Sunday, March 6, 2011

New ball joints

I've encountered a minor setback in the Capri reconstruction. Turns out that the lower control arms I got off eBay are 94+ not 79-93. So they are slightly longer and have different ball joints.

That would have been fine if I was going with 94+ spindles and a 5 lug upgrade, but that really isn't the budget right now. The longer lengths is still a good thing, but the wrong ball joints are an issue.

As you can see from this picture, the 87+ spindle I bought doesn't fit on the ball joint correctly, so I had to replace them.



Even after buying 2 $60+ ball joints, I'm still better off than buying new Ford Racing arms by $150.

I'll not go into the details of changing the ball joints, this site has a great write up on what to do.

I will add a picture of the ball joint removal tool setup when doing the removal. Strange I couldn't find any pictures anywhere of this part.



And make sure you get a ball joint/tie rod end removal tool. This is a set of pickle forks to help the spindle come off the ball joint. It is impossible to do this job without them.

While I had it apart I installed my new Maximum Motorsports Caster/Camber plates that my Dad got me for Christmas. At first I was confused that I couldn't get the strut into the plate, but then realized that without an engine there wasn't enough weight to compress the spring enough! Even with a jack under the spring I can barely get the nut on. I'll take care of that when she's back on the ground and I can sit on the k-member.

Of course, everything didn't go correct. I managed to split the brand new grease/dust boot on the drivers side.



And it turns out that no one stocks replacements. Either buy another ball joint or go after market. After searching for awhile I found that Maximum Motorsports sells them. Of course their site is like a candy store, you can't get just one thing. So rather than paying for shipping on a $3 part, I had to get a few other things that I need to complete the front suspension and brakes. So much for the March budget.

More pictures next weekend when I finish the suspension.

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