65 American RestoMod

[440H]

yep,that sounds good I'll try to get ahold of them .. hope this is no big deal...
 

[ramblinfsj]

Guess what fellas, I finally started working on the Rambler. The car has been in the shop just waiting for me to get off my duff and get busy. Well last night, I decided to start. First item of business was to tackle the coil spring removal. I had to have my brother assist me for safety reasons. He maned the jack. He jacked up the front of the car while I was removing the wheel. With the wheel off, we set a car ramp under the brake drum, and set the car back down. The car ramp worked really well and kept the car stable. My brother took the jack to the back of the car on the opposite side of the car I was woking on. Before he jacked the car up, I hooked the spring holder tool I got from GarryJav to upper spring eyes and let them hang. As soon as the holder tools were hooked in a the top, my brother started jacking up the rear of the car. I was only able to connect the rear half of the tool top and bottom. The front part of the tool was still disconnected and not even close to being able to fall in the bottom spring eye hole. The jack would have to come back up to the front of the car. That was the scary part. Once he dropped the jack in the rear, only one half of the spring would be compressed. I got out of the way of any spring travel and he dropped the jack. He put the jack back under the front of the car and jacked it up until the bottom front half of the tool was lined up with the spring eye hole. He dropped the jack and the spring was compressed safely with the tool. I then lefted the spring right out. It was scary dealing the spring removal but looking back, it was easier than removing the springs on my Concord. It was actually pretty easy. It just has that fear factor to it.
Pic with the spring removed.

The first thing I did was unbolt the two horizontial bolts connecting the upper control arms to the trunnion. Actually, the first thing that needs to be done is to disconnect the upper part of the shock absorber.The outer bolt runs through the trunnion housing itself. The other bolt just runs through both arms with a spacer in between. Before removing the bolts completely, I set a stack of wood under the drum so the whole assembly doesn't fall to the ground and rip my brake line off. With the bolts removed and the drum sitting on the wood, the top of the trunnion is basically in your face.
 

Here's a picture looking down in the Trunnion at the plastic cap.

Cap removed.

A look down the trunnion with cap removed. I saw the rust down in there and was thinking the worst. I put my socket down in there on the nut and it unscrewed just fine.

Here are the pieces that are inside the trunnion. If you were reassembling the inside of the trunnion, the parts install would go in this order. Bushing with steel sleeve, steel washer with two holes in it, lock washer, nut, and then plastic cap.

I slipped the trunnion up and off the shaft and to my surprise and relief, everthing looks great. There is absolutely no damage to the trunnion housing and the steering knuckle shaft looks great.




Once the trunnion housing is off the steering shaft, there is a nylon washer, an o-ring, a bearing, and another o-ring.

The next set for me was to remove the upper control arms the rest of the way out. On the body side of each arm is one bolt that holds them in. I removed both bolts and both arms came right out. Another nice surprise was how clean and undamaged the body holes were where the arms went.



I gave the upper control arms to my friend so he can take them to work and press the old bushings out. It was getting late so I called it a night. My biggest fear was that the trunnion housing was going to be worn out and I would have to buy new ones. Thank God I don't (at least not on the driver side. The problem was just worn out bushings. I'm also counting my blessings that all the stuff down in the trunnion was clean and undamaged. A good cleaning and painting is all it needs.

[IowaEagle]

Excellent documentation.

[ramblinfsj]

