RE: Front Ends Ollie's Ramblings

[62pluckedchicken@xxxxxxxxx]

I was starting to come to the same conclusion.. without really knowing 
the technical reasons...

The guy who quoted me $2K to do the front end, also told me my radiator 
was shot, leaking, and I would start to have over-heating problems.. I 
check my radiator once a week and the fluid is still in the same place, 
and I drove it around town for an hour in 96 degree temp.... it did not 
over heat...

he said my floor pans would need to be replaced, but the under coating 
is still in tact, and I've been walking around on them while 
re-upholstering and haven't felt any weakness.. (how does he know they 
need replacing?)

the $2K for the front end was just the beginning of what he wanted to 
do.. the laundry list of things he said was bad on my car would cost 
about $8K to $9K to do (at his rates)...

by the time he was done with his inspection, I was almost afraid to 
drive the car home, and still haven't taken it on the Interstate since 
then.

I thought maybe he knows what he's doing because he has a real sweet 
hemi-charger he restored, testimonials on his site, and he's been a 
sponsor of the HiPo Mopar event here in town for several years.

My suspension IS sloppy at high speeds, but I now believe maybe just 
ball joints and new shocks might do the trick (the old shocks look 
pretty damn old)

If it turns out a I need to.. I've now bought all the parts for a 
complete suspension over-haul.. so I'm ready for the worst, but hoping I 
can get on the highway without tearing the front end apart ;)


Ollie wrote:
> 
> 
> I am somewhat perplexed about the front end issues that come up here. I 
> cannot believe that a front end is totally wore out and will cost a few 
> thousand dollars to overhaul.
> 
> Most our cars do not have the mileage on them to be a total disaster. 
> 
> From my 2 cent view, the only items that would normally need to be 
> replaced would be first, the lower ball joints and second LCA bushings. 
> The way that our cars are set up with no coil springs there is not 
> usually that much wear and tear on the upper ball joints. The third item 
> that may be of issue would be the A-frame bushings. Here more than 
> likely you have just wore out rubber. A squeak that drives u crazy. As 
> far as outer  tie rod ends, they just don't go bad unless they have been 
> run on real bad lower ball joints or severely out of line, ie toe/in 
> out. Inner tie rods last forever, same as pitman arms and idler arm.  
> 
> All parts can be inspected. Don't let rotted cracked rubber tell you a 
> part is bad. Take your pry bar and pipe wrench and try to more tie rod 
> ends, pitman arms, idler arms. A good wack with a stress relieving 
> hammer on the drag link will cause something bad to move. If there is no 
> play.its good. Grease it and go.
> 
> Lower ball joints and LCA bushings can be changed at home. Of course you 
> will have to take the lower control arms to a machine shop to be 
> pressed.
> 
> One more bit of rambling. Change your torsion bars first before you do 
> anything. I put this off until one of my last projects. WRONG..should 
> have been my first act of terrorism. It will improve your Mopar so much 
> your will think you just bought it new.
> 
> Ollie
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> 


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