First I removed the rear brake lines, up to the firewall. One was already cracked and there was no fluid left, so it wasn't as messy as it could have been. I also tried to drain the front brakes, but the bleeder screws are so rusted to the caliper that they wouldn't budge. I sprayed them a couple of times with PB Blaster so I'll try again next weekend.
Next was to work on the rear suspension again. I bought replacement bolts for the upper and lower control arms from UPR . Of course I didn't notice that there were different size bolts for the upper and lower until AFTER I had put the passenger side back on. However by this time I had figured out how to place the jack under the pumpkin part of the rear end (instead of the cover) and the bolts came out and back in really easily.
Passenger Side:
Drivers Side put back together:
Passenger side put back together:
I cleaned up the driver's side upper control arm and also painted it the gray 'hammer' color. While I had the upper half apart, I also cleaned up the top of the rear end and both axle tubes to the lower control arm mounting points.
My wife found it funny that I was filthy so she took this picture. I had a mask and full eye protection, so no worries about having breathed in all that crap.
To end the weekend I removed the lower control arm on the driver's side to start cleaning that up. That was a pain in the ass. Thank goodness for air tools, but I still couldn't get the axle side bolt out. It wasn't rusted, it was binding on the rear end. After about 30 minutes I finally got it out, but cut my hand on the pumpkin when it finally came free.
Next steps are to continue working on the driver's lower control arms, cleaning up the rust and painting it and the springs.
