another steering gearbox thread..sorry..

[saylor]

1.) +1 on cutting the sway bar grommet mounts - i cut down the wleded seam and then drilled holes and threaded a nut/bolt thru there and puilled it back together with new moog rubbers.
2.) do the whole front end now. dont do one side. and dont do just the ball joints. do all of it. both sides.
3.) if you have the huevos to take all the parts off, you can put this crap back on.
4.) use every jack stand you have. and blocks on the wheel.
5.) torsion bars will kill you. the bar itself will not unless someone hits you with it. but the sprung force suddenly letting go and slamming the LCA into the floor and knocking your car off the jacks will 100% kill you.
6.) there are a lot of write ups on doing this work, including my own, on this very web site. please read them all 3x.
7.) P-S-T is your friend. tell them we sent you and enjoy a discount.
8.) get a torsion bar removal tool off fleabay.
9.) remove all the parts then carry it all to a local mechanic and have him bust the joints loose and resleeve the bushes, etc.
10.) try not to die

 

[68Bigred]

11) drop the car off at the restorers 8 mon the later looks good and everything new.
12) spent the next year paying it off

Lol! Everything seems real tight. Like I said if I didn't damage the box I would be doing any of it. I think the front end will last another year or so or less then 1000 miles I'll put on it. If anything was loose or bad I'd rip it all apart.

 

[SF-66TC]

1.) +1 on cutting the sway bar grommet mounts - i cut down the wleded seam and then drilled holes and threaded a nut/bolt thru there and puilled it back together with new moog rubbers.
2.) do the whole front end now. dont do one side. and dont do just the ball joints. do all of it. both sides.
3.) if you have the huevos to take all the parts off, you can put this crap back on.
4.) use every jack stand you have. and blocks on the wheel.
5.) torsion bars will kill you. the bar itself will not unless someone hits you with it. but the sprung force suddenly letting go and slamming the LCA into the floor and knocking your car off the jacks will 100% kill you.
6.) there are a lot of write ups on doing this work, including my own, on this very web site. please read them all 3x.
7.) P-S-T is your friend. tell them we sent you and enjoy a discount.
8.) get a torsion bar removal tool off fleabay.
9.) remove all the parts then carry it all to a local mechanic and have him bust the joints loose and resleeve the bushes, etc.
10.) try not to die

You're 'da Man saylor! I didn't want to play MacGyver on this one so I took the easy way out LOL!

 

[pmschmitt]

Great input on the gear box I was looking at having mine rebuilt as well. I had heard great things about firm feel and steer and gear. Both were pretty close on price when I called.

 

[saforwardlook]

Shop around and get some better parts -

Do it yourself and Save some $$$ ...

And go from this...

To looking like this...

So your front sway bar hangers where the square bushings mount came from Rare Parts or Firm Feel? How much?

 

[SF-66TC]

So your front sway bar hangers where the square bushings mount came from Rare Parts or Firm Feel? How much?

saforwardlook, I purchased the stabilizer link kit from P-S-T for $75.30...
The kit comes with updated hangers, sway bar & hanger bushings. It also comes with washers for the hanger bushings, but it's best to use original washers since they are thicker and heavier.

Both the hanger and sway bar bushings are really high quality..better than Moog which I know because I have a set of Moog's. The center sway bar bushings are thicker and don't have a slit in them which also makes them more solid. To install the sway bar bushings using some Sil-Glyde will help easily slide them over the ends of the sway bar. The hanger bushings are larger than the OEM & Moog brand which also makes them more heavy duty. See photos below for differences in mfg.

Left = Rare Parts Diamond Series Link Bushing
Center = OEM Link Bushing
Right = Moog Link Bushing

Top = Rare Parts Diamond Series Sway Bar Bushing (thicker & solid)
Bottom = Moog Sway Bar Bushing (with cut)

 

[68Bigred]

Also if people are thinking of upgrading the sway bar I put the one from firmfeel 11/4 in. It has to be drilled into the Lca which give more stability where it needs instead of bolting to the strut rods. My car handled so much better with thst big bar on!

