Me. Again. I am in the process of installing the uprights on the lower rear a-arms and the first one is fighting me.
A couple of questions:
1) I am using an 8” C clamp to compress the cups. Do I need to be concerned with the amount of compression I put on the cups?
2) I read that folks use a piece of wood on the upright to strike the hammer. Where on the upright is the wood placed?
Thanks in advance. Shashi
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Hi Sashi -
I used a long bar-clamp that I could eventually slide off, as the cups went into the A-Arm.
I am sure you are being very careful to ensure the pins are in the holes in the flat washers.
It was a struggle for me to get everything aligned and slid into the A-Arm as well.
Check out the next post for my pictures.
Good luck -
Rocky
Thanks. Going to give it another try later this week. Do you recall if the upright needed proper banging in with a piece of wood and hammer? I dont want to be too rough.
I didn't have to resort to that.
I had to support the upright on a jackstand or something - I think it was a stack of 4x4's. Then with the clamp on the two endcaps on the upright, I was able to slide it into the gap in the A-Arm, with the A-Arm ends gradually pushing the clamp out of the way.
Once it was part way in, I was able to slide it in with just some mild persuasion from my hands.
If you have a big dial caliper you could measure things to be sure it will fit with the clamp on... If you had added an extra washer (or two) in there by accident, it would not fit.
My problem was just keeping everything together for the initial insertion. I agree it's pretty tricky
Good luck
Here's the kit I used...
FWIW, my installation in 2004 was relatively easy as Rocky states. I used a wooden dowel and plenty of grease to keep all the washers and such together and aligned before holding everything together with a clamp. I was then able to slide the whole operation into the lower control arm with minimum effort. I used the Pantera East kit with greaseable shafts.
Thanks for the information. Both my lower rear a-arms are new, and the spread between the upright mounts is too narrow by 1/16th of an inch, relative to my old a-arms. I need to sand the extra 1/16. I realized how easy it should be when I was able to slide my old a-arms on the compressed cups. Never a dull moment.
You must have the special, “tight tolerance” lower A-Arms!
Is that from a vendor? Better tell them.
Honestly, I’d consider taking them to a machine shop to get 1/32 precision removed on each side to make sure the lower upright mating is precise, and the alignment of the upper & lowers is maintained…
Rocky
Part of the trick is shown in Rocky's photo of the components with their thicknesses marked on them.
You may find that your vendors parts are not the same thickness as what you removed. The overall dimension of the 'stacked' parts must be a tight fit between the eyes in the A arm. Referring to Rocky's photo of the Wilkinson parts sheet, that would be items 12 (cups), 13 (stepped washers), 17 (shim washers) and 19 (the sleeve). A tight fit will pinch the sleeve when the through bolt is tightened and keep it stationary. These parts can be test fitted between the A arm eyes without the heavy upright or the O rings in place.
A sloppy fit may allow the sleeve to rotate on the shaft instead of in your nice new bushings.
Yeah. I called Steve when I realized it. He offered to have me send them back to be machined but he said sanding them myself would not be an issue
