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Wishbone [ A-Arm] Installion

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1976Midget

1976Midget

Jedi Hopeful
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SO has anyone ever changed an A-arm out. My New 75 Midget is missing the A-arm and i need to replace it. how hard is this? i also undertstand that the Bushing have to be reamed in? thinking about just buying a total kit for both side and doing both side that way i'm nice and tight.
 
The hardest part is getting the a-arm out. I think it is debatable whether you need to ream in new bushings. If the bushings are not visibly scared, leave them be. A racer friend of mine claims that he has replaced hundreds of a-arms and never replaced a bushing. Eric Jones of Riverside motors sells rebuilt a-arms with new fulcrum pins and king pins assembled as a unit. Makes replacement much easier, and his prices are very fair. PM and a I will send you his number.

Stay far away from the king pin kit VB sells. The upper fulcrum shims that came with mine where too big and caused the king pin to bind. PeterC sells shims that work great and cost about 35¢ a piece if I remember.
 
I just changed out both a-arm/swivel axle combinations. I sent them to Ted at TS Imports for a reconditoned set along with new springs and also installed reconditioned shocks from Peter C. By far the hardest part was removing the old a-arm so if yours is missing you avoided that problem.

I didn't realize that you put the inner bushing in with the a-arm and then slide the outer bushing on from the outside...I put them in together and struggled. Of course I figured out the easy way after I put them on the hard way.

I'm looking forward to a much tighter suspension and better handling once I get the rest of the car put back together!
 
Morris said:
The hardest part is getting the a-arm out. I think it is debatable whether you need to ream in new bushings. If the bushings are not visibly scared, leave them be. A racer friend of mine claims that he has replaced hundreds of a-arms and never replaced a bushing. Eric Jones of Riverside motors sells rebuilt a-arms with new fulcrum pins and king pins assembled as a unit. Makes replacement much easier, and his prices are very fair. PM and a I will send you his number.

Stay far away from the king pin kit VB sells. The upper fulcrum shims that came with mine where too big and caused the king pin to bind. PeterC sells shims that work great and cost about 35¢ a piece if I remember.
Click to expand...


I sent you a PM. I am glad you mention the part about the Kingpin kit from VB i was going to purchase one of thoughs. if i could get a complete rebult one where i can just stick it that be great. i know back in My VW days you use to be able to buy the Wishbones with the bushing all ready in them. let me know that number so i can give that guy a ring
 
Just to be clear... there are brass bushes/bearings in the king pin assembly. Those have to be pushed into place and reamed. Then there are rubber (or in my case, silicon) bushes on the inner fulcrum pins. Those are fitted by hand and you may have to buy those seperately. Ask Eric if he sells them when you call.

Don't buy the silicon bushes Moss sells. They are rock hard and only good for racing I assume. I got mine from https://bhive.tierranet.com/ . They are an extremely tight fit, but they feel great. They are just a little harder than rubber, but will last forever. I have no experience with VB's offering. Maybe someone else can offer an opinion.
 
Moss standard ones worked fine for me and they were rubber.
 
I have read a lot of reports of people pulling their suspension apart, only to find that the (hardened metal) kingpin itself had worn, but the (white metal?) bushes had not. No new bushings or reaming required, simply a new kingpin.

Can anyone confirm whether this is (sometimes? often?) the case?
 
In my previous comment (re: my racer friend) I was referring to the kingpin bushes. He claims that they rarely, if ever, go bad, but the kingpins almost always go bad with time.

After I re-read my post, it seemed a little confusing.
 
I can confirm that this has been my experience. Extremely worn kingpins with minimal bushing wear!!
 
Excellent. I have the whole kit, but I'd much rather slip in a new kingpin than get into pressing and reaming bushings in the suspension assembly! Hopefully when I do the front suspension rebuild (maybe this winter) I find the same wear pattern.
 
I just completd a front suspension rebuild and found the swivel axle bushings to be fine and the king pins worn. All went together pretty good except for the outer fulcrum pin one theaded in fine the other would not go in, I ended up ordering another pin and it screwed right in. the only problem I have now is the new springs in the front really show how bad I need to do the rears. LOL Have all the parts but the wife wants a couple days with top down before I start the back. good luck, by the way I got the parts from VB. the major suspension kit included just about everything you need including the bushings, and all is tight on the wife's midge
 
i Just finished rebuilding at least one side of my '76 front end. Got the toatl rebuild package from Moss. This I pais just under $300 for both sides. All Parts, worked great. Brass king pin bushings did look to be in new condition but so did the origianl king pins. Put new king pins in but left the brass bushings. Still may ditch those new rubber bushings for poly ones before it goes back together. Has anyone found a replacemnet for those cork lower fulcrum pin bushings. They seem to be pretty silly! I thought of cutting some out of rubber bushings I had just to give it a more snug fit. Any thoughts?
 
Warning!!!

Has anybody wondered why a steel shaft would wear, and a soft bushing not wear?

The reason is that dirt is mashed into the softer bushing and remains there. The dirt wears the steel shaft. Replacing the worn shaft and not the bushings will just wear the new shaft. Possibly cleaning the bushings with a reamer will remove the dirt. Possibly not. Always replace the bushings. (I'v made the mistake before)

And please, keep them well lubricated after replacement.
 
Excellent point Donn. I had never thought of that.
 
And now we know, thanks.
 
I'll be sure to do it next time, but for the amount of miles she puts on it, I won't be doing it for a long time. Does make alot of sense though
 
/bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/iagree.gif Sounds like excellent advice Donn. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/thankyousign.gif
 
It is best(fast,easy,cheap) done with the special reaming tool.
 
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