Tools for Suspension Work

[moparfreak]

Yeah, so let's just put this to rest: the car needs the work!

Throwing the outer tie rod ends into the shopping cart cause I assume it'll get damaged upon removal of the steering knuckle, though I did pick up the front end service kit that has one of the pullers for that job, as well as the manual / air hammer pickle fork kit that had 3 sizes.

Parts are probably about 2 weeks out. Need to confirm tonight the source of a power steering leak, coolant DTC, and then send the order in tomorrow.

Thanks for all the advice so far, guys. I'll be posting progress here, cause why not?

 

[moparfreak]

Did a little investigation last night as I'm chasing down a few DTCs on it, as well as a power steering fluid leak, and took the FR wheel off and found that the strut tube was badly dented up, which I'm sure limits travel of the piston. The dust boot was torn away and hanging off as well. This car is well in need of some work. Parts ordered from RockAuto & getting a crew together for a week from Sunday. Should be a good time!

 

[moparfreak]

So the project has commenced and so far...so good...sort of....

The front is all disassembled. The knuckles came out really without too much persuasion. Oddly the only place I really needed a puller was to gently persuade the CV axle to slip out of one of the hubs. Didn't feel comfortable bring the sledge to that one. I did cheat a bit and cut a few pieces out that I didn't want to bother with (such as link ends or tie rod ends) and was going to replace anyways).

When it came time to get the old hubs out of the knuckles, the HF wheel bearing kit (http://www.harborfreight.com/fwd-front-wheel-bearing-adapters-66829.html) did the trick. Only thing I had to do to get it working right was to grind one of the plates down to fit perfect on this hub, and put a lot of moly grease throughout the threads and washer plates. Probably went through 200 gallons of compressed air to do it but it got them out without much fanfare.

Unfortunately the wheel bearings I got to replace them from RockAuto were 2mm undersized so I need to return those, and get the right ones from O'Reilly's here. So, the front is on pause.

The rear came out good. Those cap screw hub bolts were frustrating to access but did come out OK. So, the new hubs, shocks and link ends are all back in.

New brake rotors, pads and caliper slide pins are on their way to go back in.

So far so good....

The general mayhem / carnage:

One of the little guys jumping right in....gotta love the ninja pajamas...

Night shot...

 

[DanInVA]

Looks like you are making good progress on it. Always good to see the kids taking part in the job. He will always remember the times spent helping dad with the car. I remember quite a few oil changes and brake jobs with my father when I was younger.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

 

[xtremek]

Next time you need to drive the axle out of the hub, thread the nut on a long way on and smack the nut. That way if you miss, it won't mess up the threads.

 

[Babbinated]

Definitely get a mapp torch with the oxygen, and some kroil. And the proper bfh.