68 Charger front end work

[resto68charger]

Hello All,
I took my Charger to get a front end alignment and I was told they could not do it because both lower ball joints and the upper control arm bushing need replacing. They will do everything for $638-which is pretty steep because I had planned to do other things with the money like help pay for some new tires and rims. I'm pretty sure I can replace the lower ball joints as I replaced the upper ball joints myself prior to taking it in. The upper ball joints were kind of a pain as I needed the special socket for it. Luckily, I was able to borrow one. Is there anything special about the lower ball joints? Will I need a special tool for that? According to the quote, the control arm bushing is only $45 but they want $200 in labor to replace it. Is it really that difficult to replace the upper control arm bushing? Do they use a special tool to replace it?

[67_Dodge_Charger]

That is very high.  I would do the work myself.  You can get the parts from your local parts store for around $125 to $150 depending on how greedy they are.  Is this place charging $50 per hour?

How long will it take you to replace the parts?

good luck

-Robert

[resto68charger]

To replace the lower ball joints and do the front end alignment they want to charge $180 in labor. To replace the upper control arm bushing, they want to charge $200 in labor. That's why I was wondering how difficult it actually is to replace the upper control arm bushing.

[67_Dodge_Charger]

You will need to take the upper control arm to a machine shop and have them press the old ones out and the new ones in.   This will save your fingers.  Others have done this at home but you will be time ahead and still have all your fingers.

-Robert

[resq302]

Correct me if I am wrong as I am about to do my upper and lower ball joints also but arent the upper ball joints threaded in?  If you press them out, wouldn't you be destroying the threads and making the upper control arms useless?

[BlueSS454]

I just redid the UCA's for my 69 and had them completly done in 20 minutes, not including sandblasting & painting them.  I put in the new ball joints with the socket and an impact gun, the pressed the bushings in with a vice and an old "special bushing press" socket I keep around.  I used the impact gun to take the old ball joints out and an air chisel to remove the old bushings.  If you have these tools, you can do it yourself.

[BigBlackDodge]

Replacing the LCA bushings is nasty work..........pull the torsion bars...what fun!...ick. You will have to unload the suspension by turning the adjusting the bolt on the underside of the LCA's, but you can do it yourself! You will need a press for the bushing install (both upper and lower arm bushings). You will also have fun digging the remains of the bushing from the arm itself, but I chisled it out in about 20 minutes..........take your time and do not tear the arm up!  Lower ball joint is fairly easy as it is bolted in, upper arm joint is threaded in. Also check for cracks in the arm and where the bushing/pin mounts into the k-frame.

Get a shop manual and read it carefuly. You can get seriously hurt if your not paying attention when dealing with suspension parts!

BBD

[Mike DC]

 
I don't think anything on the underside of my '69 was half as hard as those front sway bar bushings (bolting it to the K-frame). 

I'd rather try to take over Iran than knock another set of those things out.