torsion bar seals

[juanbenae]

looking to get all the parts together for the front suspension referb and i cant find in the foam torsion bar seals in the suspension section here at pelican. any leads or links that you might pass along?

now for you to review my laundry list for the project-

t-bars- in route via UPS
bushings- will be going to the elephant racing corporate headquarters in san jose to meet with CEO moreland and negotiate a cash purchase price.
sway bushings- currently in pelican shopping cart waiting to get results of this thread before moving to check out.....

ball joints- thinking i should, is the special removal tool a must or is there another method to remove and replace them?

not looking to do anything too stiff at the top strut mount. is there a OEM type bushing that shod be replaced up there?

what am i missing here?


will be having the rear bushings and t-bars done by allign and corner balance shop, so yes that is on the list.

thanks for input

[KFC911]

Here's the foam t-bar 'seals' part # (from an order I placed last year...I assume it hasn't changed) : A-341-475-00
As far as the ball joints go...a fork from your local auto parts store should do it....(doesn't matter if you mangle the rubber if your're going to replace them anyways). Hope this helps...

Keith

ps: Turbo tie rods???

[juanbenae]

got the turbo tie rods install already. thanks for the info.

[Jdub]

The tbar foams can be made from two packages of battery anti-corrosion "donuts" you find at your local auto parts (the ones that are green and red, two in a package). These sit on the battery, under the clamp.

Double them up. Remember: red on the right side!

John

EDIT: Borrow a proper ball joint removal tool. It is a breeze with that tool. I had NO luck with the pickle fork method.

[braddb_82SC]

I'm in the middle of a suspension refurb myself.
If you are pulling the a-arms to change the bushings you can probably pull the front torsion bars without destroying the end caps. You might as well buy them anyway though. They are cheap.

Yes you need the special socket to remove and/or install the ball joints. Save $50 and borrow mine. I'm in San Mateo. I met you on the last Mines Road run.
Many threads talk about the difficulty removing the castle nut on the bottom of the ball joint. Some say not to use the socket for removal or you will ruin the tool. This did not turn out to be true in my case. I spent all of 5 minutes to remove each castle nut. I tried dremeling the nut as many suggested but was not able to find enough clearance around the nut to get a cutting wheel in there. Instead I placed the special socket on the nut, then placed a jack under the wrench to apply pressure. I then took apart the jack handle and put it around the wrench to use as an extra lever. The castle nuts came right off using this method. The socket was not even slightly damaged. Once the nut was removed, a few taps of the hammer and the a-arm fell right off the ball joint.

The real PITA is the wedge pin holding the ball joint to the strut. It took me at least four hours to remove them. No amount of pounding with a 4 lb sledge hammer would free them. I had to drill them out. I drained four 18 volt drill batteries and dulled my entire set of cobalt steel drill bits drilling large holes through the center of the pins. By the time the pins were out they looked like mangled swiss cheese.

I'll help you with the castle nuts, tie rods, a-arms etc, but your are on your own with the wedge pins. The carnage is still too fresh in my mind.

-Brad

[juanbenae]

brad, i remember you and your wife from the mines rd run well. im about a month or so out on this so i have added you to my buddy list and will hit you up for that socket close to go time.

what type of a-arm bushing did you use? did you break the bank with elephant stuff?

[braddb_82SC]

Originally posted by k911sc
brad, i remember you and your wife from the mines rd run well. im about a month or so out on this so i have added you to my buddy list and will hit you up for that socket close to go time.

what type of a-arm bushing did you use? did you break the bank with elephant stuff?

Yes, my wife broke the bank for my birthday. She bought me Sanders torsion bars from Elephant as well as the a-arm bushings. She even wrapped them up and surprised me. Given, she did have my wish list. What can I say - I'm a lucky guy.
The Elephant bushings are very nice. Good customer service as well. I emailed a question to Chuck yesterday about gluing the races to the a-arms. He replied within a couple of hours.

-Brad

[juanbenae]

is he recommending using the JB weld type product now offically? i went by his house about 9 months ago and got the shop tour and product demo. at that time he was still recommending the use of brass shims to anchor the sleve that goes over the ends of the bar. he did state he was playing around with the epoxy/jb method at that time. is that whats hes determined to be best currently?

i will be getting those for up front.

