Front End Rebuild, Pt. 2

Well, the passenger's side is now apart, although it was a little more effort than the driver's side. For some reason, the steering knuckle lower support didn't want to release when I removed the bottom kingpin nut. Jacked it and let off a few times; the support would slip down about an inch and stop. I wound up having to unbolt the upper A-arm from the frame and peel it off like the Shop Manual says, but I was sweating and praying the whole time, with only the floor jack under the A-arm to keep the spring compressed.

When I finally got the A-arm disconnected from the frame, the car jumped about an inch and scared the heck out of me. Good thing there was a safety chain in place!

The passenger's side was worse than the driver's side. One of the upper inner pin bushings is completely gone; this is the one that the engine was resting on because of the collapsed motor mount. The rubber is non-existent, and the metal shell is egg-shaped and cracked. The upper outer pin had rust in the groove that the camber/caster adjusting pinch bolt goes through, and one of the upper pin bushings was seized and rusty inside, the same way one of the lowers was on the driver's side. Ugh. And of course there was three pounds of dirt covering everything.

After I got the A-arms off the frame, I started to remove the steering bellcrank center pin, but my pickle fork could not budge one of the tie rods, or get the reach rod off the bellcrank. I'm going to go out tomorrow and buy a proper tie rod puller - that oughta get 'em off. I figure I have about an hour more of work ahead of me.