[JC455]

Help! I just finished installing a TOTALLY new front suspension on the 68 LM. I ordered a kit from PST and bought the remainder from PY -at an excellent price(shameless plug).
I put Hotchkiss 1901 springs front and rear. I took it down and had it aligned- no problem.
Here's the problems:
1) PST supplied upper ball joint- grease sqirts out the side of the balljoint- where the upper cap and the body mate together- anybody have the same problem before?
2) The front end is making a "boinging" sound if you hit a dip/irregularity or bounce the front suspension with your hands. It seems to be coming from the drivers side spring. I don't see any appearant(sp??) problems. Any ideas?
3) On the passenger side, I can't get to the nut on the upper A arm shaft's rear bushing. I pretightened it (not enough to induce preload), but I can't get to the damned thing. The air conditioning suitcase/headers don't leave a hell of a lot of room. Anyone hae a trick for this?
Any help is greatly appreciated-


------------------
John

[JC455]

Help! I just finished installing a TOTALLY new front suspension on the 68 LM. I ordered a kit from PST and bought the remainder from PY -at an excellent price(shameless plug).
I put Hotchkiss 1901 springs front and rear. I took it down and had it aligned- no problem.
Here's the problems:
1) PST supplied upper ball joint- grease sqirts out the side of the balljoint- where the upper cap and the body mate together- anybody have the same problem before?
2) The front end is making a "boinging" sound if you hit a dip/irregularity or bounce the front suspension with your hands. It seems to be coming from the drivers side spring. I don't see any appearant(sp??) problems. Any ideas?
3) On the passenger side, I can't get to the nut on the upper A arm shaft's rear bushing. I pretightened it (not enough to induce preload), but I can't get to the damned thing. The air conditioning suitcase/headers don't leave a hell of a lot of room. Anyone hae a trick for this?
Any help is greatly appreciated-


------------------
John

[mike nixon]

in answer to problem #2. the spring is not in the upper seat properly and is catching the frame as it compresses. when you have it down again make sure the rubber insulator is also in the right position. mike

[JC455]

Mike,
I came to the same conclusion today.
On the second part of your statement- what rubber isolators? I only have those on the rear springs.
Thanks-

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John

[2bad]

John:
let me know what you find out on your front suspension problems..I'll be ordering a frnt suspension kit for my 68 lemans from PST real soon. Which kit did you buy? I just ordered my frnt springs and didn't get the insulators because I thought those were used in front only if you want the front to sit higher. Any info would be greatly appreciated.

[Todd]

[This message has been edited by Todd (edited 07-18-2000).]

[jnyeager]

Can you get at that upper spindle nut by coming through the wheel-well? You will have to remove the dust shield (and lift your car and remove the right front tire of course)...

OK, forget that. I just went and looked and the access is better from above. I had my inner fenders off when I rebuilt my suspension. I easily got at mine from above using an offset head box wrench. I saw another possible angle and that would be from under the car you could stick a socket on a swivel with about 18" worth of extension on it and reach over the top of the frame rail. But I think the best thing is to find or borrow the right wrench and get it from above.

Good luck,
JY

[mike nixon]

the isolators were in my 72 g/p and must have been added in the 69 gto i had . mike

[2bad]

Did you get the grease fitting on your upper ball joint problem fixed?? if so what was the problem? I'll be ordering my frnt end kit this week and would like to avoid any potential problems...

[JC455]

Guys,
Thanks for all the input. I got ahold of PST and told them about the problem. The tech guy said it must have been a defective part and sent me a new one.
I decided to remove the upper control arm and install the ball joint- that way I can torque the rear bushing. I thought about this for a little bit, and since the front bushing is already torqued into place, the rear should not be placed into preload because the A arm shaft will not rotate with the front locked down. Sound reasonable?
2bad- It's a good kit, it just pisses me off when I get defective/wrong parts. I specified 1 1/4" sway bar- what do I get? A universal one-size-fits-all bushing. Other than that (and the balljoint-which was a freak thing), the rest of the kit was real nice. I like to order from them because they include the control arm bumpers and the rubber kits are OEM Silent Blok style.
If you order a polygraphite kit, they give you the correct sized sway bar bushings.
One final note- the Hotchkis springs give a killer ride with excellent control. I haven't had the headers hit the ground once since installing the new front end and they only feel slightly stiffer (ride wise) than my old, worn out springs.
Once again, THANKS for all the help-


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John

[2bad]

good to hear PST is going to make good on their mistake..I'll be ordering my frnt end kit tomorrow. Sounds like it'll make a world of difference. Thanks for all of your info..I'd like to see some pics of your ride.