I'm tearing down my road ruster, and remembered a few new members had asked about how to grab a brake setup out of the junkyard if you spot a set.


I pulled the fenders so I could get some good pics, though the wheel wells in A-bodies are still fairly roomy...

So you get lucky and you find a nice A-body with a set of decent sliders like this:




So you grab your bucket of tools and start in (make sure to have a spare cottage cheese container for those misc. fasteners):

Take some PB blaster or liquid wrench and douse all the nuts.
Remove any factory splash sheilds for accessibility ( they use phillips and/or 7/16" headed screws, and are attached to the subframe or K-member)

Let's pull the strut pin (I always keep a good set of struts)



Let's pull the Torsion Bar retaining clip (although some cars they can be missing....)



To get better access to the things without having to roll the steering back and forth (unless the column is locked then you'll want to do this), pull the cotter pin in the tierod with a pair of pliers, pull the 5/8" castle nut off the tie rod/spindle, and then you can drive the tierod stud out of the hole with a big hammer and a block of wood, brass hammer, punch (whatever you have but don't stress the spindle arm...it can fracture if you get 'Mongo' on it).





Move the tierod out of the way. At this point rotate the spindle and pull the brake hose and leave it (you'll want to buy new ones, trust me...but keep the caliper bolt, it's special).

Next pull the strut nut (mine use a 15/16" socket), then pull the Lower Control Arm nut off the UCA stud on the K-member...



Next step is pulling the adjuster, this can be easy if the previous owner maintained the car, or can be hard if the last alignment specialist used an impact wrench on the bolt and seized it in the threads... (if 'hard' liberal penetrant and use of a large breaker bar and socket..1/2" recommended and about 20 minutes of you time to 'reef on it', if easy 1/2" ratchet and 5 minutes 'tops'...





FYI, for those asking about ride height... this is the bolt you adjust to move the front chassis up or down... It takes a 3/4" socket...




At this point, pull the shock bolts(mine were 1/2" socket top...use a pair of pump pliers to keep the top of the shock from 'spinning', then a 5/8" and 11/16" socket/ratchet set for the LCA set) and pitch the old dead shocks...I also pull the rear strut bolt in the lower control arm and put the strut rod aside (you can leave them in the LCA and remove the unit whole sale, but if you have a 'bent' unit, or need to put them in your bucket, pull them now...)

Next, put your pickle fork/prybar/bigggggg screwdriver in-between the LCA and the K-member and pry back, it should move pretty well...you can also take a big rubber hammer and 'pop' the LCA stud out of the K-member to get things started....



Keep prying....



Once you get it partially out, you can spray some penetrant into the T-bar socket and smack the LCA back forward a couple times with a big hammer to get the T-bar to 'shake loose' of the LCA socket...

OR....


You can pull the Upper Control arm bolts (spray with penetrant, and use a ratchet with short socket and wobbly on the nuts, and put a box end on the bolthead, these have oval adjusters that are used to set your alignment, so if you don't use the box end you may just spin the bolts around and not get anywhere...). Also the bolts are flat on one side so they can engage the adjuster ovals....



At this point I pry the UCA out and let the whole assembly 'lay', then 'pop' the T-bar out of the socket with a quick blow from the big hammer...



If you are on the 'cheap' make sure to pull the torsion bar 'balloon' seals off the end of the torsion bars, and save them in a good spot so they don't get ripped, new ones are like $8 so you gotta be 'cheap to keep them'.

with both hands slide the torsion bar toward the back of the car and through the anchor, you may have to rotate the front hex head a bit to get it to 'fit' the anchor socket correctly...

if the car was in good shape you'll have some good grease to clean up, if not maintined well, your bar and balloon seals may have some caked remnants of petrified grease on them...



If you have a pre-72 car and you are taking the brakes off a 1973-1976 car, you may want to keep the torsion bars if they look straight and aren't 'warped'... clean the head off and look at the number...






slant six and 318 cars w/o A/C got the 890/891 bars which are better than the 60's slant six/273 bars...if your donor car had a 318 with A/C, or HS suspension package, or a 340 or 360...then you'll have the 892/893 bars which are a bit thicker and stiffer...

If they still weigh too much, you can pull the bolts on the back of the spindle and put the caliper assemblies into your tool bucket to lighten the assembly load, or 'even out' the assembly a bit....


Once you are done with both sides you can just grab the UCA's and drag the asembly up to the boneyard desk and ask "How much for this?"... most desk guys either won't know, or will have some look on their face wondering how you got the assembly to come off in one foul swoop...(Last time I did this the guy was so befuddled I got the whole assembly and T-bars for $50, then wanted to know how I did it...)...

If the rotors are toast, and you don't need the weight, you can pull the grease cap, cotter pin, castle cap, big nut, bearings, etc... and pitch the rotors to save $$$ and weight. It might also be worth it to pull the rotors and inspect the spindles for any scoring or damage (seized bearing), that might save time in the long run, and make you move on to another donor...most yard pitch the wheels and pull the rotors as instant scrap items anyway...

Also if you have a late car with drum brakes and dont need the UCA's you can pull the cotter and castle nut on the upper ball joint, then use the big rubber hammer to pull the spindle off the UCA ball joint stud and leave it too...(some times having junkyard tire jack propped under the UCA helps get some 'leverage'...but that's using your noggin')


Hope that helps some of our newbies, and junkyard scouts make the 'quick grab' before the B/E body guys get out there and make things scarce for our easy bolt in A-body upgrades!


Enjoy,

-D.Idiot

Thanks for the tip. I have been seen carrying around printed tips in the "Yard" a few times while getting parts for my Dart.

I will use this in the future for sure when I find my disc setup.

Thanks again
Matt

_________________


67 Dart GT convertible
"225 Slant 6"
Super 6 and 2.25" exhaust.

Hey DI, I just grabbed another pair of 1974 drum brake knuckles at the local yard. The late model A body cars are getting harder and harder to come by in the yards these days. 10 years from now they'll be all gone. Of course by then, someone will be forging new knuckles.

AndyF, too late, they already forge A and B body knuckle arms(300-400 dollars though, but they are all shiny and stuff )

Something I've been interested in hearing about are the B-body knuckle that lower a car. I really need to build up my car before they're any bit worthwhile, but I do like the idea of lowering my car two inches without sacrificing any handling.

Anyway, great post, looks like it should go in the article section(I don't think anything news been put up for a long while...)

Shivadart

Fatman's sells the 2" lowered F-body spindles. Primarily for the truck crowd with the F-body front clip in their pickups.