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[GMCnet] Progress on the 1 ton front end [message #135515] Thu, 21 July 2011 21:18 Go to next message
glwgmc is currently offline  glwgmc   United States
Messages: 1014
Registered: June 2004
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Senior Member
Hi all,

Yesterday was a slow day as the gallery was very busy. Lots of nice things went out the door. Sharon is in panic mode as the gallery is getting a little sparse so I need to get in the studio and build more........

The 1 ton front end project is progressing nicely. The passenger side is complete. Now that I know what I am doing, the drivers side went much faster. All is out today, the bushings in the upper A arm are now removed and installed and that unit is painted (Hammerite red) and will go in tomorrow morning. I fought with the ball joint on the passenger side this morning the nut was too shallow to engage the castleated nut so I put on the one off of the old lower ball joint. Big mistake. It may be a different thread or just gowed up. Anyway, it caused the lower ball joint tapered shaft to rotate instead of seating properly. It took some work with locking pliers to get it back off and the new nut with a thick washer in place. That seated the shaft properly and pulled down to the required torque setting. The hole aligned properly and a new cotter pin is in place.

After fiddling with one upper A arm I finally found the right combination of tools to press out the old worn out bushings and press in the new. The second side took only a half an hour to do. The first side consumed much of my sparse free time yesterday. Painting the thing and waiting for it to dry took longer than actually doing all the bushing stuff. All will be back in and ready for alignment by noon tomorrow....if the customers don't flood into the gallery the way they have yesterday and today.

For planning purposes, think in terms of one full day on the first side as you learn. The other side will take 4 or so hours once you get smart enough to do it right. I was able to do both sides without the torsion bar unloader tool. It came today and will be handy for perfecting ride height. More tomorrow.

Jerry

PS - a new web site is in final edit. Stay tuned.....


Jerry Work
The Dovetail Joint
Fine furniture designed and hand crafted in the 1907 former Masonic Temple building in historic Kerby, OR
Visitors always welcome!
glwork@mac.com
http://jerrywork.com
541-592-5360

Founder of the Southern Oregon Guild
www.southernoregonguild.org
Member of the Siskiyou Guild
www.siskiyouguild.org




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Jerry & Sharon Work
78 Royale
Kerby, OR
Re: [GMCnet] Progress on the 1 ton front end [message #135527 is a reply to message #135515] Thu, 21 July 2011 23:19 Go to previous messageGo to next message
USAussie is currently offline  USAussie   United States
Messages: 15912
Registered: July 2007
Location: Sydney, Australia
Karma: 6
Senior Member
G'day,

Here's a group of links to the Photosite for drawings of the J-22222 kit
that GM specified to remove the upper control arm bushings.

http://www.gmcmhphotos.com/photos/showphoto.php?photo=28433

http://www.gmcmhphotos.com/photos/showphoto.php?photo=28434

http://www.gmcmhphotos.com/photos/showphoto.php?photo=28435

http://www.gmcmhphotos.com/photos/showphoto.php?photo=28436

In addition you will need one of these to remove the lower arm bushings:

http://www.gmcmhphotos.com/photos/showphoto.php?photo=28450

Ref: Maintenance Manual X-7525 Page 3A-15: Note Figure 20 provides the
following part numbers:

Installer J-21474-2 and Spacer J-21474-4; they are INCORRECT!

The correct part numbers are Installer J-22222-2 and Spacer J-22222-4.

Part numbers in Figures 19, 21, 22, 23 and 24 are correct.

IT IS IMPERATIVE THAT YOU PUT THE SPACERS IN BETWEEN THE SIDES OF THE
CONTROL ARMS, IF YOU DON'T YOU WILL CRUSH THEM AND THE NEW BUSHINGS WILL NOT
BE HELD IN PROPERLY.

If you replace the either the lower or upper control arm rubber bushings
with Urethane bushings you leave the steel shells in the control arms and
push out the steel center piece first, heat the outside of the shell with a
torch to break the bond between the rubber and the steel, then push out the
rubber.

If you're interested do a search for J-22222 and J-21474 on eBay and you'll
find some of the tools there now.

Regards,
Rob M.
Sydney, Australia
AUS '75 Avion-The Blue Streak TZE365V100428
USA '75 Avion-Double Trouble TZE365V100426

-----Original Message-----
From: Work Jerry

After fiddling with one upper A arm I finally found the right combination of
tools to press out the old worn out bushings and press in the new.

