[Yoda]

How do these labor estimates sound?
1. Replace front brake pads, rotors, calipers, grease seals, & hoses: $139.70
2. Replace front shocks: $34.50
3. Replace outer/inner tie rod ends, upper/lower control arm bushings, & upper/lower ball joints: $384.18

Again this is just the labor piece. The shop doesn't care if they supply the parts or if I do (I have to supply at least some of them) so price will dictate that piece.

This shop has done good work on my 65 T-Bird so I trust them.

Thanks!

 

[nobody]

Not bad but what about the spring bushings?

 

[bear]

I concur with nobody, about the spring bushings. Also query them to be sure they know about the transverse spring, the labor in removing it could be astronomic if they don't know what they're doing, and dangerous if they haven't done it before. If you are going to put poly bushings in the front suspension, get them from OGTS, and you will also get very detailed instructions on how to remove the old bushings and install the new ones. The lower control arm bushings can be extremely difficult to remove and the upper control arm bolts also. Experience talking here. HTH.

 

[Yoda]

Are those obvious candidates for replacement during the rest of the work?

 

[bear]

Yes, the spring terminates at each lower control arm and like the rest of the front suspension has rubber bushings at the attach points. If you get the poly bushings from OGTS as I said they will send instructions on removal and installation, and several small tubes of Teflon based grease to be used with the poly bushings. The use of this grease is close to being mandatory to use with poly bushings and the type of grease will not wash away under normal use. It is normally used on boat trailers and other equipment that are used in severe environments. HTH.

 

[nobody]

I think I'd pay at least 50 for somebody else to mess with that grease, Even if I did the work. Like Ron said it is not water soluble and some grease cutters don't touch it either... wear gloves or live with it for a while.

 

[jeff denton]

The labor estimate total divided by shop rate ($65/hr here) equals just over a day's work. I don't think even an excellent mechanic can do it quite that fast, thus my opinion would be that the labor estimate is very fair. Perhaps not real accurate, but a bargain for you. The question would be, is that what they are going to charge you, or will you be billed for actual time? Be careful...

 

[v6transplant]

Sounds like the estimate is based upon "book time" (also known as flat rate), which is a average time it takes a technician to do a specific task. I'd be suprised if they quoted actual time. Sounds fair to me, considering all that is required...

I would recommend the spring bushings that Ron suggested. When I did my front end, I took the spring out and had a local spring company do some re-arching work for me. The neat thing was they put in these plastic looking strips in between each leaf, to eliminate any possible sound squeak. They called them "teflon strips." I had it done before OGTS started selling the spring bushings; but now that they are available, it is worth it to do those also...

 

[pvcar]

one thing i found that will take anythong off ur hands almost i mean it can even sometimes remove por-15 sometimes, its the Brakleen brand brake cleaner, its pretty tough stuff jus make sure u dont let it get into ur skin to much and wash ur hands really good after u use it.

 

[Yoda]

This shop has done a few jobs for me that took longer than their quote and they stuck to their quote. I know it took them almost a day to do the shocks on my T-Bird, but they only charged me a few hours of labor.

 

[v6transplant]

If they stick to their qoute, and your comfortable with them, then you can't ask for a better shop in my opinion...

I would say go for it and give yourself or your GT an earily Christmas present!

 

[Yoda]

So, I ordered all my gear from Gil today at OGTS. Got the spring bushings as well along with a few other dust covers, etc.

Having decent mechanical experience & reviewing my shop manual, I was thinking that it might be a good idea to drop the entire front end myself and blast or clean & repaint the various components. Replacing the non-spring related parts whilest things are apart. I could then reattach the front end and take care of the spring bushings using the weight of the car.

Obviously I'll take more time then the shop would, but everything would get cleaned/painted in the process. I could then have the shop take care of the alignment and some new tires.

I don't see dismantling the spring while the front end is out because this is not a show car and I'm not looking to powdercoat or anything.

Is this a reasonable approach? I trust the shop, but I'd like to at least clean things up and get some paint on the components while I'm at it. I've printed out some of the more detailed front end thread and plan to read tonight.

Let me know if there are any big gotchas to watch out.

 

[bear]

There are not too many items on the suspension that are not related to the spring. The lower control arms are hooked to the upper control arms via the ball joints by the steering spindle/axle. Aside from the metric tools, all you need to remove the front suspension and spring is jack stands, a floor jack and a bottle jack. Although the bottle jack is not really necessary, it makes raising the spring end easier than using the floor jack, and once the spring end is on the bottle jack, disconnected, the floor jack can be used to raise the suspension cross member and take the load of the spring off the bottle jack. Two things to remember, one lower control arm must be disconnected at both ends to fully relieve the spring tension on that side. And once the spring pressure is relieved from one end, you can remove the suspension support beam from the car and finish the disassembly. Been there, done, that a couple of months ago. And finally, use a lot of "Rust Eater", "Liquid Wrench, "PB Blaster" or whatever else you may like on the hardware. Those parts will more than likely have a heavy coat of rust on them and may be rust-welded together. Been there, done that, too.

 

[soybean (R.I.P.)]

Yoda, Have a look at this thread. http://opelgt.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3762&page=1&pp=15. I followed it, made the spring compressor and it worked great and made everything easier to take apart, sandblast, and repaint. Granted I am biased now, thanks to Ron,( he got me hooked on the stuff), but after it's all cleaned up, use POR-15 on everything. Do it right the first time and you don't have to fool with it again. Besides, only 4 bolts and 2 brake lines (replace them too while you're there), and the front end is on the floor/table.Add your choice of shocks and whatever else you want to do and you're ready to go. Worlds of difference. On mine, I replaced everything, bearings to bushings, to rotors to pads, to tie rod ends to ball joints.When it was done, I had a completely new rebuilt front end. JM2CW, Jarrell

 

[Yoda]

I was looking at that thread and am planning to replace not only suspensing bushings/ball joints, but also tie rod ends, calipers, rotors, lines, etc.

Am I correct in reading that you can worry about the spring compressor after you've dropped the front end and there is not really a need to mount it while the front end is still on the car?

FYI - I've been using Eastwood Rust Encapsulator (similar to POR products) with success on various projects so I'm planning to use that on the front end.

 

[soybean (R.I.P.)]

You use the spring compressor after the front end is out of the car. I imagine you could use it with the front end in the car, but it was a lot easier with it out.
Jarrell

 

[bear]

Yoda, I'm not sure if I understand the question, but I think this is the answer: With the front suspension in the car, you can use the weight of the car to disconnect and reconnect one end of the spring. That means you can disassemble or reassemble the front suspension out of the car except for one side of the spring attaching points without the need of a spring compressor. I hope that kinda clears it up for you. What I did was disconnect one side of the front suspension, drop it out of the car then finished taking it all apart. When it was ready to be reassembled, I installed one side of the suspension, installed it in the car and used the weight of the car to finish the reassembly. Only because I didn't have the spring compressor built at that time. HTH.

 

[Yoda]

$46 for 8' 2x2x.25 steel tubing, 3' 5/8 redi-rod (aka "all thread"), nuts, & washers. Don't need 8', but that's the shortest scrap length he had.