Took me three weeks but IT IS DONE!!! 79 L82. The good: Van Steel. Those guys know their SH--. Got springs, shocks, bushings, tie rods, ball joints and other misc from them. They helped all along, answered dumb questions from me and even sent me an article on what and how to do. This forum also is great from all the guys that will answer questions. The Bad: rusty bolts and nuts.be ready for them. PB Blaster and torch. PATIENCE!!! is a must. Use a funky cresent type wrench from Sears to hold top of control arm bolt on back under the power steering pump. Hard to get to, but this cresent has lips on it and is thin and can get under the pump and hold the bolt from spinning. Had to remove radiator and shroud to get to upper arms. THE UGLY: MAKE SURE YOU KNOW HOW TO PUT IN CONTROL ARM BUSHINGS!! Bent lower arm in a press. Decided to take control arms to shop and let them put in bushings. I recommend this. Everything else I did myself and I am NOT a mechanic. HINTS AND TIPS: Ask lots of questions, feel good about what you are about to do. DONT BE AFRAID OF THE SPRING!! I put in one spring by myself using a floor jack. There is good info out there on how to take them out and put them in. I did not use any compressors or chains and it was easy. Tie rod end so worn, it spun when removing castle nut, used grinder to cut a groove in top and use screw driver to hold it and remove nut, see pics. Some have trouble putting brake pads back in. If cylinders come out to far, push one side back and put in one side of brake pad to hold it. Use a screwdriver to wedge in between rotor and cylinder and start pushing it back. BE PATIENT AND CAREFUL. It takes some time to push cylinder back. Use the open end of like a 1/2" wrench to then put in to hold cylinder and pull out screwdriver. The wrench can now be used to continue to push back the cylinder. Keep your wrenches handy. When get cylinder back, look a gap and find another bigger wrench to put in there. (7/8") wedge them in. (See PICS). Get ready, get a hold of the shoe, yank out wrenches quickly, move in shoe. Did it this way first time on all four shoes. GOOD LUCK!!! Hey, this is my way I did it, may not be the best but I had to work with what I had. If it helps you, great. Just trying to pass on some help like others helped me.[IMG][/IMG][IMG][/IMG][IMG][/IMG]

 

Congrats, looks like you earned it

I just finished this job 2 weeks ago, it makes such a huge difference. I have been meaning to post pictures but have not gotten to it

 

Congrats!! I just finished "removing" the ball joints from my control arms. Now I just have to clean, paint, and reinstall...

 

Great job... I did my front susp back in April. I went a little crazy with the media blasting of all the parts. I had a helluva a time getting my front brakes back on the rotors. I have learned real quick what I think should be the easy part, typically seems to take the longest amount of time...

 

Congrats!!! It's a nice sense of accomplishment when you get a job like that done isn't it? I'm gonna finish mine this weekend. Just gotta drop it on the ground so I can tighten the bushing bolts and put the fans back in!!

 

It took me about 3 weeks as well. I just finished it all up Saturday! It is a big job...Good Job!

 

ALMOST finished with mine. I measured my rotors and cut little wood blocks to hold brake pads open. When you slide the caliper back on, the blocks push up and out. Piece of cake. I too had lots of parts blasted/powdercoated. Spot painted frame/spring pockets with POR15. Couldn't replace the rear control arm shaft bolts due to PS pump and TH400 cooling lines. Reassembly MUCH cleaner job than disassembly!! Events have conspired to make this job go on forever for me (since late April). Bleeding PS sys. today, hangin' the wheels, then off to alignment...