kind of a newbie question but need advice. I recently got a 74 V8, auto, power steering. The upper inner bushings are badly worn as is the ball-stud at the control valve. Just got my handy dandy 5 volume set of 74 FORD factory manuals from Faxon, and it looks like a major front-end job requires some special tools and some precise measurements Not sure I should tackle it myself, maybe take it to a shop??? (those top-mount springs are a bit scary) Anyone with experience, advice, suggestions? Thanks, Bill
Use a proper spring compressor. Be carefull and safe, they can be deadly when someone is stupid about it. Fords of all types ran a similar spring setup and many here have safely delt with removing them.
What I found was that not all spring compressors will work, it's a pretty tight fit. I'll see if I have a picture of the one I had to buy, or there might be one on here somewhere (try a quick search) The upper control arm bushings are easy to change, but you may find that the threads may be stripped and then the arm needs to be replaced.It's all pretty simple, you'll need an alignment after anyways.
When I rebuilt my front end, I literally just eyeballed the alignment. It drove like crap, but it was good enough to get it a few miles down the road to a shop to have the alignment done right. You can buy brand new upper and lower control arms with new ball joints and everything from most of the Mustang places, just get them for a '68-'73 Mustang. Can't see why anyone would mess with trying to rebuild the old ones when brand new ones are so cheap.
front suspension rebuild Thanks for all the replies. My spring compressor is the wrong type, so will buy/borrow a good one. Also like the idea of a whole upper arm. This car's gettin' to be fun. Bought from a friend who had messed a little and gave up. Back when, I bought a brand new 66 Mustang. This car feels a lot like it... good memories. Thanks again, Bill
BFH & a Spring compressor and go to it! Jamie mentioned that the mustang front end parts are the same. I bought all new front end part as a kit from Mustangs Plus and installed it on my Cougar (same layout). Their Grab-a-Trak brand is awesome, and gives a lot of bang for the buck. Try to plan out everything you need in advance, because you get a better deal the bigger the kit is. I found myself wishing I had included more in my initial purchase. I used a loaner spring compressor from Autoztoned. It was scary, but doable. As far as other tools go, an article by Mustangs Plus told me about the only other main tool I would need to disassemble the front end-- a BFH. As in big effin' hammer . Never use a fork on a FoMoCo product. But if you hit the ball joints in the 'sweet spot', things come apart nicely!
Silly rabbit, forks are for chebbies. The pickle forks are intended for GM cars, not Fords. The fork will just serve to damage things. I was a little skeptical about the whole 'whack it with a BFH' technique, but it works!!! The only reason I had some problems was because I needed to hit it harder! Its fun. Here, check out the article that I used. It was awesome, and the only source I needed when completely dismantling my front end. This is page 2 (with the pics) of a 2-page article: http://www.mustangsplus.com/tech/shockandfall/shockfall2.htm
I have several different thickness and sizes of "pickle forks" and I have never used them on a Ford yet. I have used a pitman arm puller but never the fork on ball joints.
Think I'll stick with my pickle fork. Don't much like the thought of beating the f^#k out of the front suspension on my car.
When I went to trade school, the instructor was an old time suspension guy, thats what he always told us to do, a couple of good wacks with the ball peen, and they'd pop off.I tried the pickle forks last year on my Grabber, ripped the crap out of the boots.
i took my front end apart last week end and thats what i did beet the f--k out of it didnt really like that idea but thats what i was always told.
What's a pickle fork????? I do brakes and suspension for a living on every type of car there is and I never use one. 1 or 2 whacks in the right spot and BAM!!! she's apart.
