I got my breaks to work good with my replacement power booster and master cylinder, now to finish the suspension, I replace all of the tie rod ends and the steering is still loose, My latest check shows that I need upper control arm bushings, I am going to replace the original upper ball joints also, any pointers on this job? I heard that the shims are the biggest pain........1SG









1980 camaro v8

 

The shims are probably the smallest pain! The most work will be cutting off the factory rivets on the ball joints and getting the rivets out of the A arm. Uppers are the easiest of the control arms. When you remove the shims just be careful to mark them and get them back on the same bolt they came off, that way it will make alignment after you're done much easier.
I wouldn't try pressing the old bushings out or the new bushings in. I took mine to a shop and had them do it, even though I have a 12 ton press here. Just too easy to bend the arms if not properly done.
Putting the arms back on and tightening the end nuts is a bit of a chore. The two bolts that hold the arm to the frame are easy, but those ends nuts take a lot of work just to get at, and it's not fun.
I just finished doing uppers, lowers, ball joints and coils on my '71, and none of it was fun.

 

I here ya, I do this for a living and I cussed mine. I did run into a very odd issue, the last two Camaros I did, both 79's, the lower ball joint was .019 over what Moog specified. I find this odd, 4 ball joints purchased over a year apart. Naturally Moog had no answer for me. I ended up machining the .019 off the joint and it pressed like it should. Just a heads up, if you run into this issue, let us know. It's a lot of work, but, with the right alignment it will be worth it.

 

Had issues with the bushing size on mine! Can't remember now if it was uppers or lowers, but my buddy said one set was extremely tight pressing in, while the other went in normally.

 

The uppers seemed tight on mine also, I sectioned a piece of driveshaft tubing, wedged it between the ears and hit it some of the 20 ton and it realized it was going in. The ball joints really got me. I watched my buddy snap the bench vice in half trying to get the ball joint in.

 

After doing mine I swear I'd never do it for a living! I don't even want to do it on my own car ever again! It was only a couple hundred dollars more than I spent to have it done, so next time I'll let someone else have all the fun!

 

Many lower ball joints are made oversized because many lower control arms have had the ball joints replaced and the ball joint hole has been stretched out a little bit. We've seen lower ball joints on first and second gen Camaros tack welded to the control arms to keep them from moving around. This is one of the many reasons we sell control arms on a regular basis. If your factory control arms are not bent and the ball joint holes have not been stretched out, that's great! If they are damaged you can replace with stock replacement parts or actually upgrade to some aftermarket control arms that actually work better for improved handling.