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Regards, Rob M. (USAussie) The Pedantic Mechanic Sydney, Australia '75 Avion - AUS - The Blue Streak TZE365V100428 '75 Avion - USA - Double Trouble TZE365V100426
Re: [GMCnet] Progress on the 1 ton front end [message #135548 is a reply to message #135515] Fri, 22 July 2011 11:00 Go to previous messageGo to next message
KB is currently offline  KB   United States
Messages: 1262
Registered: September 2009
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Senior Member
Hi Jerry, glad to hear the front end is coming along.

If you or anyone else who is installing the kit has feedback on the
instructions, please let me know. You can help other GMCers by making
them better.

Again, they're at:
http://www.machinesoflovinggrace.net/gmc/frontend

thanks,
Karen
1973 23'
1975 26'
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Karen 1975 26' San Jose, CA
Re: [GMCnet] Progress on the 1 ton front end [message #135550 is a reply to message #135548] Fri, 22 July 2011 11:18 Go to previous messageGo to next message
Gary Worobec is currently offline  Gary Worobec   United States
Messages: 867
Registered: May 2005
Karma: -1
Senior Member
Hi, Steve Ferguson gave me a good tip for installing the upper control arm
bushing. A split piece of exhaust tubing about 15/16" long held with a hose
clamp goes between the ears on the control arm. Very easy then to press the
bushing in without distorting the ears. I'll send you some pictures for
inclusion.

Thanks

Gary and Joanne Worobec
1973 GMC Glacier
Anza, CA

----- Original Messagood e -----
From: "KB" <kab7@sonic.net>
To: <gmclist@temp.gmcnet.org>
Sent: Friday, July 22, 2011 9:00 AM
Subject: Re: [GMCnet] Progress on the 1 ton front end


> Hi Jerry, glad to hear the front end is coming along.
>
> If you or anyone else who is installing the kit has feedback on the
> instructions, please let me know. You can help other GMCers by making
> them better.
>
> Again, they're at:
> http://www.machinesoflovinggrace.net/gmc/frontend
>
> thanks,
> Karen
> 1973 23'
> 1975 26'
> _______________________________________________
> GMCnet mailing list
> Unsubscribe or Change List Options:
> http://temp.gmcnet.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/gmclist

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Re: [GMCnet] Progress on the 1 ton front end [message #135582 is a reply to message #135515] Fri, 22 July 2011 17:13 Go to previous messageGo to next message
KB is currently offline  KB   United States
Messages: 1262
Registered: September 2009
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Senior Member
You should only have to worry about the upper a-arm bushings on the kit.
Manny usually pre-installs the new urethane bushings in the modified lower a-arms.
The bushing tools don't have to be fancy; I was able to deal with them
with an assortment of sockets, clamps, etc, and a scrap piece of
metal for the spacer.

Karen
1973 23'
1975 26'
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Karen 1975 26' San Jose, CA
Re: [GMCnet] Progress on the 1 ton front end [message #135583 is a reply to message #135582] Fri, 22 July 2011 17:18 Go to previous messageGo to next message
KB is currently offline  KB   United States
Messages: 1262
Registered: September 2009
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Senior Member
Meant to add: I didn't have to heat the outer bushing shells. The 36 year old rubber
let go without much struggle. I did push out the inner metal sleeve first.


KB wrote:
> You should only have to worry about the upper a-arm bushings on the kit.
> Manny usually pre-installs the new urethane bushings in the modified
> lower a-arms.
> The bushing tools don't have to be fancy; I was able to deal with them
> with an assortment of sockets, clamps, etc, and a scrap piece of
> metal for the spacer.
>
> Karen
> 1973 23'
> 1975 26'
>
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Karen 1975 26' San Jose, CA
Re: [GMCnet] Progress on the 1 ton front end [message #135598 is a reply to message #135583] Fri, 22 July 2011 18:04 Go to previous messageGo to next message
USAussie is currently offline  USAussie   United States
Messages: 15912
Registered: July 2007
Location: Sydney, Australia
Karma: 6
Senior Member
KB,

The reason I mentioned that is because, IIRC somebody noted that Manny BENT
a number of arms trying to get the rubber bushings out of the sleeves!

Regards,
Rob M.
Sydney, Australia
AUS '75 Avion-The Blue Streak TZE365V100428
USA '75 Avion-Double Trouble TZE365V100426


-----Original Message-----
From: KB

Meant to add: I didn't have to heat the outer bushing shells. The 36 year
old rubber let go without much struggle. I did push out the inner metal
sleeve first.


