Moparts Tech Archive

Front Suspension

Rebuilding front end,where do I start? Help!!

Got the Disc brakes and front end kit for my 72 Demon going to try it all at once. Question is where do I start. Besides the obvious taking the old hubs and stuff off,what about the front end,especially the lower control arm and torsion bars? Do I need to take off or loosen? Is there a how to in tech? Don't want to screw up and have to buy more parts, so any help greatly appreciated.

First get a manual.You can screw up a lot of things.It all depends on what you are going to replace in the front.Just replacing tie rods, ball joints, upper and lower bushings.what are you replacing? Rocky

Would one of the haynes manuals cover that or is there a better manual?

Honestly the only thing I needed the manual for was trying to figure out how the torsion bars come out. You can do it with out one. It just depends on how good you are with puzzles. First thing I would do is put it up on stands some place it isn't going to have to move for a while. then back off the torsion bar adjustment all the way till they are loose.
Then I took the shocks off.
Then broke loose the upper ball joint.
You can support the lower if you want with another jack stand so it doesn't spring down.
Then I found it was easier to unbolt the lower ball joint from the spindle and then get the lower ball joint off the lower control arm.
Then un bolt the strut rod and sway bar.
Then the way I got out the torsion bar was take the clip out of the back frame first. It is a wire clip you can get out with your hands or a screw driver. It is recessed to not move, but it doesn't have a lot of spring tension. You may have a lot of junk to clean out of the hole too. Then I unbolted the lower control arm from the frame and pounded it out backwards till the torsion bar popped out the back of the frame. Then I hammered the lower control arm forward with the torsion bar cocked sidways till it came off the control arm.
Now for the a-arm. If you have the socket, then leave it in the car to remove it. If you don't then just pay a machine shop to replace the bushings and the upper ball joint at the same time.

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