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Spent a few hours yesterday doing: Removed lower ball joints; removed lower A-arm big bolt and nuts; removed upper A-arm ball joints; removed upper A-arms; removed springs from lower pans; removed rotor assembly on both passenger and driver sides. Have to get one remaining rubber bushing out of each of the lower A-arms. One of the C30722 lower A-arm bolts is slightly bent. Have to either get it straightened or get another good one somewhere. Already tried David Boger but no luck. Cleaned all parts out in the yard with Citris Engine Cleaner, then sprayed with hose. Will eventually paint all parts before assembly. One thing that was disappointing was that on two on the lower A-arm bushings, they were labeled as Metalstick! So, I'm guessing that someone in the past replaced them with Metalastik, but didn't follow the installation instructions where it says to tighten the big bolts after the car is resting with its full weight on the suspension. And they tore themselves apart over time. Or, there was a mix of Metalastik and off brand. Who knows? They are all getting replaced with Metalastik and the proper procedure followed.
As a side note - the FIRST thing I did when I moved into this house, before I put ANYTHIING in the garage and it was completely empty was buy this rubber tile for Lowes and install it. I love, love, love it!!! I can't imagine going back to a cement floor and doing these types of jobs.
Mostly disassembled Metalastik in the A-arm. This one looks good; but none of the others do.
Bill, when you go to tighten your lower A-arm bushes, BE SURE that not only is the weight of the entire car on them, but take it for a drive around the block first so the car will Settle to its natural height. (I can tell you how I discovered this) And then drive it up on ramps, over a pit or onto a lift so the weight is still on the suspension, and Then torque it.
We all know that when we jack up a front wheel and merely let it down again (to change a tire for example), that wheel is not quite settled until we drive on it.
No harm will be done if you drive it such a short distance loose. The shafts can't fall out or anything cuz of the Rack.
(';')
As this is a two step project - the complete front assembly rebuild and the replacement of the rod bearings (and maybe mains), this may go on a while. So I'm banking all these suggestions to employ as I get to that paet of the ptoject. Thank you.
Also, I think the upper A-arm bushings seem to have a different concept from the lower ones. It appears the upper ones rotate on the sleeve and the shaft? So do I lightly gease the upper shaft before sliding on the bushings sleeve?
Bill,
The ROM sez here on page 60-12;
Section 60.35.08: WISHBONE - UPPER
.......
Reassembling;
4. Using a press and suitable mandrel, fit new bushes to wishbone arms.
Ensure each bush is central in arm. CAUTION: New bushes must be coated with Esso Process Oil 'L' before they are pressed into wishbone arms.
5. Assemble wishbone arms to fulcrum shaft, using new bushes, and retain with plain washers and self locking nuts. CAUTION: Do not fully tighter at this stage.
6. Fit upper wishbones to shaft.
7. Torque to 45 to 55 lb.ft.
I knew your "hope that was clear and understandable" was facetious. And I don't understand at all. In the pic below of the upper fulcrum bushing kit there are sleeves that rotate on the two spindles on the top of the towers. And it's not the same concept as the lower bushings that have to be preloaded before tightening. Am I wrong here? Guess I'll apply either oil or a dab of bearing grease to the spindles before sliding on the A-arms and their bushings.
And... it's surprising how light the entire front-end assembly is when all is removed from it. Started painting and now on the way back together.
Bill, NO pre-load on the lower wishbones! The castle nuts should be RATTLY LOOSE (just be sure you don't lose anything) until the full weight is on the front and you've driven it around the block to settle it (I'm not kiddin' about that).
The uppers aren't so touchy, but as the directions state at the end of step 5: Caution; Do Not Fully Tighten At This Stage.
I'm not sure wheel bearing grease is a good idea for rubber bits. Such grease sometimes tends to dissolve rubbery things. This is why Rubber Lube was recommended. Brake fluid might work too, but we're quite literal here when it comes to directions like this.
It's true the upper nuts are a bit trickier to tighten "with full weight on the tires", as the tires are in the way, but we do our best to follow those directions. I put a trolley jack under the lower ball joint and raise it to try making it level before I tighten those nuts.
David Bodger says shipping weight of the stripped crossmenber is only a bit over 50 pounds. It is surprisingly light when you get all the whirly bits off; rotors, calipers, rack etc.
Those are aftermarket top wishbone bushings. The OEM ones look like this: https://www.berkshirejagcomponents.c...95-c2x18195409
In addition the top wishbone factory setup needs the special chrome washers, 5 in the diagram, as shown here: https://parts.jaguarlandroverclassic.../brand/jaguar/
If your suspension was OEM those pieces should still be there, but the special chrome washers may be rusty.
