My front driver side tire went flat yesterday and when I removed it I saw very excessive wear on the inside of the tire. To the point the tire is completely trashed. This must have happened recently, within the last 500 miles because I just did some brake work. Now I know the front suspension on my Aspen needs some work but I wasn't aware it was this bad.

So I'm not really sure where to start. I want to sweep through the suspension and steering components that wear or any rubber components that would have dried up over the decades. Can you guys give me a push in the right direction on what to start pricing out and looking up in my FSM? Thanks!

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1978 4 door Dodge Aspen, Super Six

Tie rod ends, center link, upper and lower control arm bushings, upper and lower ball joints, sway bar bushings, power steering gearbox, steering column coupler, shock absorbers, strut rod bushings. Might as well throw in wheel bearings while you are in there.

PST, Rockauto, Napa. Go for Moog parts and high density rubber for the bushings.

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Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.

As Reed said, Moog parts, no cheap substitutes. If you are doing it yourself for the first time, you will need the upper ball joint socket and 3/4" breaker bar, but most of the other tools you can improvise from the plumbing dept. Also access to a hydraulic press. Safety warning: don't pull the car off the jack stands when wrestling with the upper ball joints. Guys- isn't there an old thread on this? (What year car?)

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"Louise", a 1976 Dart Custom project, (now sadly reverted to being just an "organ donor" to our other project Darts.)

Probably. In fact, there are likely may threads. I know I had a couple threads going when i rebuilt the front suspension on my brother's 74 Duster.

Louise 76 is absolutely right- If you are doing this yourself you MUST have at the very least the correct upper ball joint socket. A hydraulic press is a big help, but you can improvise tools using washers, nuts, and pieces of all thread.

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Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.

Oh man! Thanks for the help guys. That's exactly the info I was looking for. I'll start pricing things out and reading through my FSM on how to do this work.

I appreciate the extra advice on tools and material brand/quality. I've got access to a hydraulic press at work and I'll pick up the ball joint socket.
You guys rock.

Also, my car is a 78 Aspen 4 door.

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1978 4 door Dodge Aspen, Super Six

These are the articles I used:

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

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

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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 nice write ups.

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1978 4 door Dodge Aspen, Super Six

That write up is good, but you have an F body so you will need to follow the manual since they use a different torsion bar set up from the classic ABCE cars..

http://www.autozone.com/repairguides/Do ... 5280087c84 Check the upper control arm support bracket for cracks and or sliding of the pivot bar in the adjustment slots due to loose nuts. This is a long shot but have seen this happen. If the nuts losen up the pivot bar can slide towards the engine causing fast inner edge tire wear.

loose pivot bar. http://www.slantsix.org/forum/viewtopic ... pen#111425

Well I haven't had the chance to look at the car yet as I've been traveling a bit for work. Matv91, thanks for that info on the pivot bar, I'll take a look at that this weekend. I priced out a bunch of parts on RockAuto and plan to buy them this weekend.

I'm neglecting to get wheel bearings right now and I cannot find a center link or steering column coupler. I have a steering gear laying around ready to be put in. Here's a quick spread sheet I made of the parts. Look good?

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... sp=sharing

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1978 4 door Dodge Aspen, Super Six