Car Care
Hi-Po Front End Rebuild
Getting your vehicle back on track
Created by Tom MorrAs a vehicle's bushings, balljoints and other frontend components wear, wheel alignment becomes increasingly sketchier. Refurbishing these parts offers several advantages: For one, alignment can be returned to spec, so tires will last longer. Ride and handling also improve. Replacing the soft parts in your front end is the automotive equivalent of curing arthritis, comparable to putting new tendons and ligaments between bones.
Original vs. "Performance"
Factory bushings are typically made of rubber. Aside from being cost-effective, rubber absorbs vibration and noise. The result is a soft, quiet ride—at least when the rubber is new. Over time, road grime and atmospheric conditions cause rubber to crack and decay. The worse the bushings become, the more the vehicle's ride and handling suffer.
The performance upgrade is to use poly bushings instead of rubber. These bushings are typically made of either polyurethane or polygraphite, both of which are harder than rubber. The two main advantages of poly over rubber are longevity (some aftermarket bushing manufacturers offer a 20-year warranty) and tauter handling for flatter cornering and such. The trade-off is that poly doesn't absorb noise and vibration quite as well as rubber, so the compromise is sometimes a stiffer, squeakier ride.
Do It Yourself
For many motorheads, poly bushings offer that high-tech appeal; the resto crowd tends to prefer traditional rubber. Do-it-yourselfers generally appreciate poly because it can greatly extended the period between frontend rebuilds.
Although bushings are available individually, many aftermarket companies offer complete frontend rebuild kits for many popular vehicles. These kits are assembled with do-it-yourselfers in mind.
A complete frontend rebuild requires above-average skill and a few specialized tools, some of which are listed below. Two competent home mechanics should plan on setting aside a whole weekend for the job, taking Murphy's Law into account. Obviously, all frontend components should be assessed ahead of time so that all the necessary replacement parts are on hand before tearing into the vehicle. Rebuild kits typically include balljoints, tie-rod ends, swaybar bushings, and suspension bushings. Other steering components such as pitman and idler arms might not come in the basic kit.
This is also an opportune time to replace sagging front springs and blown-out shocks, as we did on the coil/A-arm Chevy truck shown here. Also, refer to a shop manual for details not covered in this overview. (Some frontend-kit manufacturers offer how-to videos instead of printed instructions.) Finally, have the car professionally aligned as soon as possible after completing the job.
Helpful Tools
> Floor jack
> Balljoint remover (pickle fork)
> Pitman arm puller
> Hydraulic press
> Pneumatic chisel
> Coil-spring compressor
> Service manual
Step 1
Jack up and secure the vehicle, remove the front tires/wheels and unbolt the swaybar (if equipped). Remove the shocks for easier undercarriage access (non-strut vehicles).
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Step 2
Pull the balljoint and tie-rod cotter pins, then remove the tie-rod nut. Jack up the upper A-arm to relieve tension so that the balljoint's castle nut can be removed easier.
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Step 3
A balljoint remover ("pickle fork") helps separate the knuckle from the lower balljoint.
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Step 4
Next, the caliper is unbolted from the knuckle and suspended from the frame after the brake hose clip is unbolted.
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Step 5
The knuckle is removed and thoroughly cleaned. This is also an opportune time to repack the wheel bearings.
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Step 6
The dangerous part: Use the jack to slowly lower the A-arm and free the coil spring. Notice that the truck was jacked up just high enough to remove the coil with the floor serving as an emergency stop. Coil-spring compressors are another option, but they've been known to break.
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Step 7
Removing the steering linkage clears access to the U-bolts that secure the lower A-arms to the frame. Here, the idler arm is unbolted on the passenger's side. A special puller is necessary to unbolt the pitman arm from the steering box.
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Step 8
The upper A-arm is removed with two nuts that secure the pivot shaft to the frame. Count and save the shims behind the shaft so that alignment won't be totally out of whack later. Two U-bolts secure the lower A-arm pivot shaft to the frame.
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Step 9
Many factory balljoints are riveted to the A-arms. An air chisel or drill can be used to break the rivets and remove the old balljoint.
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Step 10
Undo the pivot-shaft nuts and remove the old shaft. Install the new shaft, bushings and nuts. The new balljoint can then be bolted to the upper A-arm.
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Step 11
This lower A-arm's balljoint is press-fit. We hammered out the old one, then pressed in the new.
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Step 13
The A-arm is reinstalled with the correct number of alignment shims behind the top pivot shaft. Use a prybar and hammer if necessary to ensure that the coil's bottom-end pigtail seats in the spring cup, then carefully jack up the lower A-arm.
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Step 14
Make sure that the caliper is on the correct side of the knuckle, then place the boots on the balljoints before securing the knuckle with the castle nuts and cotter pins. Reinstall the calipers.
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Step 15
Some rebuild kits include new steering components, such as tie-rod ends, an idler arm and pitman arm. A pickle fork is helpful when stripping down the existing centerlink.
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Step 16
The swaybar and its poly bushings are installed. The job ends by screwing in all of the kit's grease fittings, greasing them, double-checking all fasteners' torque specs and taking the vehicle to the alignment shop.
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