[Jdub]

It is best practice to squirt a loosening agent, such as PB Blaster or Liquid Wrench, into the wedge pin, ball joint castle nut, and tie rod nut threads and drive the car. Repeat this process over the few weeks prior to stripping the parts. The natural wear/stresses on the parts combined with the loosening agent makes it MUCH easier to remove everything down the line.

John

[juanbenae]

much thanks dub, will pb it this weekend.

i have a 70k miles garage queen that never seen rain so i hoping it will be pretty clean under there. i have done a major cleaning of the wheel wells and all reachable suspension components in the past. i have also dropped the pan off the front and did a previous cleaning in there while replacing the fuel pump.

will still PB though, dont want you to tell me "i told you so" when im here crying about a broken fastener and how to get it out now that ive broken it and cant get vice grips on it, or heat, or my hands are slippery from all the tears.......

[braddb_82SC]

Originally posted by k911sc
is he recommending using the JB weld type product now offically? i went by his house about 9 months ago and got the shop tour and product demo. at that time he was still recommending the use of brass shims to anchor the sleve that goes over the ends of the bar. he did state he was playing around with the epoxy/jb method at that time. is that whats hes determined to be best currently?

i will be getting those for up front.

Chuck lists JB/epoxy as an optional step if the shims are not adequate to hold the races so that they are difficult to rotate. In my case, two races held fine with shims. The other rotated too freely for my taste. I was not able to insert extra shims. Chucks email suggestion: Pull the races back from the a-arm flanges, apply glue to the flanges, then push the races back in place against the flanges. I did this to all four races last night using JB Weld.

-Brad

[rbcsaver]

I recently replaced the ball joints on my 84 Carrera, only because I assumed that they are 20 years old (the car was new to me in 1995). I did the other suspension stuff prior to that, this last year. My 2 cents on the ball joints.
I used Bentley's and 101 Upgrades as a "guide." Better help found on RennList and here.
There seems to be some confusion here about 2 different tools. A generic (mine a Craftsman) pickle fork, ball joint tool can be imagined by using your index and pointer fingers to make the "victory" sign. It is used as a 4 lb mallet wailable, drivable wedge between the A-frame and the ball joint base...on nearly all cars BTW, AFTER removal of the castle nut that bolts it to the lower A-arm. The ball joint actually compression/friction fits into the lower A-arm. The BJ is shaped like \ / and the lower A-arm \ /. Do NOTG grease the BJ shaft or lower A-arm fitting. The castle nut acts as a seconday mechanism to keep it from pulling apart.The pickle fork literally prys them apart. The large span castle is much larger than usually found on cars. I bought a "close" 1/2 ton 4-slot 4WD whee bearing locknut tool and the local auto parts store. I used the bot PB Blaster, Liq Wrench, floor jack for upward compression and long breaker bars. Always try removal without heat! However, I needed alot of repeated heat, before the castle nut would losen.The commpression fitting must cool between attempts though. Be VERY careful with flames around your car. Do not burn up yourself, car or house. Have a fire extinguisher at hand!!!! Hot grease will flow out of the old ball joint and the boot will tend to burn/melt. One of the strut pins came out with ease, the other absolutely would NOT come out before destroying itself and a punch. The keyed pin, (but NOT it's threads) MUST be greased well and aligned properly before insertion and use only the proper locking nut. This was a week long project and a true PIA struggle, but rewarding with a much better handling car, at the end. I did my wife's 95 Pathfinder after that and it was a much greater problem/fiasco requiring that entire front end disassembled just to get lower ball koints out of the A-arm.! Remember that you must have a wheel alignment done on the car after new ball joints. See my pics of the tools attached.
I don't understand what the JB weld sub-thread is about.
regards,
Steve

[lally911]

Cut up a thick mouse pad and use it for the foam torsion bar seals

[toolman]

You can also use a foam wax applicator pad to make them. Meguiars pads work perfectly but must be cut to fit.