground, then make the new one the same length. That'll get you close enough to drive a few blocks.
Springs & struts will be the hardest part of the job to do yourself, especially, to do them safely. There's abuncha threads on here about that, do a search and read em all, and PUHLEEEEZE, don't risk your life and limb by doing anything stoooopid. Then after you get those done, which will include the control arms, put the steering back on, and then go get an alignment.
Because you're replacing everything, order is not important. The front will probably take you a whole day or more to finish. Rear should be super easy. It should all be very similar to any GM stuff you've done in the past. The hardest part of this whole job is compressing the front spring. At least it was for me. Mine is a 91 Z28. Probably a bit stiffer than base models. It had quite a bit of compression still in it even with the lower control arm hanging all the way down. You need the kind of tool that clamps the spring from the inside, I borrowed one from my local O'Reilly's. But it was not very good. It slipped off several times, I would suggest buying a good one for this job. I'm not sure getting another set of control arms will save you much effort or time. If you've done ball joints before they're pretty easy with the Harbor Freight C-camp tool. The bushings can be difficult I agree. I use a really big vise and the round sleeves from the ball joint tool kit. A bit of patience and a hammer also, it all depends on your experience level, The good news is there's plenty of room to work on everything
The main thing about getting another set of CAs is, you can deal with the BJs (hehehe) and the CABs separately from disabling your car. Have em ready to go in advance when you take it apart. The CABs in particular can present unforeseen challenges.
IMO the best spring compressor type is the one with the big flat plate kinda thing that you can put under the CA as well as the spring. Compress em both together. That way you have ALOT less trouble taking the comp out afterwards. Some of em will have screws that are too long; since our cars don't have shocks, there's no hole at the top for the screw to go up into; you may need a length of water pipe to put over the screw at the bottom, to take up some of the length, so the top end of it doesn't interfere with the top of the strut tower.
Other than that, the important thing to remember is, there is ALOT LOT LOT LOT of energy stored in those springs. If something slips, or breaks, or whatever, while you're doing this, and the spring sproings out under lots of tension or compression, it can easily have enough energy stored in it to knock down walls, or majorly destroy your car, or literally take your head off your shoulders. Needless to say these are considered undesirable outcomes by most of us. We don't want that to happen to you. People commonly put a chain or cable around the spring during the process to limit its ability to bounce itself up outta wherever it is supposed to be constrained into.
I never thought about taking the control arm and spring out as a unit. That could be a lot easier. Definitely out of the box thinking. It will be heavy though. Don't drop it and have the spring slip off the tool,
02-06-2019, 08:34 AM
