picture you're smashing a 7/900 volvo roof, works for me eveytime

car is coming along nicely. Are you getting those control arms powder coated ?

also I got some better looking speaker covers. I;ll post some pictures

Impact with a 3/4" impact socket (I think it's 3/4"?) on the ball joint remover that you rented from O'Reilly's.
Mine were original as well and I got them out in a minute or so using my impact.
Installation was a breeze also.
Steve

Is there a neighbor you don't really like ? Use the control arms to knock on their door. You know, just to say Hi like a good neighbor would.

I had a S#$%$ day at work and when I came home tried this method. So easy and probably the most satisfying thing I've ever done on the car. Thanks guys!

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4650/...232fb633_c.jpg

If only the same method worked for the bushings lol

woop! nice


these are what you NEED

and shameless plug

aluminum everything
https://i.imgur.com/RKMI6nQl.jpg

plastic frame, steel mesh (dusty)
https://i.imgur.com/xf7OQd8l.jpg

Those are a lot nicer than the ones on the car. But the ****ty plastic jensen ones are original.
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4765/...7e179cbb_c.jpg

Holy **** that was overly complicated. Couldn't get the nut off so I cut it with a dremel below the mounting point. The bolt wouldn't go through that way so I started sectioning the nut with a dremel.

Then I just went to Sears and got an adaptor for my wireless impact gun and boom!

It's all ready to go but I still need to do the control arm bushings.

Man, I'm about to do all my bushings and ball joints and am not looking forward to it. You have a press to put it all back together?

Also, I plan on welding a few gussets onto my sway bar mounts on the lower control arms. The ones on my 142 are fine, but that 144 I had briefly had cracks all around the stock welds. Just cut out some triangles from 1/8 or 3/16 plate and have them welding on.

dremels are for fling finger nails and model airplanes

you need one of these
https://panthereast.com/images/xlarg...LE-GRINDER.jpg

I’ll let you know if it was worth it once I get the car back on the ground. My sense is that it will transform the car. I have one of the c clamp presses and the newly discovered impact gun to drive it. Hopefully that does the trick. great point about the gussets, I’ve heard that is a weak point before. Too bad I can’t weld.

Very true! Then it wouldn’t have taken three days to not work lol

I gave up after it took two evenings to get two LCA bushings out and I couldn't get the new ones to go in straight. Took the controls arms to the repair shop by my work and after some convincing got the awesome owner to break his rules about working on old cars, Volvos and using customer supplied parts... a few hours later and the new bushings were pressed in!

Putting the suspension back together was harder than I anticipated. Everything spun when I tried to torque the bolts down. Finally with enough pressure under the control arms and on the tie rods everything was back together.

I put what I thought were slightly taller front springs but they raised the front end up like 4 inches so I had to go back to the springs that were already in there.

All I have to do is put the swaybar and wheels back on and then I can go see how it drives!

get an alignment

[QUOTE=Coupid;5747887]

Putting the suspension back together was harder than I anticipated. Everything spun when I tried to torque the bolts down. Finally with enough pressure under the control arms and on the tie rods everything was back together.
QUOTE]

You should have it sitting with all of the vehicle weight on it when you torque the a-arms, ball joints, & tie rods. Without a lift, get a set of ramps and set it on them. Then you can torque everything correctly.
Definitely take it in for an alignment, as Jack has stated. The a-arm shims, if there were any, will be different when replacing 40 year old rubber bushings and ball joints. I didn't put any shims back in mine, I'll let the alignment shop do it once I get the engine & transmission back in.
Steve

[QUOTE=sksmith;5748109]I have asked a couple tire places around Santa Cruz if they'd do an alignment on my car and they both said absolutely not. Another alignment place said they thought they could but I would have to provide a shim set. Did you guys just have any old shop do the alignment?

I don’t have that problem here even les Schwab can do it

It’s crazy I know adjusting more than toe

I'm on it!

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4745/...30cde307_c.jpg

All back together. Took the car out for a test drive. Needs an alignment for sure. Everything feels so tight and all the clunks are gone. What a PITA but the end result is worth it for sure! Can't wait to get the uppers done, get an alignment and new tires.

Thanks to everyone in the thread for the advice thus far

Nice. So you didn't do upper control arm bushings at the same time?

Are you going to align to stock specs?

I'd crush my car before I'd mess with upper control arm bushings in a 140 again. I ended up mailing mine to Ian and letting him do it. The ultimate PITA.

VP only had one upper ball joint in stock so I decided to do all the lower stuff now and then the uppers when I get the other ball joint.

I was going to use the stock specs unless you have some that you like better


Good to know about the upper control arm bushings. Maybe I'll do the same?

Have replaced a lot of these bushings over the years and its really not that bad after you get the hang of it.

Check this out on Facebook, non-rusted bushing out in mere minutes w/out any drama, of course I found it out not long after changing the 1800s lower bushings https://www.facebook.com/blaze.sk.5/...55345895166453

that's awesome thanks for sharing!

Any reason not to reuse the sleeves?

No Facebook. How does he do it?

runs a drill around the inner metal piece and then the sleeves. it pulls the rubber out in a few seconds

Yep. Drill out one side and then the a-arm shaft comes out.
It's not fun, but it's nothing that you can't handle, if you got the lowers out / in.
Reinstall is put in one side, run the shaft thru the other side, then put in the 2nd bushing.
Steve

What's so hard about the upper arms? I had my bushings removed with a hammer and a washer cut into a C shape like the repair manual states. I borrowed a friend's shop press and it doesn't seem like they'll be too hard to press in.

I'm using OEM bushings, so the sleeve is integrated and must come out. Are you using poly?

I had a local shop install my a-arm bushing and they said it was the hardest ones they've ever done.
Not sure why

Also, when I took it to the alignment shop they told me they would have the correct shims, but they didn't.
I'd suggest making sure you have enough of your own shims to give the shop just in case.