jenket944

Had the car at the mechanic, getting the AC fixed. One of the bolts that holds the compressor in was missing and the other was broke in half but somehow it was still hanging on, belt and all. Thankfully, that's taken care of, but noticed the wheels were wobbly with the cars up on jacks. Thought it might be a loose lug nut, but they were all tight.

The front wheels had both vertical and horizontal free movement, so it looks like ball joints and bearings need fixing on both front wheels. Question...how big of a job is this? I have a sense that the control arms are going to be a headache, but don't really know what's involved in fixing the bearings. I'm finally in a house so I've got a garage to work in now, but don't have a lot of tools. I need a press for the control arm, right? Well, I don't have one so I'm thinking of letting my mechanic handle this.

And while I'm at it, are there any good upgrades to consider? I was considering getting rebuilt control arms with the more rigid bushings from Paragon. Anybody have any experience with these?

TIA

tifosiman

A vise is really helpful on rebuilding the a-arms. I'll put a vote in for either the SSI kit or the Rennbay kit. I have installed both of them on cars and they are nice. I like the SSI kit for the brass bushings. But again, they are both really nice.

If you are remotely mechanically inclined, the balljoints are a snap. Get a good alignment afterwards.

I've never done front wheel bearings on a late-offset car, maybe someone else can speak to that.......

theedge

The balljoints only require fairly basic tools to get through, main one is a vice but it *can* be done with a large C Clamp, but thats a royal pain. Only other things are large sockets, IIRC one 34mm and one deep 20 something that are used to push the joint together.

Cant comment on wheel bearings as I havent done mine yet.

jenket944

Cool, I might actually make an attempt afterall. From reading RacerX's writeup on replacing the control arms it sounded doable. I've done a few jobs on the car: fuel rail, fuel filter, cv axle, sway bar bushing - so I think I can do it, it's just a matter of time. Either I screw around with it for a while or hand it off to the mechanic for a fairly quick turnaround. It's my only car and I'm right in the middle of moving out of my apartment into a house, so time is of the essense. My call, I know - but I figured I'd get some feedback. I'll probably take it in for the bearings so by default should probably just let him handle both jobs.

Bhj0887

I think I used a deep 18mm socket and 10. I had to use a c-clamp so it wasn't much fun. If your lazy you could always buy rebuilt arms ($160-200 each)

Travis - sflraver

I have some late offset rebuilt (rennbay kit) arms here (thank you Hershey). I was going to just put a few up on ebay but if any listers are interested you guys have first dibs. $100 + your core, each.

tifosiman

One important thing to keep in mine is that if you buy "rebuilt" arms, most places, like Tweeks, etc (except for Travis I bet), will sell you a-arms that have been rebuilt by drilling out the balljoint mounting area and pressing in a sealed "febi" joint. This is all fine and good, until that fails and you realize the arm can't be rebuilt properly again in the future. Just a word of caution.........

Travis - sflraver

I have a drilled and pressed "febi" rebuild that has a serious stress crack on the outer aluminum pocket.... I don't have my camera at work today but maybe I will post some tomorrow.
You can see right where the thinned out aluminum pocket is starting to give way. The funny thing is the febi joint is still nice and tight so there can't be too many miles on the thing.

Oh, and the arms in my post above are done with the deluxe kit so they have the zerk fittings installed.

Dave in Chicago

Looks like you DE the car too. If so, a con$ideration is aftermarket (read stronger with servicable ball joints) option. I finally bit that bullet this year and feel a bit more comfortable blazing into Turn 1 at Road America well into the triple digits.

Just something to think about. Downside is co$t.

jenket944

Yes, I do track the car. Considered going the billet route, but didn't seem worth it to me.

Travis, you'll probably be hearing from me for 2 of those rebuilt arms!

jenket944

PM for you, Travis.

Dave in Chicago

Yup, did the billet route. $$$ Ouch!