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I found a couple of these posts in the archives and thought that I might add my own experience in hopes that it might help someone doing this kind of work.
My goal was to bring the suspension back to new life in the front. I had been experiencing some squeeks and pops for around 15K miles and knew I'd have to do this sooner than later. I ended up replacing a few things I didn't need to, but as far as I am concerned, if I went through the trouble to get there in the first place, I might as well replace a $20 part.
I bought new hub/wheel bearings, lower control arm bushings (front and rear), tie rod ends, ball joints, and new C/V joint boots (inner and outer). By the end, I was dehydrated, frustrated, and had almost given up hope three times that day. Mind you, I am an amateur having never done this before.
Without going through the 12 hours I spent on just the left side (I know. Believe me, I could do the left side in my sleep now.), I will pinpoint the issues that gave me the most trouble.
I never want to look at another C/V joint again. I took mine apart. Why? I wanted to see how it worked. Not a mistake, just shoot me if I ever talk about fun and C/V joints in the same sentence. I HATE them. They are quite a piece of art though when you think about what they do and how well they do it. The snap ring is hard to get off. If the mess of joint grease all over everything and the fact that you have to get snap ring pliers into a very small space to pry open a very small set of tongs on the ring isn't enough, you have to do it in a constricted space and be careful not to get any dirt in the joint. If you do manage to get it open, then you have to pull the joint off. It took me a while of trying, a while of looking, then when I had almost given up, I got it and pulled the whole steering knuckle/hub assembly onto my leg. It hurt.
While I am here, I do not agree with Quasi and his "beat the shit out of it" method. I tried it and lost two ball bearings. I realized I had lost the second when I had the damn thing back on, reached for a tool and then picked up a bearing instead. Can you imagine my frustration? As Quasi did, I got very deep into my vocabulary. But, you do NOT have to kick the joint back on the axle as he suggests. Just line it up and push it on. Put some muscle into it. It most certainly WILL go on the axle. A couple taps with a rubber mallet on the C/V joint "bolt" with the axle nut attached won't hurt either. Be careful of mushrooming the ends of the "bolt" though. Just make sure that the snap ring is in the groove securely. I hate these oh so necessary parts of my Aero. Hate them. I understand them now though. Enough to give them my utmost respect.
Also, be careful when you pull the axle out of the inner C/V joint where the tripod bearing is. I almost let the housing slip off of one of the legs. That would have spilled all 20 or so rollers all over my driveway. They are too small to be lying on my driveway. Thankfully, I caught the housing trying to run away and slid it back on.
The lower control arm bushings were tough too. The rear bushing was relatively easy. The sleeve had separated from the bushing, which was split in two and cracked. I would have sworn that the sleeve looked welded to the attachement point. Some liquid wrench and vice grips (and a hard tap with a big mallet) helped get it off. The front bushing was hell until I had the right tools. No amount of pounding would budge the old one. I finally wised up and drilled out the rubber sides of it, then one tap forced it through relatively easily. It looked okay and was not in need of replacement. After 150K miles on it, I was surprised at how good it looked. Even so, I was down there, so why not? Putting the new one back in was not easy. I spent an hour trying to get it in. No amount of hammer pounding will work, at least it didn't work for me and I was hesitant to pound too hard in fear of breaking the new bushing. Regardless, I pounded the shit out of it and got nowhere. Plan B involved a slightly too small C clamp and a caulking gun. Can you see where I am going here? If you answered nowhere, you would have been correct. I went down to the hardware store and bought a bigger C clamp. It worked well. Not perfect for the application, but it worked and I could duplicate the results.
The tie rod end was incredibly easy. I made sure that I kept the nut where it was before and turned the new tie rod end on perfectly to the spot where the old one was. Tighten the nut and my alignment is as perfect as it was before. When you remove that nut and put it back on, put the tie rod end into the steering knuckle for support so that you don't tweak the steering rack.
The ball joint was a slight pain. It takes a good whack to get it out of the hub/steering knuckle assemble and I think that you can only get it out with the hub off. I am probably wrong here, but it certainly is easier to remove if you take the dreaded C/V joint apart first. Tighten the rod that goes into the steering rack/hub assembly before you put it back onto the lower control arm because if you don't, the weight will force the assembly down too far onto the ball joint and you will have to take it all apart to tighten it the right way.
The sway bar end bushing (the eye loop thing) is relatively straight forward, but it takes a large number of good whacks to get it loose. The springiness of the sway bar doesn't help. The bushings between the bottom of the bolt and the nut badly needed replacement. The eye loop bushing itself was okay and not too bad.
The hub/wheel bearing was easy. Nothing to it. I did get a bad one from eEuroparts though. I could feel it grinding and wasn't about to let it within ten feet of my car. I told them and they shipped out a part the same day and sent me a packing label to send it back to them. I can't thank Dean enough. I would DEFINITELY recommend them to anyone.
Needless to say, once I put it all back together, I was happy. At the same time, I knew that I'd probably drive down the street and the car would blow up. When it didn't and the left front felt so nice and tight and new, I let the straight face become a smirk. It feels amazing. I am actually looking forward to doing the right one now.
The car is a 1994 Aero with all original stuff down there, minus the struts and shocks which are Bilstein. I've had them on since 85K and have liked them, but New Englad winters and Bilsteins are not the best combo. California is perfect for them. Then again, just replacing the left front suspension bushings makes it feel like new, so perhaps my complaints are wiht faulty bushings and not the Bilsteins. But, I would suspect that the shocks do make a difference and wear things faster. Anyway, the left side feels brand new now.
Why didn't I go with poly bushings? For one, the Bilsteins are hard enough. No need to necessitate more trips to the dentist per year. The extra step of having to lube them puts me off. I don't like extra maintenace and this seems like no fun, especially if you have to take them out to lube them. Maybe you don't. Even so, I don't need any components that make squeeks. If I were racing, sure. This is a daily driver though. And lastly, the stock bushings when added make the car feel brand new. i am really happy that sound reasoning stood behind my decision to go stock on this job. That and the fact that I couldn't get a hold of Superflex.
I hope everyone has better luck than I did on the C/V joints. I did learn a lot about my front end suspension and drivetrain though, and for that I am thankful that I saw this through to the end. There were at least two times when I thought I's have to bring the car to a shop to have them help me. I persevered though and you should too. An hour long break (or a day for that matter) helps enormously. A fresh outlook is always the key.
By the way, this job could not have been done without my trusty rubber mallet. If you don't have one, go buy one. Also, the $110 25-250lb/ft torque wrench from Sears is a must for the axle nuts. It is great for lug nuts too and beats stepping on the lug wrench all the time, torquing your wheel bolts to obscene values.
The Townsend writeups are invaluable. So are Quasi's procedures. Just don't beat the crap out of your C/V joint. It will reward you by throwing up a few bearings when you jerk it the wrong way. But (and I feel that I am coming to the end of a 250 page novel here), I would not have attempted this without the help of this board and its members. There is no other place like it. And Ari, thank you especially for all the time you put into posting here. There are others like you, but I always seemed to happen by your posts most often.
Ian
'94 9000 Aero (151K)
posted by 66.31.171...
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