The engine rebuild on the 63 Dart wagon was finished end of September. Now it's time to do the car's front end. It's wandering a little when stopping, and I'm getting front end knock through the steering column linkage.

Any sage advice to share? I have never rebuilt a front end. I have watched videos on YouTube showing the process. Interesting. Looks like there are some challenging steps.

I have a garage, and some tools, nothing special like a ball joint splitter or pickle fork, one or both of which I'm sure I'll need.

Can you all give me guidance of where to start, and good reference materials or posts here that cover the topic? I did a search but found a surprising lack of info.

well I am doing mine now. I bought a set of pullers off epay for 39 to pull tie rod ends, ball joints, idler arm and pitman arm. you will need a ball joint socket, I got mine from pst, 1/2 drive and for the small joint. you will need a press, I got one off epay for 119 shipped, this pressed out the upper control arm bushings and the lower control arm bushings. I still need a 1 inch plus tap to remove the lower control arm bushing shell, still looking for that. that gets it all apart, then clean, scrape, paint, and reassemble. I am looking at pst for the complete kit. rubber for me as I don't want any squeaks! lots of work

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Hyper_pak

I am doing the same rebuild and just split the shells and pulled them out. I will need a press to put them back in, I'm looking at a Harbor Freight Presses.

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1964 Dart GT

The tap looks like the sweet way to do it. No chance to nick or damage the bore. The only thing about my press is a 6 ton china junk pump. But I have a 12 ton older sears pump that has been in the way for years, so that will go on as soon as the other pump quits. Plus a few buck cheaper and no tax.

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Hyper_pak

Thanks for the responses on this - realizing I didn't post a follow up. Life got in the way and now finally I'm starting this project. Must assemble all parts I need beforehand.

See this kit on eBay. Looks as though it has many parts I'll need.

Then, I took a look at PST's kits. Their Original Budget Kit is here. This one looks good but noticed it doesn't come with everything. Their Original Super Front End Kit is here. No one's kits seem to come with a new Pitman arm.

I don't know exactly what parts I need, but I'm not going to hen-peck this job. I'm not going for PST's polygraphite kits, just sticking with original rubber. I plan on disassembling as much as possible myself, and where I can't disassemble or press parts back together, I will take them down to my local machine shop or mechanic to have them re-assembled.

Could people please give me their thoughts about what kit is the best one to buy for this job (keeping in mind I'm looking to spend as little as possible), and point me to any online or book tutorials about rebuilding the suspension? I have the FSM and will start there. But this car is the daily driver, so I am going to try to rebuild this as quick as I can, within reason.

These articles came in handy when I rebuilt mine.

http://www.moparmax.com/tech/2011/vi_10 ... ips-1.html
http://www.moparmax.com/tech/2011/vi_11 ... ips-1.html

In addition to the upper ball joint wrench and ball joint/tie rod puller set, I would recommend picking up a torsion bar removal tool. It clamps to the torsion bar without scratching it up and gives you a place to wail on it with a hammer until the thing pops backwards out of the LCA.

Is a front disc brake conversion in your future? If so, you may as well look into it now. That kit looks like it has everything for a stock drum brake front end if you plan to keep it that way, but if you upgrade to discs later, you'll need all new ball joints again at a minimum.

Note that the eBay page says the Idler Arm in the picture doesn't actually come with the kit at present. The kit also includes sway bar end links, which you probably don't need. If you buy a new front sway bar later, it will come with those already.

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Somehow I ended up owning three 1964 slant six A-bodies. I race one of them.
Escape Velocity Racing

Thanks. Those are helpful articles. I'll probably refer to them. Now I have to gather all the parts before I start tearing everything apart. And I just bled the brakes. damn.