[MandAtaco]

Originally Posted by phattyduck

Did you just cut the head off the a bolt for the lower pin? And could you have aligned the upper joint in line with the swaybar so that it could stay a 'single' disconnect? What size is the hardware and rod ends?

I'd like to do something very similar...

-Charlie

Yea, the lower pin is a 3/8" bolt that I cut the head off of, and drilled a cotter pin hole into. There's enough thread that I can adjust the bolt back and forth in the A-arm so that I keep the lower rod end from bouncing back and forth. I just adjusted it until the cotter pin has just a little bit of drag against the rod end.

The hole in the lower a-arm is just shy of 1/2" from the factory, so I cut a very short piece of 1/2"OD 3/8"ID tube to sleeve the hole with before I stuck the bolt in.

You could probably rotate that upper piece and fold the link up against the sway bar, as long as your upper mount has enough room to clear the rod end while rotating. That may be something I try next time I have them off, good idea! It's pretty easy to just pull the whole link though, then I don't have to worry about something falling down and getting caught up in the suspension/brake lines.

Everything is made out of 3/8" rod ends I got off Summit, and a 3/8" fine thread, all-thread rod. A 1/2" bolt holds the upper bracket to the sway bar.

[phattyduck]

Awesome. Thanks for the info. Sounds like the stock lower stud is M12, which is just under 1/2".

-Charlie

[frm_808]

Originally Posted by MandAtaco

Yea, the lower pin is a 3/8" bolt that I cut the head off of, and drilled a cotter pin hole into. There's enough thread that I can adjust the bolt back and forth in the A-arm so that I keep the lower rod end from bouncing back and forth. I just adjusted it until the cotter pin has just a little bit of drag against the rod end.

The hole in the lower a-arm is just shy of 1/2" from the factory, so I cut a very short piece of 1/2"OD 3/8"ID tube to sleeve the hole with before I stuck the bolt in.

You could probably rotate that upper piece and fold the link up against the sway bar, as long as your upper mount has enough room to clear the rod end while rotating. That may be something I try next time I have them off, good idea! It's pretty easy to just pull the whole link though, then I don't have to worry about something falling down and getting caught up in the suspension/brake lines.

Everything is made out of 3/8" rod ends I got off Summit, and a 3/8" fine thread, all-thread rod. A 1/2" bolt holds the upper bracket to the sway bar.

Awesome man!! been meaning to make my own set as well. I replaced my bushings and seen how eaten up the rod was.

[MandAtaco]

Originally Posted by phattyduck

Awesome. Thanks for the info. Sounds like the stock lower stud is M12, which is just under 1/2".

-Charlie

You got it, M-12. Just a hair smaller than 1/2", basically just reemed the hole out so I could use the reducer.

[MandAtaco]

When I rebuilt the front suspension 2.5 years ago I put everything new in it, except the lower control arm bushings. Well, 3 were original and I had to replace one, you can read back on that mess.

Anyway I noticed lately that the front end was starting to wonder around while braking and figured it was a good time to swap them out. The OEM's are great bushings but expensive, The Daystars are easy to get a hold of, but I didn't like the idea of reusing the old metal sleeves from the factory bushings, so I decided to go with Whiteline.

Old Bushings after 220K miles.


So to remove them I first tried this method I had read someplace. Basically you use the bottle jack to put some tension on the bushing, then heat the outside of the a-arm until the outer sleeve releases. Something like this.


All I managed to do with this method Was catch my bushings on fire and get melted rubber all over the place... and probably knock a couple years off my life with the fumes. So what I ended up doing was to knock the pressed on washer off, heat up the rubber just enough so that it releases from the outer sleeve, then cut a notch in the sleeve and knock it right out. Took about 5 minutes a bushing to remove. I didn't get a ton of pics....

Molten Rubber sucks!



And Finally, new bushings in, LCA painted and looking new.



Feels pretty good now.

[frm_808]

Originally Posted by MandAtaco

When I rebuilt the front suspension 2.5 years ago I put everything new in it, except the lower control arm bushings. Well, 3 were original and I had to replace one, you can read back on that mess.

Anyway I noticed lately that the front end was starting to wonder around while braking and figured it was a good time to swap them out. The OEM's are great bushings but expensive, The Daystars are easy to get a hold of, but I didn't like the idea of reusing the old metal sleeves from the factory bushings, so I decided to go with Whiteline.

Old Bushings after 220K miles.


So to remove them I first tried this method I had read someplace. Basically you use the bottle jack to put some tension on the bushing, then heat the outside of the a-arm until the outer sleeve releases. Something like this.


All I managed to do with this method Was catch my bushings on fire and get melted rubber all over the place... and probably knock a couple years off my life with the fumes. So what I ended up doing was to knock the pressed on washer off, heat up the rubber just enough so that it releases from the outer sleeve, then cut a notch in the sleeve and knock it right out. Took about 5 minutes a bushing to remove. I didn't get a ton of pics....

Molten Rubber sucks!



And Finally, new bushings in, LCA painted and looking new.



Feels pretty good now.

Sweet!! I need to do these myself. My truck wanders when going over bumps on pavement. At first i thought it could be the sway bars, but the LCA bushings were pretty bad. I was gonna grab LCA completes from Autozone with lifetime warr. and then toyota LBJ and swap em all out.

[MandAtaco]

Originally Posted by frm_808

Sweet!! I need to do these myself. My truck wanders when going over bumps on pavement. At first i thought it could be the sway bars, but the LCA bushings were pretty bad. I was gonna grab LCA completes from Autozone with lifetime warr. and then toyota LBJ and swap em all out.

Be careful with those aftermarket loaded control arms. I put one on mine and had TONS of problems!

[MandAtaco]

Bumping an old thread... but like everything I've pretty much migrated everything over to IG @nevada4wheelin . Easier to post pics and updates there.