Just finished PST front suspension rebuild

[rp23g7]

Just finished my suspension rebuild, wow, lots of work. I was doing it at a friends place with a lift and a press, and air.

I cant imagine doing it on my back on a garage floor. Man, I am exausted.

took me about 15 hrs total. I bought the original kit, rubber, not Poly, had to bang out the lower bushings, not fun.

My left lower front bushing, the one with the extension through the crossmember, what ever its called, was completey shot, it was spinning in the bore. Left strut rod bushing was garbage too, wondered what that noise was when i hit the brakes, or a bump with the left side.

The upper ball joint that came with the kit was bad, wouldnt thread in, so i had to go get one from the parts store.

Everything else was retty straight forward, just got to get a alighnment, the steering feels way tighter, the car sounds different too, probably due to all the new cushioning.

[b5blue]

Get the ride height adjusted in nicely and drive around some to be sure it settles in. Recheck and adjust till you have it just so...then get it aligned.     I never leave that to the guys at the shop as changing it later will screw up the new alignment. 

[elacruze]

Get the ride height adjusted in nicely and drive around some to be sure it settles in. Recheck and adjust till you have it just so...then get it aligned.     I never leave that to the guys at the shop as changing it later will screw up the new alignment. 

Just carefully measure the toe and set it to zero best you can, and eyeball the tires to vertical. Put 20-30 miles on around town (checking for tire wear in case you got it farther off than you thought) then get an alignment. Don't let them set your caster to book spec, set it to about 4 degrees or as much as your parts will allow.

[rp23g7]

Get the ride height adjusted in nicely and drive around some to be sure it settles in. Recheck and adjust till you have it just so...then get it aligned.     I never leave that to the guys at the shop as changing it later will screw up the new alignment. 

Just carefully measure the toe and set it to zero best you can, and eyeball the tires to vertical. Put 20-30 miles on around town (checking for tire wear in case you got it farther off than you thought) then get an alignment. Don't let them set your caster to book spec, set it to about 4 degrees or as much as your parts will allow.

I measured everything before i took it apart, and got it pretty close when i got it back together.  Eyeballed the toe and i think it pretty close, the camber is way off, both wheels are angled out at the top.  I was actually doing the job at a friend place about 30 miles away, i think the ride height is settled in ok, drove it home 30 miles on the freeway.
The steering is off a bit.   Camber just needs adjusting, sitting on the slick garage cement floor, you can hear the tires squeeking trying to straighten out.

[Donks01]

Did you have any problems getting the torsion bars out of the LCA? Any advice?

[BLK 68 R/T]

Did you have any problems getting the torsion bars out of the LCA? Any advice?

Normally if you are removing the torsion bars it requires a special tool which clamps around the bar, but does not mark the bar. Then you loosen the adjuster all the way in the lower control arm, remove the clip in the very rear of the torsion bar mount. Then bang it out with a hammer. If you are going to do a full suspension rebuild where you have the steering linkage disconnected and the lower ball joint disconnected. You can undo the strut rod from the front of the k member and take the nut loose that holds the pivot pin into the k frame from the lower control arm and tap the whole assembly back with a brass hammer so as to not damage the threads. Once back a few inches the whole lower arm and torsion bar will be free from the mount and you can pull the lower control arm off and finish sliding the bar out of the torsion bar mount.

[HPP]

There are any number of tricks to making this a faster and easier job, provided everything comes apart smoothly. Spinning bushings are never fun.  You can tweak the camber some with the upper arm eccentrics. You want the rear eccentric adjusted to have the most washer on the outboard side. The front eccentric should be the opposite way with the most washer on the inboard side. This creates the maximum amount of caster. Then adjust the rear eccentric out to get the tire vertical.

Ride height is the first parameter set during an alignment. If you have it where you want it, tell the shop not to change it and to set everything else around it. If you have power steering, ask for as much caster as they can get and keep camber at -.5 to 0 degrees. Total toe in should be no more than .125 INCHES, not degrees. This will have a dramatic effect on the road feel compared to the stock specs. I can't emphasize enough not to use the stock specs. If you have a shop that can't/won't do customer specs, ask for a 2005 Mustang. That should be new enough to be in their computer. They won't be able to hit those specs, but ask them to try and take what they can get close to for it.

I agree with blk 68 r/t, sometimes its easier to take the whole lower arm out than it is to just remove the t-bar. Removing the whole arm gives you places to pry and push that you don't have with just the t-bar.

[twodko]

This thread is meaningless without pictures!

Your decoder ring and 70 virgins reward is in jeopardy!

[Donks01]

I bought a big block k frame frame from a guy. It came everything. Upper and lower control arms, brakes, steering, and the torsion bars. I have everything tore apart because I am going to rebuild it. It appears to me that the torsion bars look like they are rusted into the LCA's. That is the problem I have. I want to replace the pivot shafts, so could a guy use some heat to loosen the bars out?

[BLK 68 R/T]

If you have the whole assembly laying out on the ground try spraying some good penetrating oil on them, something like PB Blaster, let it sit for a while and then try tapping the control arm off with a hammer. If they are rusted really bad the lower control arms are probably unusable anyway. I would stay away from heat, you may end up putting to much on it and take the "torsion" out of the torsion bar.