The bushes you show look like poly ones, and they should have washers supplied to go on the end of each poly piece as well as the tubes shown. These will work well enough, maybe slightly more solid feeling and less compliant, but the inside that the tube goes through needs lubricating with graphite gun grease or similar that will not attack the poly material. If the poly pieces are not scored or hatched in the bit the tube goes through, many people score them, or run a coarse tap down them, to give a few places for the grease to load into. They will squeak prodigiously if they dry out. The poly rides on the metal tube outer, which should not turn on the fulcrum.
Last edited by Greg in France; Apr 21, 2022 at 10:20 AM.
Sorry, I misused the word "preload". I do fully understand the procedure and intend to follow. I suspect the PO did'nt do that and that's why it failed. I don't want to do this job agsin!!
Bill
What LnR means is that when you have fitted the bottom wishbones with their new bushes, and re-attached evrything to the subframe, DO NOT tighten the castellated nut on the end of the bottom wishbone fulcrum pin. Just do it up a bit. Then, when everything is assembled back in the car, and it is on its wheels, engine running, do a quick few hundred yards to settle the front suspension to its proper height. Then get under the car and torque up the castellated nut and insert its locking split pin. As access is poor, driving the car up ramps, but still weight on its wheels, makes this final tightening easier.
The reason for this procedure is that the bottom wishbone bushes do NOT revolve with suspension movement, rather the rubber part of the bush just flexes enough to allow the wishbone movement both up and down from its mid point normal loaded position. However, if the pin is torqued up with the wishbone fully down (as it would be with no weight on the wheels), the rubber part of the bush will tear when the wishbone goes to the fully up position (such as when you go over a bump) as the rubber will be forced beyond its limits.
The top wishbone bushes actually are bearing surfaces that revolve with wishbone movement, so the top pin can be tightened up in any position.
I have to give a MAJOR shoutout and thank you to Larry Louton for gifting me his HF Engine Support Bar. As you can see in the pic, it is doing its job. And a thank you and Kudos to Sanchez for his "Homemade" Spring Compressor tool. Just shows you the generosity and commradary we all have here.
Suspension project just took a back seat to the rod and main bearings project. But will get back to it.
This is great, Bill,
I was telling husband about your version of our "levitation device" and my concerns for your safety.
His reply, "He's a big boy and he's been warned. You've done what you can."
I am SO glad you have that engine support bar!
(';')
Thought I might show how I installed the four Lower A-arm Metalastik bushings. I used the Front Suspension Mounting Bolt as a tool. This is one of the two bolts that hold the Suspension Mount Bush's in place. I used a 1 7/16 socket on one end and the washer and nut on the other. I slathered up the bushing with hand cream and just screwed the whole thing together, just eye-balling the bushing that both ends were sticking out evenly. Of course you have to take the bolt tool apart to see that part of the bushing sticking though. After I did the other bushing on the other side of the A-arm, I then took it over to the front end assembly and fit it up with the BIG long bolt and appropriate geared washers slipped in place, and tightened the whole thing up to compress the bushings fully in place while the hand cream was still slippery. Yes, then I loosened the whole bolt assembly so it moved freely. Happy to answer questions if the pics and explanation weren't clear.
Bushings, washers assembled on left. Washers from other side on right.
Good job on the bushing Bill, let me offer some advice concerning your new ball joints. They will come out of the package with just enough grease to pass a warrantee period, maybe. I slid the rubber boot up and put extra grease in the joint. I'm just OCD that way.
Onto the bearing part of the project - Received from SNG Barrett yesterday - new main bearings, thrust washers, big end rod bearings, oil pump, and lower end gasket set. Found that the oil pump does not come with the two O-rings in it (PN#'s C8649 and C21848), so have to get those. Removed the front, middle and rear main bearing caps and replaced both the upper and lower bearings in all three. The front, of course was the hardest as you have to remove the distributor and drive the drive shaft out of the gear a bit to get the front cap off. It's written up in the Repair Operation Manual. So.... How did I get the upper bearings out you ask?? I cut an old credit card (actually a hotel key card) length-wise to the width of the particular bearing, and pushed it out while turning the crankshaft. Obviously you have to push it out in the direction of the locator tang. Then oiled up the new one and pushed it in the opposite direction to ultimately seat the tang. Actually not a hard job. WORD OF CAUTION - and I don't know if it's just if you purchase the MEHLE brand of main bearings or not, BUT the bearings are packaged seven to a shrink wrapped package in the box. That matches up to seven main bearings with a total of fourteen halves. One of the two 7/packs is the upper bearings, and the other of the two 7/packs is the lower half of the bearings. I didn't figure that out until halfway into the job of the front, middle and back bearings. The sizes are a bit different and the tangs are a bit different. Make sure you match them up on the bench with the old ones when you remove them. No harm, no foul when I installed the first one, which was the rear one. But I had to take it apart again when I realized that; and install the correct one.
