Front end rebuild... the beginning to the final chapter

[DennisGardiner]

Removing old polies are real easy.
I just remove the control arm, and tap them out with a hammer & a drift
on the uppers. on the lowers I use a screw driver to pry them out a bit. Then
grab them with a pair of pliers & twist.
Dennis

[Thom71GT]

HA!! As I was reading it I was thinking it was like a punch. I have one, but I call it a flat tip punch. Learn something everyday.

[Paul]

A drift is generally softer than the part being forced out of position. This prevents marking, denting or damage to the object.

[Thom71GT]

Hello all, Im installing new inner tie rod boots today. What do I use to attach them? Zip ties?

[jerseyopel]

Yes. Try the plastic ones with the metal tab inside, they seem to work best.

[guyopel]

Hi Thom
The plastic ones are fine for the dust boots . HTH
J Lewis

[Thom71GT]

Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!!!


Black Powda!!!

Thanks John, Awesome job!!!

[Thom71GT]

Im trying to put the dust covers on the inner tie rod and it wont slip over the outer tie rod. I need to remove either the outer or the whole thing and don't know how to do it.

I did a search in the forums and came up blank.

Any help would be appreciated.

[nobody]

The easy way is a bit of WD40 to make them slick then work them over the outer joints. Tricky part is new ones are kinda stiff so you need to position the rack so they fit easy and you don't have to stretch them out too much. HTH

[GTJIM]

Carefully "pop" the tapers from the steering arms and mark how far the outer ball joint outer tie rods screw into the inner tie rods. Then undo the clamp and unscrew the outer tie rod ends. Now use the CRC or brake fluid to "slippery up" the inside of the rubber boots and work them over the clamp ends of the inner tie rods. Taking the inner tie rods off don't help as the swivel joint on the inner end is bigger than the clamp end. Taking the bolt right out of the clamp does help though.
Warming the rubber gaiters in hot water helps too.
It is a bit like congress with cats and using enough butter .........

[Thom71GT]

Well I got em on. With a little aggressive persuasion.

I took off the outer tie rod ends. I didnt need to mark them because it was obvious where they screwed back in to. Then a little help from my ol friend "all purpose grease" they slid right on. Boy, that was fun. Not!!

Thanks all.

[nobody]

Honest to God I did it with the use of a pickle fork and WD 40. Popped out the outer ball joint then worked it past everything. These were new ones from OGTS I put on the blue GT. It took about an hour and a half start to finish and no need for realignment.

[Thom71GT]

Dang, 15 -16 years of storage has really taken it's toll on my front end. I got one shock out but I think I am going to have to cut the other one out. Also, those little cone shaped bumper things. How the heck to you get those off. I burned one totally off hoping that there would be a rod or a screw left where I could get a grip on it with some vice grips, but all there is left is a little round thing the shape of a dime. I think Ill have to cut those off too.



Well, good things is after im all done it will be nice and new. :o

[namba209]

Thom, the rubber bumpers should screw out. There is a stud under all that rubber. Liberal use of a rust remover/penetrant should be used a week or so before trying to remove bolts, nuts, etc. I know it's a PIA but to save whatcha got that's the only way to go. HTH.

[namba209]

On replacing them on Willit?, I didn't have the steering arm hooked up to the spindle. I just used "Technical Petrolatum", a fancy name for commercial grade "Vaseline" and slid them over the whole mess to where they clamped in place. Like Dave's, these were new from OGTS. A bit messy, but the time frame's about the same.

[Thom71GT]

I was thinking that there was a stud under all that rubber, so I burned one off. All of the rubber is gone and there is nothing left but a small dime sized piece of flat metal that the screw is welded to. It is actually big enough that I can get a grip with my needle nose vice grips, but right now the nut is frozen. I'll saturate it all week with liquid wrench and see what happens.

[GTJIM]

That wee dime sized bit is what the rubber was bonded to during manufacture. As you can see there is a stud on the other side which bolts up through the front suspension cross member.
To remove the rusted nut just use a sharp cold chisel to split it along the line of the stud. Hold a piece of steel bar on the other side of the nut (you will need an assistant - or four hands!) and drive the cold chisel into the flat on the opposite side so that the nut splits open along the thread. Even if not split the nut will "get bigger" due to the chisel notch and loosen up on the stud.
Done skillfully the thread will not be damaged and the other rubber bumpers may be reusable ...
The steel bar acts as a "bolster" to hit against so that you do not slog out the mounting hole or bend things.
HTH

[soybean]

To add to what Ron said, if you can get it out without buggering the threads up too much, you can tap it and get most of the threads back. Maybe enough to hold it tight with a little Blue Loctite on the replacement. If not, GTJims idea is the way to go. OGTS was out last year when I did mine, but I believe they have them in stock now. Jarrell

[Thom71GT]

My "little friend" worked great. (Air cutting tool) 30 seconds of aggressive persuasion and bye bye.

[Thom71GT]

I'm in a bit of a sticky wicket!!! I have a shock that I just can't get out. Soaked the damn bolt in liquid wrench for over two weeks now.

How do you cut this thing off. The problem I have is where the shock goes up through the fender, the part of the front cross member is flared out and I cant get my air cutting tool in there to cut it off. The place where the nut is on the inside of the fender is in too small of an area to get any kind of cutting tool in there. So what to do?

Small hand hack saw? Air grinder and grint the nut off?

ANy help or suggestions would be Jim Dandy.

[namba209]

Thom, I'm guessing you talking about a GT shock upper mount, if so, you can access the nut under the plastic cap in the engine compartment. then you can use a Dremel, flex drive and a rotary file. More than enuff room for those in that little hole.

[oldopelguy]

The metal the shock center rod is made out of is so hard that 95% of the time you can grab the end straight on with a pair of vice grips, rock the nut back and forth a couple of times, and just break the end of the shaft right off. Usually works for me, your luck may vary.

[Thom71GT]

Got under the fender and took a small drill and drilled a hole all the way through the bolt on the top of the shock. Then I moved up a size and so on and so on. Took about 10 minutes but I killed and it was way easier than the dremel method in my opinion.

[Thom71GT]

Upper ball joints. Which way does the little logo thingy go? does it face the inside of the fender or the ouside? This logo was not visible until I cleaned the heck out of it.


http://www.ttwatchworks.com/Opel%20I...upperjoint.jpg

[RallyBob]

Depends on what you want your alignment (camber) to be. Note that the upper mounting holes are offset from center.