So a few weeks back i inspected my front suspension and realized that it was all worn out, this car has an early version of IFS. I realized that if i wanted to get this thing driving properly i'd have to rebuild it. I'm really glad i did cause when i took it apart some of the bushings where finger tight, and worn completely through. Well during that job i found out i needed a different upper control arm. The one on my car was really badly worn. I ended up buying a pair from French Lake Auto Parts in MN. Those got here last week.
The Mopar service manual calls for special tools to set up the upper and lower control arms. They require proper spacing to work right. The issue is these Miller tools are next to impossible to find. Therefore i did the next best thing, try it without them. Today i started in on the drivers side and it actually all went together pretty well. If you take your time and tighten everything evenly it's not to difficult to do. The service manual calls out specific spacing between different parts of the suspension system. As long as you make sure these are right its not an issue.
I used anti-seize on the outside of all the bushings where they dont get greased, and pre-greased the inside a little bit. On one of the "lower control arm bar bushings" i put a wee bit to much grease. When i went to tighten it to the 165 ft-lb spec it actually blew the grease fitting right off. Now these fittings are pressed into the bushing so i'll just have to get another one.
All in all it came out well and travels up and down nice and smooth and tight. No more crazy slop from left to right. It's no wonder the car handled like crap the few times i got to drive it.
Here's a few pics of the components back on the car, and a pic of the busted bushing. Sorry for the long reply, i just haven't done a great job of posting up progress lately.
-Chris
