There have been some questions about cross member installation over the last
couple of days. Here is how I did this about 4 months ago, all by myself,
in about 15 minutes.
The cross member was partially assembled. Upper and lower A-arms were on.
Rack on. Brake line. The spindles, hubs and brakes were off.
Get the assembly underneath the car in position.
Now here is the trick. Four 12 inch lengths of 1/4 inch threaded rod.
(These dimensions are not critical - you'll get the idea as we go along
here). On one end of a threaded rod put a nut and a suitable washer
combination which will bridge the gap of the large hole in the crossmember
(where the bolt will go thru). Stick the threaded rod up through the
crossmember and the frame and catch the top end with another washer
combination and a nut. Add a second nut to the top. Do this to all four
holes.
Now you have the crossmember sitting on the floor with these four threaded
rods sticking up through the crossmember and frame holes. So it is
generally in position and ready to go. The threaded rods are sufficiently
smaller in diameter than the final bolts so you have some playing room.
Now get on top and grab the top nut on any one of the threaded rods with a
pair of vice grips and pull up a couple of inches. Spin the other nut down
the threaded rod until it pretty much bottoms against the top of the frame.
Undue the vice grips and go to the next threaded rod. Repeat. Keep
repeating all the way around as many times as it takes for you to
sequentially pull the crossmember up to within 1/4 of the frame. Took me
about 4 shots on each threaded rod and about 5 minutes. It helps to bring
it up a couple of inches at a time so you can keep checking alignment. Also
helps you get the upper A-arm over that lip in the frame. You kind of have
to bring one side of the crossmember up over that lip at a time.
Now all you have to do is take out one of the threaded rods (the remaining
three hold it in place just fine) and insert a bolt with correct washer and
send it in. This works great because the smaller diameter of the threaded
rod lets you jiggle things around to get the bolt started.
Repeat with the other three threaded rods and final bolts. Torque her up.
It was in before I knew it.
Dave
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