While at work yesterday, I was thinking that there is no why for me to clean and paint all the parts I need to without taking all the suspension and wheel parts off. The idea was to just do the parts associated with the trunnion and not touch the lower control arm parts because I don't have new ball joints yet. Well if I'm going to get the stuff cleaned and painted, it would all need to come apart. So when I got home from work last night, I went in the shop and finished dissassembling the rest of the suspension parts. I didn't take any pictures during the disassembly because to weather was getting bad and I was trying to out run it. The first thing was to disconnect the tie rod from the steering arm. On tie rods or ball joints, you need to first remove the cotter pin and then loosen the castle nut completely. Then thread the castle nut back on a few turns so the piece doesn't fall to the ground once the joint is busted loose. As long as you can turn the castle nut easily with your fingers you are good. If you just back the nut off with a wrench and it's still tight, once you knock the joint loose and go to remove the nut, the ball inside the joint will spin and it is very difficult to remove the nut. Knocking the joint loose is easy. Grab two big hammers, place one hammer up against the steering knuckle (not the tie rod), and then wack the other side with the other hammer. It's a little awkward at times but works. The stud will either fall out or you may have to tap on the castle nut to help pop it out. I didn't have any trouble disconnecting the tie rod. Next step was to dissconnect the brake line. I'll be painting the backing plate so I removed the brake hose completely and put it in a plastic bag. Next was the lower ball joint. The problem with removing the castle nut from the ball joint is that you cannot fully remove it without removing the steering arm. It bolts in right above the stud of the ball joint. So I had to remove the spindle cap, nut, washer, and bearing, pull the drum and hub off. There are four bolts that hold the steering arm, steering knuckle, backing plate, and spindle together. The two longer bolts are used to hold the steering arm. I removed those two bolts and only removed the steering arm. Now I could get at the ball joint nut. I pulled the cotter pin, loosened the nut to where I could spin it easily with my fingers, did my hammer trick, and the ball joint was loose from the lower control arm. I set the spindle parts to the side. The next set is to remove the strut rod bushing. Remove the big nut first while the control arm end is still connected to the control arm or you will have a heck of a time removing the big nut. I had to remove the big nut with a 1" wrench. I couldn't get a socket on it because my exhaust was in the way. That took some time but I eventually got it off. Then I removed the two bolts on the control arm and the strut rod can right off. There was only one bolt left and the whole driver side on the suspension would be removed from the car. It's the eccentric bolt on the body side of the lower control arm. I loosened and removed the bolt and the control arm fell right out.
Here's a picture of the wheelwell with all the suspension and wheel parts removed.

I took the lower control arm to my friend so he can take it to work and press the bushings out. The other parts I put into a garbage bag so I can take them to my work so I can clean and paint them.
Parts in a bag. (Steering knuckle, steering arm, and the whole hub and brake assembly)

Here's the strut rod before and after removal. I still have to pry the old bushing out of the bracket.



Now it's time to clean and paint.

[ramblinfsj]

I brought all the parts I'm wanting to paint to work with me yesterday. I still have to disassemble spindle, brakes, and steering knuckle parts but I left my tools at home. The steering arm, strut rod, and brake drum was off so I could do them. A few months ago, I bought a starter kit from POR-15 so I could paint my suspension parts. The POR-15 is the stuff I painted my floor pans with a long time ago and I was very impressed with it so I figured it is the best stuff to use on the suspension. The first thing to do was to break out the grinder with a cupped wire brush and knock off the nasty stuff.
Here's my steering arm after being wire brushed.

Here's the brake drum before and after wire brush.


Here's the strut rod and steering arm hanging by wire all cleaned up and ready for paint.

Now when using POR-15, the metal surface being painted has to be prepped with their solution called "Metal Ready". It etches the metal and leaves a adhesion promoting coating on the metal. You just spray it on the bare metal and keep it wet for 15 minutes. After a rinse and time to dry, you will see the white coating on the metal.


Now the parts are ready for some POR-15. It takes a while for this stuff to dry but once the paint starts to tack up and you can touch it without to paint sticking to your finger, it's ready for another coat. Once POR-15 is dry, it's hard for other paints to stick to it. Once your last coat goes on and it tacks up to where you can touch it (tacky but not dry), it can be sprayed with your paint of choice. You just want to spray a light coat (a dusting really). With the POR-15 still tacky, the paint will stick to it. Then you can spray it any color you want.
Here's the parts painted with POR-15.



And here's the parts sprayed with a light coat of primer. I chose to use primer first because it's a contrasting color so I'll know what I have and haven't painted when I spray it black. The reason I'm painting over the POR-15 paint is because the POR-15 paint fades when exposed to UV light. It will be in a shady spot under the wheelwell but better safe than sorry.
 



I let the POR-15 paint dry over night.
I will finish priming the parts today and finish with some black paint. After that, I will start on the other parts.

My friend that I gave the control arms to to press out the old bushings called and said he got the new bushings in and the arm all cleaned up. He also had some good news for me. He said the ball joint is tight in its socket and could be reused. All I need to do is buy a new boot. So that exactly what I'm going to do.

[ramblinfsj]

Ok here is the steering arm, strut rod, and brake drum with it's final coat of paint.




Now on to the same routine for the steering knuckle and the spindle.

Cleaned and prepped for the POR-15.


POR-15 applied.

POR-15 tacked up and with a light coat of primer. I'll paint black after POR-15 cures overnight.
 
The control arms and brake backing plate will be next.

[440H]

nice job so far,glad to see ya back at it.  this will be a huge help when the time comes to do mine...
  nice job parts are looking great... did you happen to take a shot of the spring with the tool installed on it
I'd like to see what it looks like the one I have is for Mcphersons and everybody say don't use it...