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Regards, Rob M. (USAussie) The Pedantic Mechanic Sydney, Australia '75 Avion - AUS - The Blue Streak TZE365V100428 '75 Avion - USA - Double Trouble TZE365V100426
Re: [GMCnet] Progress on the 1 ton front end [message #135619 is a reply to message #135598] Fri, 22 July 2011 20:35 Go to previous messageGo to next message
James Hupy is currently offline  James Hupy   United States
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Registered: May 2010
Karma: -62
Senior Member
The secret to the lower control arm bushing removal without the outer sleeve
is to take an oxy acetelyne torch with a small tip, 00 or 0 and heat the
sleeve on the outside until the rubber smokes a little. You do not need to
get it red hot. Heating the sleeve kinda turns the surface of the rubber
bushing fluid, and the bushing can be easily driven out. It simplifies the
process if you first remove the center steel sleeve.
On the upper control arms, I use a piece of flat bar 3/16" thick by 1"
wide about 8 " long.
Grind the width to fit the space between the ears of the upper bushing arm.
Then bend the bar into a 'U" shape that will just straddle the steel sleeve,
and drive it into place. Then you can press out the steel outer sleeve. Use
the same "U" shaped bar between ears to prevent crushing the ears together
when you drive the new bushing assy into place. Watch the outer sleeve and
make very sure that it does not get "cocked" in the bore. If the inside end
of the steel sleeve does not enter the arm squarely, it will bunch up and
not press in correctly.
JWID, your results may vary.
Jim Hupy
Salem, OR
78 GMC Royale 403

On Fri, Jul 22, 2011 at 4:04 PM, Rob Mueller <robmueller@iinet.net.au>wrote:

> KB,
>
> The reason I mentioned that is because, IIRC somebody noted that Manny BENT
> a number of arms trying to get the rubber bushings out of the sleeves!
>
> Regards,
> Rob M.
> Sydney, Australia
> AUS '75 Avion-The Blue Streak TZE365V100428
> USA '75 Avion-Double Trouble TZE365V100426
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: KB
>
> Meant to add: I didn't have to heat the outer bushing shells. The 36 year
> old rubber let go without much struggle. I did push out the inner metal
> sleeve first.
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> GMCnet mailing list
> Unsubscribe or Change List Options:
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>
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Re: [GMCnet] Progress on the 1 ton front end [message #135785 is a reply to message #135515] Sun, 24 July 2011 02:03 Go to previous messageGo to next message
ljdavick is currently offline  ljdavick   United States
Messages: 3548
Registered: March 2007
Location: Fremont, CA
Karma: -3
Senior Member
Jerry,

How did it turn out? Both the 1-ton front end and your new website.

Larry Davick

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Larry Davick
A Mystery Machine
1976(ish) Palm Beach
Fremont, Ca
Howell EFI + EBL + Electronic Dizzy
Re: [GMCnet] Progress on the 1 ton front end [message #135822 is a reply to message #135515] Sun, 24 July 2011 12:00 Go to previous message
KB is currently offline  KB   United States
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Registered: September 2009
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Senior Member
Thanks Jerry. On my early drafts, I had an extra section about how to do the job
without the unloader tool. I'd experimented on our coach and found it was possible;
once the arms are hanging down, there's not much load on the bolt. I was even able to
leave the nut in place to keep the pork chop from dropping too far down and making it
hard to put the bolt back in. Just needed the appropriate jacks and levers
and an extra pair of hands.

Then I talked to Manny; he's run into at least one coach on which he really needed
the unloader. The tool definitely makes the job easier. I ended up having to use
it repeatedly to fix problems I ran into and to re-check things I wasn't sure of.
Instructions would have minimized this, but I didn't have any. Since you'll always need
it if you must adjust the ride height later and I couldn't predict issues with other coaches,
I decided to ditch the section about doing the job without the unloader. I didn't feel it
would serve people generally to encourage not having the tool.

I'll add your suggestions to the next edition. If you have any pictures
of the process that would help the instructions, that'd be wonderful.

Manny must be in great physical condition, because I'm sure I'd be
completely unable to function if I managed to do the job in only a day!

Thanks!
Karen
1973 23'
1975 26'
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Karen 1975 26' San Jose, CA
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