 

[saforwardlook]

You're 'da Man saylor! I didn't want to play MacGyver on this one so I took the easy way out LOL!

It is this hanger that I was inquiring about in terms of cost and source of the parts. But it sounds like you put a firm feel sway bar on that didn't use this part? A little confused?

 

[SF-66TC]

It is this hanger that I was inquiring about in terms of cost and source of the parts. But it sounds like you put a firm feel sway bar on that didn't use this part? A little confused?

saforwardlook,

1. saylor played MacGyver and cut the original link and welded it back together.
2. I, SF-66TC purchased the link (Rare Parts Diamond Series) from P-S-T as shown in the photos.
3. 68Bigred put in a firm feel sway bar (includes its own link etc.)

 

[SF-66TC]

CORRECTION: The Sway Bar Links were purchased from P-S-T
(I've updated my previous post #26 and #29 - sorry for confusion)

For some reason the packaging label is "Rare Parts Diamond Series" which is Rare Parts Signature Branding, however Rare Parts DOES NOT list the links on their site. I'm thinking possibly Rare Parts no longer manufacturers the links and P-S-T still has some of their old stock.

 

[celticwarlock]

Hey 68Bigred, You could save yourself some money if you shopped around for some of the parts and possibly even get better parts for about the same pricing as FF $650 suspension rebuild kit. I didn't need all the parts FF listed in their kit so I just got the parts that I needed. I did however got Firm Feels Tubular Upper Control Arms and did not need to get the Ball Joints and Bushings as well as the saved time refurbishing the UCA.

For the front sway bar you CANNOT replace the center bushings even though they are available from MOOG (K7061). The OEM links that hold the bushings are welded together preventing the bushing/cushion to be replaced. Even the FSM states, "The sway bar cushions are not serviced separetely. If replacement is necessary, install a new sway bar assembly." The only way I was able to replace the bushings was to get PST's 7/8" Stabilizer Link Kit. It was pricey at $75.30, but there was no other choice. The kit comes with custom links that allows one to change the bushings and is actually part of the "Rare Parts Diamond Series Kit" where all the bushings are of the highest quality. If you decide to get a kit from PST request the "Rare Parts Diamond Series" brand. PST also sources the kit from a different manufacturer and the quality of the bushings are noticeably different, so for the same price you might as well get the higher quality pieces.

I purchased my Lower Ball Joints, Strut Rod Bushings and Pitman Arm from Rare Parts @ www.shop.rareparts.com All the parts are part of the "Rare Parts Diamond Series" branding and again of much higher quality than MOOG or OEM.

Firm Feel prices their Front RCD Bilstein Shocks at $220/pair whereas PST sells them for $188/pair giving a savings is $32.

Take it from me, if you can remove and replace the steering box, you can change all these suspension components yourself and save at least $1,000 on the labor a shop would charge you. I just did mine myself and the labor cost I saved not having to pay a shop to do it, paid for half of all the parts. Also, if you do it yourself you can clean up and POR15 the entire front suspension and make it look pretty. If you pay a shop to do the work they'll only replace the parts and you'll still have a crappy looking under carriage.

It's actually pretty easy as long as you have the correct tools. Only specialty tools I got were a Ball Joint, Tie Rod and Tortion Bar removal tools that totaled about $85. I rented a Pitman removal tool from Autozone - the rental is actually FREE, you just pay for it first, but they'll refund the amount when you return it.

I got to road test a '68 GTX 4-spd with a 426 Hemi stroked to I think it was a 572 running about 700hp. The car had all new suspension bushings, a Firm Feel Front Bar and Stage-3 power steering box and it felt REALLY good - so that's what I'm going to go with for my gear box.