[ramblinfsj]

I can get a picture of the spring with GarryJav's spring tool on it. After removing the spring, I wouldn't use anything but GarryJav's tool. It was simple and very easy. The other spring tools are just to dangerous. GarryJav's tool is cheap enough.

[Route 66 Rambler]

Great work, ramblin!  Things are really looking up for the ol' Rambler...  Love the pictures, this is great documentation for those of us with the older cars.

[ramblinfsj]

Here is the photo of the spring compressed with the spring tool.

[T5258]

Maybe this is a dumb question, but if you wanted to clean/paint the coil spring, how do you remove the compressor once the spring is out??

[ramblinfsj]

Here's the Steering Knuckle and Spindle all finished.


I skipped painting the brake backing plate and lower control arm because they needed more work to clean up so I did the trunnion housing and upper control arm spacer instead.




I painted the trunnion and spacer Silver just so they stand out from the black parts. Why Not?



The trunnion and spacer are done. I took the lower control arm and brake backing plate home last night so I could put them in my vise and really get after the parts with the wire brush. They cleaned up really well. I'll get them done today.

[ramblinfsj]

Maybe this is a dumb question, but if you wanted to clean/paint the coil spring, how do you remove the compressor once the spring is out??

The spring would have to be compressed with a hydraulic press until the tool can be pulled out. Then release the press and the cups can come off each end of the spring. Between the cups and the spring is a rubber cushion. I need to change mine out plus paint the spring and cups while I'm at it. Some folks have even placed the spring under the frame rail of the car, lowered the car down on the spring to compress it, remove the tool, and then jack the car back up. They reconnect the spring tool the opposite way too. I think that method is dangerous as can be so I'm not doing it.

[ramblinfsj]

Ok, I got the brake backing plate, the steering arm bump stop (I almost forgot about it), and lower control arm cleaned up and ready to paint this morning. Taped off what I needed and painted with POR-15. I didn't paint the inside of the backing plate with the POR-15. It has been in the 90's for the last two days so the POR-15 has been drying alot quicker. It tacked up in about an hour or so and I lightly coated the parts with some primer. Once the POR-15 cures it will get the final coat. The only thing left to paint besides the coil spring is the cupped washers for the strut rod.

[ramblinfsj]

Here's the lower control arm, backing plate, and bump stop with a light coat of primer over the tacky POR-15.




Here's the strut rod cupped washers that need cleaning. Both have rust pitting but they will clean up nice.

[ramblinfsj]

Here's the backing plate and the lower control arm painted and done.



Here's the strut rod washers all cleaned up.



And here is the hardware all cleaned up. I'll paint the heads of the bolt, nuts, and washers. I left two of the nuts and bolts at home but I'll get them painted.


Here are all the parts minus hardware painted and finished. I have to go back to the car and remove the strut rod bracket and get it painted but other than that, I'm ready to assembly most of the parts.

[ramblinfsj]

Here's the POR-15 applied to the hardware.

[ramblinfsj]

Ok, last Friday when I got home I wanted to see how well I could clean up inside the fenderwell before I started reassembling the suspension. My first idea was to clean the dirt and grime. I really didn't have anything to clean it with. I seached the shop for a cleaner that would remove the dirt and oily stuff but I didn't have anything. So I went in the house and looked under the sink and really all I had was Pine-Sol. So I got my bucket, poured a good amount of Pine-Sol in it, and filled with hot water. I took the bucket out to the shop and started scrubbing. I don't think I could have picked a better cleaner to clean the inner fenderwell. Gunk just started falling off like crazy. The water that ran off on the floor was nasty and the oily stuff pooled up and looked like I spilled transmission fluid. Nasty stuff. The Pine-Sol worked great and the fenderwells
are clean and lemony fresh. It brought some life back to the undercoating.




After the Pine-Sol, I rinsed it all with brake cleaner. A lot of brake cleaner. I let everything dry and then I sprayed the inner fenderwell if high temp black paint. I think it turned out pretty good.

[ramblinfsj]

Saturday, I started on the reassembly.
First was the Lower Control Arm. It was tight but with a hammer and a block of wood, I got it in there. I got the holes lined up and the eccentric bolt put back in.



I'm just putting things back together so I'm not torqueing anything until the car is back on the ground (except for the vertical trunnion bushing).
Next is to slip the steering knuckle on to the ball joint stud and screw the nut down.


