Challenger Front End Rebuild

[Marty73]

My brother just rebuilt the front end of his 69 GTX and was telling me all the fun things involved. He used to be a mechanic when he was in his 20's and still has all the specialty tools

So my question is - I need to rebuild the front end of my 73 Challenger - since I've never done it before and don't have a press (I need ball joints, bushings, etc). For a novice is it better to just take it to a shop or am I just being scared?

How much should a complete factory front end rebuilt cost? When I was a teenager I had the front end of my Galaxie rebuilt for about 300$- Mopars are always more expensive, so I'm also wondering what a fair price is....

[Moparal]

If you took your car to a shop, be ready for the list price mark up and high labor , plus a front end alignment.  Bet it would be close to 1k. Doin it yourself and a friend about 300 for parts or less, but depends on what all you replace. Pitman arm, idler arms and all 4 ties will bring it up quick

[71Plym]

Do it yourself.  I am a novice too and did mine.  Worked out fine and I learned.  Careful disassembly and reassembly.
The only bushings that I could not get out and needed pushing were in the lower control arms.  I took them to the dealership that was servicing my Jeep.  The young guys had no idea what a LCA for a Cuda was.  An old timer used it as a training session.  Unfortunately, they charged me by the hour to get the bushings out, so it turned out a little pricey.

[Bullitt-]

Did mine using the Poly bushings from Energy Suspension & I'm not a mechanic. The couple of tools I needed were in the suspension kit on the loan-a-tool program from Advanced Auto parts. Everything else came apart with a bench vice, short length of pipe to receive & sockets to push the bushings out. I discovered, after a lot of difficulty, that the ball joints can be pressed out with the tie rod tool, you just have to un-bolt the lower joint from the knuckle first. You may need a special socket to unscrew the upper joint from the UCA but there are ways around that as well.   

[Chryco Psycho]

Do Not press out the upper ball joints , they thread in

[dougs bs23]

youll need the upper ball joint socket,,   so theres about 30 bucks for a one time use, unless you know someone to borrow one from, and the lower c.c. bushing press, you can get a 3 in one press tool from harbor freight for about 40 bucks to do this, other than that everything else you can get on by hand.  It's not all that bad, and you can do it in a good day.  Have fun