1972 Challenger Front End Rebuild Question

[ghjedi]

Hello,

I'm a newbie with a '72 challenger that needs some front end work.  I know for sure that my upper and lower ball joints are shot, as are my bushings.

I'd appreciate any recommendations on front end kits or manufacturers.  I've seen ads for a front end kit from P-S-T.com and wondering if anyone has had experience with this one (good or bad) or with a better one.  I'm not after building a race car, but I do have a 440 engine (not original) in this car with a 4 speed manual, so I'm looking for something that is at least as good the original equipment, if not a bit better.

Thanks

[Moparal]

I used moog on mine
13 bucks each for uppers
48 and 56 for lower joints
4 bucks each for bushings both uper and lower

30 bucks for strut bushings

[BB73Challenger]

I used the PST kt for my Challenger.

It was a complete kit in 1 stop at a good price.

I did learn a few things....

The pieces in the kit are cheapies, you are not going to kit a good Moog kit with all the bushings cheap.
If you do it yourself, set aside PLENTY of time, I spent a little over a week doing the whole thing, this also included time for degreesing the a-arms, lower conrtrol arms, stuff like that and repainting them.
Also, if you are going to do it yourself, begin now to find the upper ball joint socket now. You can get them on line, but there is little chance any part store, tool store will have 1 in stock.
Depending on how you want your car aligned, you may want to go with offset bushings for the a-arms, when I took mine in they could get it to a factory setting, but not enough adjustment in them to go further.

I went with the poly bushings, the car is MUCH improved, as I had worn ALL the riubber from the driver side bushing in the lower control arm.

I am happy with the kit, there were no real "problems" during the install, and do some more searching on the forum, there have been a lot of front ends done here, some guys doing great jobs, lots to learn!

[Chryco Psycho]

I use Energy parts , the whole kit is just over $110 for all the bushings
 the other parts I always use Moog , shop for the best price
 I have never used the PST kit but i have not heard anyhting bad about them

[ghjedi]

Thanks all for the great input.  I just found out that my frame has been hit on the left front side, so I may need to straighten it first before rebuilding the front end.

On a related note, I'm betting that the rear end will also need some work.  Any recommendations for rear end kits?

[Chryco Psycho]

Brg kits are available but you need to cut off the retainer ring & brg to save the adjuster / retainer plates on both axles & reuse them

[RB2929]

BB73Chally-
on the PST parts, what do you mean by cheapies?  I'm looking at the PST poly-kit to install this spring.  Is it worth the money?

Thanks

[Katfish]

Mancini has a complete Moog kit for a pretty good price.


http://chucker54.stores.yahoo.net/manraccaskit.html

Take a good look at the strut rods, I ended up replacing mine because they were bent.

[BB73Challenger]

BB73Chally-
on the PST parts, what do you mean by cheapies?  I'm looking at the PST poly-kit to install this spring.  Is it worth the money?

Thanks

I believe if memory serves me right I got the poly kit with all the front pieces except for the pitman arm.
So it was idler arm, 4 tie rods,adjusting sleeves, upper & lower ball joints, and the sway bar links with all the poly bushings.
Just around $4oo I believe.
I was pricing Moog through some parts stores and Summit, but then the total was getting up there for the for all the stuff I needed to replace, and after getting it apart it was EVERYTHING.

Now when I say cheapies, I guess I mean you could tell they are not Moog, they were and are still tight, and had grease fittings, and they get the job done, but the Moog units will more than likely last longer.

My car was and had been VERY sloppy, so after the  rebuild it was night and day.

Would I buy from them again, yes. I spoke to their tech dept once and they were super friendly. For the money, I couldn't buy another full kit for the money ( even ones on ebay were not complete, plus in one stop I was able to add the idler arm, but I was able to get shocks cheaper from Summit ).

If I had more money, I would have no doubt gone with the name brand parts, but with 2 kids and a house again for the money I had no complaints about PST.

PS - check out their web site, they have 2 diff articles some Mopar mags did doing rebuilds using thier kits, and they posted them in full.

[Moparal]

PST has a site     www.p-s-t.com   1 877 224 1710