Upper control arm bushings and ball joints are press fit. Rest are easy DIY (caster/radius rod, stabiliser bar links and 'D' bushes, lower control arm) Lower ball joints are bolt in. Use brand name shocks as there are cheap generic shocks that reportedly are worse than using dead factory shocks. Urethane bushes offer better handling response than rubber but can wear faster and creak if not greased with the correct lube. Eyeball all of the mechanical parts for damage. Some trucks have had hard lives and stuff gets bent and dented. I found I had a bent caster rod and twisted front stabiliser bar that was pulling the lower control arm out of alignment so badly it ate the bushes on my truck and wore out the pivot bolt
For special tooling I’ll need to be able to:
- separate the ball joints
- separate the tie-rod ends
- pull off the pitman arm
- did I miss anything?
Everything else should just unbolt.
Then I’ll need to bring the upper control arm to a machine shop to have them press the bushings & upper ball joint off and on.
All parts seem to be available & inexpensive.
This sounds doable.
Ball joint separator/pickle fork thingies. A pair of big hammers (side striking the steering hubs around the ball joints can pop them free by impact) I know that Gen 1 trucks had 2 different suspension set ups (1/2 ton - 1 ton) and the upper control arm bushes and pivots are different part numbers. Same with the front stabiliser bars and 'D' bushes. Not sure on Gen 2 trucks so make sure there isn't anything weird with part numbers when ordering replacement stuff. The most complicated part is dropping springs and shocks. Need a few jacks and axle stands and blocks of wood as chocks and supports. Don't let anything just fly apart when trying to disassemble the steering hubs. Keep the ball joint nuts on a few turns and support the lower control arms and make sure the brake calipers are hung up out of the way as to allow space to work and ensure they don't get caught up on anything during the process. Safety first!
Operation is a success so far!
It took me 3 evenings to get all this stuff apart.
A few difficulties but nothing major and no skinned knuckles!
For decompressing the coil springs I just needed to lower the control arm with the floor jack and they dropped out of there with no drama.
Also I’m pleased once again about parts availability. 32 year old truck and almost every part I needed was at the local O’Reilly at pretty reasonable prices. The free loaner tools were handy too! The only thing they didn’t have is the upper control arms. You can get those as complete assemblies from rock auto, with the ball joint & bushings, no need to get those things pressed in by a machine shop.
Just ran into one more problem. My strut rod is bent!
This is the drivers side strut rod:
So I guess I should try to find a good one. Does this site have a parts diagram so I can find the part no.?
If I can't find a replacement would anyone suggest if straightening it is a good idea or not?
Doubt there would be a new one off the shelf. Only option is one from a JY. The problem with trying to straighten it is it will more than likely already be fatigued and heating/ bending it will only worsen the fatigue. If you were unlucky enough for it to snap at that point the end result would be disastrous...
Job is pretty much done! And I didn't send my coil springs flying into the garage wall or anything. That was a relief. The truck used to pull to the right a bit when driving, now it pulls to the left. So at least I know I did affect something. It does seem to be less sloppy going over bumps now. Next step is alignment (which hopefully will straighten up the handling) and then new tires.
Replaced: all ball joints, C/A bushings, tie rod ends, pitman arm, shocks, all rubber bushings, and the one strut rod pictured above which was bent. (Was pleased to find this at a junkyard in another state).
One last thing I (maybe!) want to do is check & tighten the free play adjustment on the steering gear. Anyone done this? I have the haynes manual and the procedure looks pretty simple - but my steering gear doesn't quite look like what's in the manual.
Here's the excerpt from the manual:
But here's what my unit looks like: (manual steering, not power)
So I don't know what to do. Or maybe it's better to leave it alone. Whatdayathink?
Cheers
charger_john
Last edited by charger_john; 08-02-2021 at 05:55 PM.
I think you'll find that the steering is adjusted using a pin spanner/wrench and a lock ring wrench. My guess is the locking ring is backed off, then the centre lash adjuster is loaded up using a pin wrench and locked back into place with the locking ring. If I'm wrong and it's simply a dust cap over the adjuster, you'll know by giving it a clean and looking for a tell tale gap around the base of it.
No brake work this time. Last year I went thru the brakes, rebuilt calipers, flushed fluid, replaced brake lines, etc.
It would have been good to do it all together, but back then I wasn't convinced I needed to do the suspension rebuild.
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