911rudy

Here are a couple of pictures of my front bushing replacement. The installation is pretty straight forward with the exception of the "Wedge pin". That damn thing took a beating before it came out. The instructions say to always replace this part. Hah! I don't think that I could get it back in the hole its so beaten up. The new bushings are from Pelican through Elephant racing and guarantee no squeaking and come with grease fittings. The movement between the "A" arm and the new bushings is like a precision machine part. It will be interesting to see if there is a feel difference. I also repainted the "A" arms while they were off. Have you ever noticed on the car shows how they pull apart a car and then just put the rusty pieces back on? It only takes a minute to clean the parts and spray them. I can't drive it yet because I have to get two new wedge pins Tuesday from the Pcar dealer in Atlanta.

A930Rocket

What's a wedge pin? When I replaced my rubber bushings with urethane years ago, I don't recall replacing a pin. Or is it located on the strut?

Gary R.

Think he may be referring to the ball joint pin? I just unscrew the mount nut and separate the arm.

911rudy

This is the pin at the bottom of the strut that holds the ball on the "A" arm to the strut. The instructions say to remove it to get the "A" arm loose. I was going to remove the nut at the bottom of the ball joint but could not figure how to do it. I got the big toothed washer off and could see the threads up in the tube that holds the ball joint but couldn't see anything to grab onto to remove it.

A930Rocket

I got it. I just left mine on the strut when I did mine. Probably more work, but...

To get the ball joint off, you have to have a special tool. It kinda looks like a socket, but has spots that stick up into the threaded ring.

911rudy

Yeah, I figured it was a special tool. Bentely's manual listed about three tools needed but as usual I proceeded without any of them. Maybe someday I'll have a "Special" tool to play with!

A930Rocket

I'm amazed at what special tools the factory needed to do things. I'm in my garage knee deep in a project w/o the special tools and always seem to get it done...

Gary R.

The "castle" socket and a good impact wrench are required to get the ball joints off. Once they are replaced if you just never-seize the threads you can use a regular breaker bar. On an old car with original ball joints I would replace them as a matter of course either way when I did the front end..

911rudy

That was my problem after I looked at the front suspension diagram. I couldn't figure out if the ball screwed out of the castled tube or if the castled tube screwed away from the ball. Taking the strut wedge pin out was a little work but it was nothing special but a drift and a hammer. The down side is that you have to but a new one. I'm praying it won't be more than a few dollars.

Gary R.

They aren't cheap, be sure to never-seize that pin and use a new washer and nylock nut on it.

911rudy

Wow! Was I wrong. The little pins are $22 each!

Gary R.

Now the price of that special tool isn't so bad at $48 is it?

I show the pin at $16.50 on Pelican Parts..

911rudy

I did too and ordered it from them. The $22 was from the local pirates.

nathanUK '81 930 G50

Rudy, I can't quite visualize these pins?

Also, is there any need for concern about those grease nipples causing an increase in drag

Gary R.

Nathan - It's #20!