You all said it would be easy

LAFF

Enough to make my old Nipples hard
Jul 2, 2019
363
330
71
Chillicothe, Missouri
Upgraded the brakes from a 1983 to the 1987-1993 system.
As a 72 year old man with mechanical skills, this kicked my ass.
Broke a star socket right off the bat trying to remove the caliper. Went and bought 2 sockets as that was the 1st I tried to remove.
Removed the calipers, and proceeded to remove the struts. After trying to remove the bolts with several different tools, it took a 1’1/2 foot wrench, and a 4 foot pipe with all my weight on the end to break them loose. Apparently in 1983 the factory had an abundance of blue thread locker.
Now the spindles.
Beat the holy :poo: out of it, and couldn’t get it to break loose. Finally gave up after 4 hrs of this :poo:.
Next day went and got a pickle fork, and it popped right off .
Put all the new stuff on, and went to the driver side.
Now I know what to expect.
Everything went as before, but it went faster as I knew what I was getting into.
Everything went great until I got to the spindle. Again I couldn’t get it to break loose. Sleadge, pickle fork, nothing.
After 4 hours I went home.
This was a Saturday night at my friends muffler shop. I have to have it outta there before he opens for business on Monday.
Laid in bed that night and decided if I couldn’t break it loose the next day Sunday, that I would just put enough old :poo: back on it to get it outta the shop.
Sunday morning went in there mad, picked up a sledge and hit it. Popped right off :)
Yesterday I took her and got the front end realigned.
She drives and stops on a dime.
I know that some of you are going to tell me I should have went with the 94/95 set up. I’m happy with what I did.
Just don’t tell people that it is easy :D
50ECFDD3-0894-403D-8F30-A26335757FE4.jpeg
5675D8EA-FE0B-4ED5-A49A-32AE640EDF82.jpeg
 
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Yeah, that sounds like it was tough!!
For everyday driving they work just fine, you're not throwing out the anchor at 90 mph 4-5 times in a row and as long as you actually drive, not eating spaghetti tacos while you text and drive you will be ok.
 
Upgraded the brakes from a 1983 to the 1987-1993 system.
As a 72 year old man with mechanical skills, this kicked my ass.
Broke a star socket right off the bat trying to remove the caliper. Went and bought 2 sockets as that was the 1st I tried to remove.
Removed the calipers, and proceeded to remove the struts. After trying to remove the bolts with several different tools, it took a 1’1/2 foot wrench, and a 4 foot pipe with all my weight on the end to break them loose. Apparently in 1983 the factory had an abundance of blue thread locker.
Now the spindles.
Beat the holy :poo: out of it, and couldn’t get it to break loose. Finally gave up after 4 hrs of this :poo:.
Next day went and got a pickle fork, and it popped right off .
Put all the new stuff on, and went to the driver side.
Now I know what to expect.
Everything went as before, but it went faster as I knew what I was getting into.
Everything went great until I got to the spindle. Again I couldn’t get it to break loose. Sleadge, pickle fork, nothing.
After 4 hours I went home.
This was a Saturday night at my friends muffler shop. I have to have it outta there before he opens for business on Monday.
Laid in bed that night and decided if I couldn’t break it loose the next day Sunday, that I would just put enough old :poo: back on it to get it outta the shop.
Sunday morning went in there mad, picked up a sledge and hit it. Popped right off :)
Yesterday I took her and got the front end realigned.
She drives and stops on a dime.
I know that some of you are going to tell me I should have went with the 94/95 set up. I’m happy with what I did.
Just don’t tell people that it is easy :D
50ECFDD3-0894-403D-8F30-A26335757FE4.jpeg
5675D8EA-FE0B-4ED5-A49A-32AE640EDF82.jpeg

When you hammer a ball joint socket, you need a bigger hammer pressed up against the opposite side of the ball joint socket. Otherwise, the whole mess just wiggles and doesn't turn loose of the ball joint stud. The bigger hammer makes all the impact direct to the ball joint socket and not dissipate into the suspension.
 
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Great job man, that is for sure an upgrade for your car. I did the 5 lug swap and by far... it sucked. It probably took me longer than it would’ve most ppl in here but I got it done. It surely was not easy lol but worth it!!