Now with the steering knuckle attached, it was time to put the orings, bearing, and washer on the trunnion shaft. There are two o-rings that came with each bearing. One o-ring is thinner than the other and the thin o-ring is just a hair bigger in diameter. The thin o-ring goes on first, then the bearing, then the small diameter, fatter o-ring, and then the nylon washer.
There really wasn't a top or bottom to the bearing so I choose the side that the o-ring fit better in. It ended up being the side without the stamped numbers.
 
Unstamped side with o-ring placed on it.

Here's the bearing on the shaft.

Top o-ring in place on top of bearing.

Now here is the trunnion with the bushings pushed in. Since I'm using urethane bushings the metal sleeve that went between the vertical rubber bushing and shaft is not reused. The urethane bushing just slips right on the shaft. The horizontal bushings do have a metal sleeve and was supplied in the kit along with the bushings. They just slip in by hand. I lubed each bushing with the special lube supplied in the Prothane Kit. Sticky Stuff and hard to get off your hands.
Vertical bushing pushed in.

Horizontal bushings pushed in and the trunnion slipped on to the shaft. The bushings are two pieces. One half in each side.

Trunnion turned around facing where it should.

Now for the hardware that goes inside the trunnion.
The flat washer with the two holes is first. Before I drop it in there, it needs a serious cleaning.

After some sanding.

Next is the lock washer and then the nut can be screwed on. I just snugged the nut down but it will get torqued to 30 ft/lbs later.

Next on the list was to install the upper control arms. Now the upper arms need two washers on each side of them to fit tight in the hole. The washers were supplied in the Prothane Kit.
Supplied Washers.

Here are the new bushings pressed in the arms with plenty of lube. The bushings pressed in with a vise. The lower control arms are the pieces that must reuse the original metal shells when swapping to urethane bushings so don't damage them when pressing the old rubber bushings out.


Here are the arms back where they are suppose to be. So far this has been the hardest part to install. It was tough and time consuming trying to get the two washer and bushing holes lined up to get the bolts to go through but I finally got them in.
 



After the upper arms were installed, it was time to mount the brake backing plate and steering arm to the steering knuckle. I ran the bolts through the whole stack, put the washers and nuts on, and torqued them down.



And the last thing I did Saturday, was put the hub back on the spindle. Cleaned everything and packed with new synthetic grease.


Today I will attach the trunnion to the control arm and then bolt the spacer back on between the control arms. I sent the coil spring with my friend so he could put it in a press, remove the holder tool, and bring me all the pieces so I can paint them. Once they are painted, I will give them back to him with the new spring cushion bushings, and he will press the spring back down and reattach the spring tool. He called about two hours ago and said everything came apart with out a problem and said that the spring is a long you know what. Hopefully I can have the driverside back together by the end of the week.

[IowaEagle]

Looking better and better.  I never knew much about trunions until now.  Even though I had several AMC cars with them.  I guess it shows how reliable a system it was.

[ramblinfsj]

Thanks Iowa. The rebuild is really simple if you have the tools.

Ok, I got home last night and got back to work. First thing was to connect the upper control arms to the trunnion. I put the rear bolt and spacer on first and then the front bolt that goes through the trunnion itself. Put the lock washers and nuts on and tightened them down.


Next was to torque the vertical trunnion nut to 30 ft/lbs. I have read before that folks who have swapped rubber bushings for urethane have tightened the trunnion nut and are unable to rotate the trunnion on the shaft afterwards. Mine is tight but it rotates with some effort. I suspect them folks were trying to rotate the trunnion without it securely bolted to the upper control arms. It takes a lot of effort to turn the trunnion that way. All I can say is mine turns fine. With the tie rod connected it will turn easily.
After torqueing the trunnion nut, I applied a light coat of silicone around the mating surface of the plastic cap that covers the vertical trunnion bushing and hardware. That will seal the cap and keep water out.

After the cap was in place, it was time to reconnect my brake line. Nothing to that.

I then got on my creeper and got under the car and removed the strut rod bracket so I can paint it. While I was underneath the car I ran the nut down on the lower control arm eccentric bolt. When the car is back on the ground I can just torque it to spec. When I was under the car I noticed that two bolts that hold the motor mount bracket to the engine were backed out. One bolt was gone and the other was about to be. The third bolt was still there but not back out. I diffinitely got to fix that.
Here's a picture of the suspension as it is from under the car.

That was all I got done last night. All I lack is the spring and the strut rod. Once I get the strut rod bracket and the spring cleaned and painted, I can get them mounted back on the car and I'll be done with the driver side. My friend got the spring pressed and the holder tool off. I went over to his place and got my spring and now I can start cleaning. The spring looks good and it might not be to hard to clean since the factory undercoating is falling off.
Here's the spring.