If you decide to take on the project yourself I'd be happy to give you some pointers and step you through along the way. I wrote down all the Torque specs & SAE socket/wrench sizes needed to do the job and provided a link below to it. On the second page I listed the parts I got, the vendors used and their pricing. I highly recommend the Diamond Series parts from Rareparts - the quality is night and day.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/433231/Torque Specs & Pricing.pdf

There is a way to replace the encased sway bar bushings. On my '69 NY, I removed the bar and perforated the bushings with a drill so they pretty much crumbled apart. After sliding the bushing brackets off the bar, I drilled a hole in each bracket "ear". I then sawed the welded area of the bracket apart with a band saw so that they separated where each hole was drilled. This allowed me to reassemble the brackets with nuts and bolts, with new poly bushings (made from raw material....none were available at the time). If done this way, you can replace them at will.

 

[SF-66TC]

There is a way to replace the encased sway bar bushings. On my '69 NY, I removed the bar and perforated the bushings with a drill so they pretty much crumbled apart. After sliding the bushing brackets off the bar, I drilled a hole in each bracket "ear". I then sawed the welded area of the bracket apart with a band saw so that they separated where each hole was drilled. This allowed me to reassemble the brackets with nuts and bolts, with new poly bushings (made from raw material....none were available at the time). If done this way, you can replace them at will.

Celticwarlock, that is a PERFECT EXPLANATION OF HOW TO. I had thought about drilling holes in the ears, but didn't even think of using a band saw. Where there's a WILL there is a way...I guess my WILL was easier to just get the kit LOL!!

 

[68Bigred]

So new gearbox in but no matter where I set pitman arm steering wheel off 90. Off the Firestone for an alignment. There is a guy that like old mopars there. Did an awesome job car drives perfect...but as I pulled on the garage my heart dropped. Ps fluid leaking all over. Cleaned up the mess fearing my cheap box is a pos. Started it in and fluid started running out. Was actually happy when found the leak. Loos like my hose let go at the crimp. New hose ordered..Fml lol. I should have replaced that hose when I put the motor together. Oh well lesson learned

 

[SF-66TC]

So new gearbox in but no matter where I set pitman arm steering wheel off 90. Off the Firestone for an alignment. There is a guy that like old mopars there. Did an awesome job car drives perfect...but as I pulled on the garage my heart dropped. Ps fluid leaking all over. Cleaned up the mess fearing my cheap box is a pos. Started it in and fluid started running out. Was actually happy when found the leak. Loos like my hose let go at the crimp. New hose ordered..Fml lol. I should have replaced that hose when I put the motor together. Oh well lesson learned

Good to hear it wasn't anything serious! BTW, where did you get the black wheel well covers shown in your pic?

 

[68Bigred]

Good to hear it wasn't anything serious! BTW, where did you get the black wheel well covers shown in your pic?

Ebay where else. Perfect fit and correct clips.

 

[celticwarlock]

Sorry this image is a little late to the party. If anyone is interested, this a photo of what I did. The fit is much better than the photo may indicate, and the bushing is tan because that is the only color I could get a brick of that stuff in at the time (85 A durometer polyurethane).

 

[SF-66TC]

Ebay where else. Perfect fit and correct clips.

What's it called or name description?

 

[cantflip]

Sorry this image is a little late to the party. If anyone is interested, this a photo of what I did. The fit is much better than the photo may indicate, and the bushing is tan because that is the only color I could get a brick of that stuff in at the time (85 A durometer polyurethane).

Nice job... that was a fair amount of work most wouldn't consider if a new piece was available... but it wasn't at that time. Would you do it again now, or just buy the kit?

 

[68Bigred]

What's it called or name description?

They are called splash sheilds. Some reason I cant attach the link. I randomly scroll thru ebay and saw them. I'm always adding parts to my parts closet.lol. I do the same with my renault never know when ya need something. Can't believe I never bought and extra ps hose!

 

[celticwarlock]

Nice job... that was a fair amount of work most wouldn't consider if a new piece was available... but it wasn't at that time. Would you do it again now, or just buy the kit?

Given that it was pretty easily accomplished, I'd do the work on the brackets again. The bushings were actually fun to make (a drill, hand saw, bench grinder and a paddle bit were all I needed), but those I'd probably buy if the price was right. As for the bushings between the subframe and bracket stems, I used polyurethane end link bushings shaved down to the proper height and size. I simply got ones that were a bit too large and carefully "machined" them with a bench grinder.