Work continues: steering linkage, part 2

So, last Saturday I left the car up in stands, with the steering linkage all disassembled, while I waited for the newly-painted steering rods to really dry up. I also wanted to buy new left-hand threaded lock nuts, since the old ones were really beat up. I figured I'd wait until the next weekend to reinstall things and wrap things up for now.

Well, I could not wait.

On Monday, I went to a few local stores in search of the rare left-hand 14mmx1.50 nut. I finally found three at High Strength Bolt Co., in Kent. This was the last pieces I needed, so I was ready to re-install stuff.

Monday night I reassembled the steering links and ball joints, and set them to their original length (which I captured when I was disassembling things last week.) I then crawled under the car, to get everything back together.

Re-installing incurred three main things:
1. Get the ball joints back into the steering knuckles and other locations.
2. Pound them a few times with a rubber mallet, and thread the upper castellated nuts to secure the rods to the suspension.
3. Secure the nuts with wire pins to make sure the nuts don't spin off.

Steps one and two were easy enough - just get things in place, pound, then thread the nuts. Torqueing them correctly required using a few extension bars with my torque wrench, as you must access the nuts from the top of the engine bay. All this was completed in about an hour.

Threading the lock pins in place, though, was another story. First, the castellated nuts had to align with the securing holes on the ball joint stud themselves. This was tricky, since some of the ball joint studs are hard to see from under the car (especially the inner tie rods.) On top of that, the pins I bought were a bit too large, and they would not fit properly. Aargh! After trying for about an hour, I decided to give up, and try again the next day.

So, the next day, I bought thinner pins at the local hardware store. Then under the car, and after about ninety minutes, all the pins were installed and locked in place. Finally. I must say, I see the need for castellated nuts, but I really hate dealing with them.

I then reinstalled the wheels, and took the car for a ride. The steering feels a bit less unresponsive - like there is a bit less play on the steering wheel. This maybe all a placebo effect going on, though. The suspension still creaks and feels weak. But I think there is a bit of an improvement.

Next up will be dealing with the front suspension. I still don't know if I will tackle this myself, or send it to the shop and let them do this. I also need to decide what to do about springs and dampers. I'll have to keep looking around for recommended rates and the such.

Then it's onwards to the rear suspension. I am really thinking I do not want to tackle the rear end at all. It seems dealing with the large and heavy differential requires tons of room, and tons of help. Hmm...

So maybe I'll do the front myself, then go to the shop for the rear end work.

I think I'll be waiting until after Xmas for this, though, as I have a few trips coming up, and very little time to work on the car. Oh well.