Front end day

 A few more jobs done

Today was front end day.. I needed to replace the spring saddles, front shock absorbers and complete those pesky castor rod bushes.

The day started with replacing the very rusty battery tray. Fortunately, the metal work under the tray was fine with no rust, only the battery tray. Tow of the 3 bolts holding what was left of the tray in place were very rusty and would not budge. So I turned to the angle grinder for help. Once the tops were cut off, the tray came free fairly easily. Then the next challenge was to remove what was left of the bolts. I ended up drilling out the centre of the remainder of the bolts and then with multigrips from below, I managed to remove the remainder of the bolts. Then a quick trip to Just Mustangs in Riddell's Creek to get some replacement bolts.. Fortunately, Russell had what I needed in stock. Once back home, the work was simple to install the new battery tray and make the battery secure..

The next job of the day was the front shock absorbers and coil spring saddles. Fortunately, for this job I was able to loan a centre shaft spring compressor from Just Mustangs.

I then removed the top mounts of the shock absorbers and removed the shock absorbers.

Then with the spring compressor I was able to remove and replace the saddle. The first one took about 5 times longer than the second one as I had learnt a few lessons on the way. The rubbers of the shockers were cracked and the shockers had failed.

The old saddles were also toast.

Then once the saddles were replaced, the new shockers were installed.

Then finally the job was done.

Im not sure why the front right drum is red and the left is just a rusty colour. Perhaps one of them was replaced at some point.

Then onto the castor bushes. I removed the castor rods and then set to using a dremel tool with a burr / cutting bit on the end to remove the flange that was holding the assembly together.

This picture shows the inner shaft within the main shaft holding the bushes in place.

These are the new bushes.

Here is a comparison between the old and the new. The right side was ok, but the left showed signs of cracking.

Once the bushes had been replaced, all was reassembeled.

Thats a few more jobs off the list.

The main jobs yet to be done are:

• Replace the rear and front right wheel cylinders, replace the diff rubber brake line (the fronts look to have been done recently), flush the brake lines and reassemble.
• Replace the gearbox output shaft
• Replace the exhaust system
• Replace the seat belts
• Repair the rust in the bottom of the quarters.

All of the brake work can be done in one day.

I will arrange to get an output shaft seat locally and replace it. Then look to head out to Braeside to get new brown / ginger seatbelts made.

Once done, off to see Chris at Ferndale Exhausts to replace the exhaust system.

Then the last and the most challenging job, is to fix the rust in the bottom of the rear quarters.

Till next time..