My 1970 Duster did not pass the inspection here in Sweden. I had to much movement in the right upper balljoint and the left lower. I think it's time to get the front rebuild anyhow. Now, I'm a beginner and this seems like a major thing to me, I'm not afraid to put in the time or effort. I'm just worried that I will do some damage when installing the new parts.

So I guess my question is, could this be done in a garage and no expreriense, or is this the type of work that needs to be done by a shop. I called around and it's gonna be expensive.

Besides that, I got a mark on uneven front brakes. Any tips on how to fix that?

Also I got a mark on leaking power steering... I love my Duster, but now everything is falling apart on my I feel..

All help apreciated!

Regards
Robert

You can rebuild front end in your driveway. Only special tools needed are a ball joint / tie rod end puller, and the big upper ball joint socket. uca bushings you can even press in and out with a vice. LCA bushings can get tricky, but shop work to swap those bushings just for pressing the old ones out and new ones in shouldn't be terribly much.

If you haven't done it yourself before or watched someone do it, I'd strongly suggest reading through a factory manual or getting someone to help you out. Its not that you can do major damage, just sometimes it gets tricky and can be frustrating.

Uneven front brakes can mean more then one thing. If its disc brakes and means uneven pad wear between left and right, could mean sticky caliper, warped rotor, etc.

Leaky power steering, been there done that. My fix? Convert to manual

Thanks for your reply. I got drums for brakes.

uneven braking with front drums is usually the shoe adjustment. does it pull when you stop? if it pulls right, the left needs adjusted tighter. the pull would be on the first pedal hit of the stop, by the second or third pump it will straighten out untill the next stop.

with both front wheels in the air, the tires should take the same effort to turn. spin both front tires at the same time, have someone SLOWLY depress the brake pedal and make sure both start to stop at the same time. if your shoes are good, adjustment should fix it.

good luck

tophat

When I rebuilt the front end on my 67 Dart GT (back in the late '80s), I tried to do it all myself. The only part I couldn't was the lower control arm bushings. I broke 2 vices and ruined 1 bushing before I called around to machine shops, and found that it takes a 12-ton(!) hydraulic press. I had to call 4 places before I found one that could do it, and when I did it was like $10 each for labor. Well worth it! It sure handled better afterwards. Word to the wise - also replace the steering link idler arm. It's cheap, and they wear out and you wander all over the road.

Yes it is not that hard. Much easier and safer than working on a coil spring front end. Just remember to unload the torsion bars first. I used the upper ball joint socket with the upper arms on still on the car once, otherwise you need a bar or rod and a vise that is bolted down to a heavy bench to hold it. Make sure the tapered bores for the ball joint studs are clean. I have used a round battery terminal brush and then a clean rag with carb or brake cleaner. Try to get a factory manual, or at least a haynes. You will need a 1/2" torque wrench that goes up to 150 ft lbs.

No one mentioned stuck uca cam bolts??

Yeah, start spraying those WEEKS in advance with PB Blaster, and let 'em soak...

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vm