reddit.comPosted Jun 16, 2021, 12:14 AM UTC
Wow it looks so clean! Nice job, was it intimidating?
Thanks! It was a little intimidating lol taking everything off was pretty easy (except the inner tie rods holy shit) but putting it all back on was definitely harder. Drives like a brand new truck though so it was worth all the swearing and crying it took to get it all back together.
I'm with ya 100%. YouTube is awesome, but some things I just never figured out until I put the whole thing back together and realized I still had parts haha, or when you just need to walk away to rest your back before trying to break a bolt :) love to see it! Every penny the pros make starts to make more sense as I get hours into a 2hr job haha. I'm stubborn though so I push through for those cost savings
The best is the paranoia that follows making major changes to your car like this, whenever you feel anything slightly off while you're driving.
It's really windy where I live, and after replacing all the suspension components on my SUV, it was an exciting few weeks of, "was that the wind, or is my car falling apart"
Oh yea you become car whisperer haha always listening for every little noise to see if it's something you messed up or the next episode of at home mechanic
wind blows
TransientPunk: OH GOD THIS IS THE END. NOOOOO. I WANT TO LIVE!
wind stops
TransientPunk: nvm
Yeah inner tie rods can suck. I invested In a decent inner tie rod tool after struggling with a cheap autozone rental that the adapters barely fit on.
Tip for tie rods, just grind them off, not worth the trouble when you should replace them since you are working down there
If you replaced those control arms make sure that they're in a resting position, essentially the position they'd be in with the weight on the suspension when you tighten the bolts on the bushings. Otherwise you'll tear up those bushings pretty quick.
That's the part I hate the most. Sometimes (almost always) it's impossible to do that. I changed the whole rear suspension on my car a month or so back. 2 of the control arms that attach to the subframe have no space for a wrench or ratchet. As in I had to unbolt the differential and move it back a bit in order to fit a wrench on the bolts.
Same with rear endlinks, there is the spring in the way, control arm, wheel and you just can't get to them when the car is on the ground or when the wheel is on. I just eyballed it.
I had that problem with a crossmember on my truck. The exhaust wouldn’t allow me to get a torque wrench in there so I had to ‘feel it’ with a ratcheting wrench. Was not fun.
Both wheels need to be up and in resting position. Learned the hard way. Changed suspension parts on one side and drove around, it was making noises and not turning normal.
Sway bar some how slipped and shifted. bent the bolt on the other side which was pita to remove and bushings bolts were impossible get to on this car to slide it back in. :(
Nice looks like mevotech ball joints! Well done. I started diy car repair back in 2016 when I couldn't afford suspension repairs! Fun and oh so satisfying when you take care of your cars maintenence way cheaper than the pros and can do the same job! Haha minus all the oopsies, skinned knuckles, and times I forgot retaining clips/snap rings haha. Enjoy that nice new suspension :)
Did you have to compress the spring to fit it in or did the strut kit come pre assembled?
I used the ole floor jack trick, just stuck it in the groove on the lower control arm, put the floor jack under the control arm and jacked it up til it was compressed. Didn't have a coil compressor so I had to do it that way.
That’s a job you can save big money on doing it yourself. Good job.
It’s really cool what anyone can do with patience and some lessons online. A banker could become a mechanic, a mechanic can become a banker.
Go getters shape the future.
Shops be cheating sometime. because they can't get one part need replacing on time and will screw up schedules down the line, they'll just put some parts and hope you don't come back. and they still charge you for that part that they didn't get.
My van needed brake work. but bracket was seized up. instead of getting new bracket they ground the pads to make it fit.
Good job! Looking to do this soon on the f150
Nice work!
Bravo. 👏👏 I’m jealous. Great work!
Congrats! That’s an awesome thing to do and can be rewarding when it all comes together
Side note: Do you have jackstands?
I see the one tire under the vehicle but I didn’t see any jackstands. If you have them and used them, Great!
If you don’t, please invest in some. It can save your extremities, limbs, or life.
Yes! I have 4 jack stands but only used 2 for this as the front end was the only thing lifted up.
I did the same thing to the front end of my Civic and it feels brand new, did you follow ChrisFixs video by chance?
That’s who I follow.
Did you tighten the bushing bolts while there's load on them?
Hell yeah man, fuck getting ripped off by the shop
Just curious, why did you replace the knuckle? Damage? Bent?
I'm a, "if I'm replacing this I might as well replace this" kind of person and also one of the issues I was having with the steering could be attributed to a bad knuckle so I just replaced it anyways.
Could have just bought a kit that came with them, I was looking for ball joints this morning and half the results were sets of all the suspension components
Nice. I just snapped off both passenger side upper control arm bolts on my 2000 trying to do an alignment because they were seized in the bushings and rusted.
A new control arm with ball joint and bushings was cheaper than the bushings alone, so it's about to have a shiny new part lol. Surprisingly the bolts on the other side came loose with a 4 foot breaker bar and both tie rod jam nuts came loose with a little torch action and a floor jack under a wrench.
I now have about $500 total into this thing and am trying to keep it as low budget as possible to just be a reliable winter beater and mild offroader.
Ah I'm in the same boat but in a 2002 z71, I'm about done, just need inner tie rods, lower ball joints and passenger control arm which I'm actually doing tomorrow hopefully, for me the most annoying one was the pitman arm so far
Oh and look out for your Intake Manifold Gasket, apparently these year Silverados go bad, it's not so bad to replace though
I learned on an 02 and a 99 1500. They're so straightforward, accessible, and with the parts price and availability, there couldn't be a better truck to learn on. Your work looks fantastic, that truck will be with you for a very long time taking care of it like that.
Does it ride nicer with those new shocks? I’ve always noticed new shocks make a huge difference.
Nice. Does it ride and handle better now? Might need to do my 2003 Avalanche.
I had a 2004 for 10 years. If you have any questions, let me know. I did a ton of work to that truck.
No matter how close you out the parts back, get an alignment done as soon as possible. Even if it drives fine you could destroy your tires in a matter of a few k miles.
Got an alignment done the morning after completing it!
I second this, but right after reassembly you can temporrary set alignment by measuring distance between front tires at the front of the tire and rear of the tire, front measurement should be 1 mm shorter.