1/ Remove the bush bolts, both sides and the shock absorber.
2/ Remove the split pin and back the nut off on the lower ball joint 2 or 3 turns. DON'T remove it.
3/ Jack the car up with a block under the front crossmember and put it on stands.
4/ Break the taper on the lower ball joint. Either use a ball joint press between the upper and lower ball joint, (Holden special tool 3A10, or make your own), or belt the side of the stub axle knuckle next to the ball joint with a length of bar struck at the opposite end with a BFH. It might take 20-30 blows before you get a healthy clunk and taper lets go. The ball joint nut now has full spring tension against it.
5/ Jack under the lower control arm until you see light between the lower ball joint nut and the stub axle knuckle. Remove the nut.
6/ Stand back, and slowly lower the jack until the spring is decompressed. Hopefully it won't have tension on it, when the jack is fully down and can be removed. Look up inside the shock tower and find the white nylon insulators that didn't come out with the spring. There can be different numbers and thicknesses of them on each side, so don't say I didn't warn you.
7/ Beg, buy, steal or make a U shaped piece of steel, 3mm thick or more about 40mm long and about 30mm inside the U. This fits over the pivot pin between the front crossmember pivot pin pad and the outer shell of the control arm bush. You have to slide the control arm to one side to fit it between the bush and the crossmember pad.
This immobilises the bush.
8/ 2 choices here.
a) Find a piece of steel tube 300mm long or so which just fits over the flange on the outer part of the bush, (about 47mm ID 3mm wall thickness) and bears against the control arm. Give the other end a few whacks with the aforementioned BFH and the control arm will slide in towards the crossmember while the bush stays put.
b) A more gentle option is to use a 3/8 UNF bolt and threaded into the lower pivot pin and a big washer to draw a short length of tube onto the control arm, as per a), but with more couth and no hammers. It is a bit risky as you can strip the threads in the pivot pin.
Then do 7/ and 8/ for the other side.
I have photos of some of the tools I've made over the years if you're interested, but the Shop Manual HT Supplement will also help you.
Edited by user Tuesday, 14 June 2016 10:23:52 PM(UTC)
| Reason: Not specified
