Hi Ken,
Before you start on the other side, adjust you jack stands so that the
car sits a little nose-down. This is because the A-arms are not
parallel to the ground when viewed from the side when the car is sitting
level. The caster angle is built into the front crossmember, so the
front of the A-arm is higher than its rear. By setting nose down you'll
get it parallel to your jack head.
Remove the bolt from one end and then the other, instead of one side
and then the other. The tension comes off the outer end before the
inner, so take out the control link and bolt, lower the jack some to
take the tension off the rear bolts and then remove them. That's how I
did it. I was using a floor jack, the kind with wheels and casters. Its
head fits the spring pan fairly well. Hope you have one.
When you put the pan back in, the front holes will line up first. I
used a Philips screwdriver to align them perfectly. When you get the
link stud and bolt in, further lifting of the jack will pivot the pan
and the rear holes will come to being nearly aligned. Screwdriver
again. You might have to move the jack inwards on the pan to keep from
lifting the car whilst doing this last part.
A reminder: you want the car sitting on its wheels before you tighten
up the castellated nuts on the bushings. This is because part of the
suspension resistance is in torsional loads on the bushings and you want
the rotating parts centered in the bushings before you clamp them down.
The easier way to do this job is to remove the upper trunion bolt and
lower the entire thng, remove the spring and proceed with disassembly.
Afer all, you need to examine the upper control arm bushing as part of
the job.
Cheers,
CR
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