awful suspension issue ...

[brads70]

$1000 is a lot of coin but if he is replacing bushings etc maybe not so bad , let us know how it sorts out

  WOW! I guess it depends on what your getting for that? Peace of mind for you will be good though! 

[thenuke1]

$1000 is a lot of coin but if he is replacing bushings etc maybe not so bad , let us know how it sorts out

i agree it is alot of money and it did cross my mind for a split second "what if its more then a grand ?" but i didn't want to get ahead of myself.

and we didnt just say yeah we'll do it. Marlo went step by step with us with everything that he was gonna do. My dad went with me and he's a self taught mechanic and we both agreed ... we could opt NOT to do the job and spend MORE money, gas, time looking for someone that will look at it for a day and take our money only to tell us that they couldn't fix it.

He pointed out the bushings and he will have to pretty much take the front end apart piece by piece to GET to them THEN replace everything properly. He told us it was gonna be a day and a half of work and he would only work on our car from start to finish.

WOW! I guess it depends on what your getting for that? Peace of mind for you will be good though! 

yeah i went to 4 different places... each one promised they knew classic cars only to get a call telling me they couldn't fix the issue. A big problem was that everywhere else i took the car i tried explaining my situation and everyone brushed me off and said "yeah yeah yeah we know what we are doing"

i had a 15 min conversation with Marlo yesterday and told him everything which he heard me out and was genuinely interested in the issue and what i had done with the car.

i thought about it for an hour.. when me and my dad replaced the inner arms , idle arms, pitman arms, took the gearbox down then put it back up . it was atleast 2 weeks of work for us so i know what he is gonna be going through.

[ek3]

so you replaced most of the front end parts , just need bushings and adjuster bolts,  allignment for a $1,000.00  ?  it looks like the bump steer is way out of wack, [ look at the angle of tierods] . drop the ride height .if it won't go down without hitting the tires ,put the correct tires on . wrong rate t-bars ?  !  u can get the toe real close with a pair of straight pieces of 2x4's placed aginst the outside edge's of tires. line up the left front and left rear tires with a string and jackstands. look at the pitman arm [the one on steering box]  it should be in line with the frame / left front tire . that will center your steering. then adjust the toe with the passenger  outer tie rod to get 1/16 toe in. roll the car back and then always  forward 2 -3 feet and recheck toe. if you want to get close on the camber, use a framing square placed up to the sidewalls to get the tires standing up square .   improper  toe settings  will wear out a tire fastest of all adjustments. then you can put a caster camber  gauge on it  and line it up.   an allignment without parts replacement is about $70.00  if the gearbox is worn out , no ammount of adjusting the worm nut will fix it. 

[thenuke1]

got my car back today !!!!

man ... night and day ....

although the car is not 100% perfect (due to the tires being worn down to the wire but when i get my new tires he'll redo the alignment)

its probably at 85% and man ... im so happy the car is back to working conditions...

OH and here is the parts that he needed to take out ....

[HP2]

Those look like lower bushings. The damage is from the removal process. So whats the laundry list of changes he performed to acheive such significant improvements?

[thenuke1]

Google How to install control arm bushings

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[CUDA JAS]

Google How to install control arm bushings

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So is that all they did, replace the LCA bushings?

[HP2]

Google How to install control arm bushings

So is that all they did, replace the LCA bushings?

Already know how to replace bushings, thanks.

Replacing the lower bushings restores the integrity of the suspension to move through its cycles without unintended changes. However, other adjustments are then needed to restore ride height, camber, and caster specs, all of which were severely out of whack from the begining of this thread. Simply replacing the bushings did not correct the alignment problems. My point is since the OP strikes me as a younger person who is unfamiliar with classics cars, perhaps understanding how each step along the way addressed the situation will help them understand it better and avoid similar problems in the future.

Then again, maybe the shop just fixed it and gave them a bill that said R&R front suspension. In which case, I'd again point out that if one is unfamiliar with classic, a better understanding will help avoid future pitfalls of shops that cannot perform the desired work. Even if the reciept trail is inadequate, I hope persons searching for work will at least inquire for a verbal assesment of what is being done so they can avoid being ripped off. This car has been through several shops before being repaired, all of whom said "sure, we can fix that". Itemized bills of work perfomed help with understanding who failed and why. Knowing this info means perhaps next time, shops can avoided altogether or a more educated assesment and request can be made and save lots of time and trouble for everyone involved and any number of people reading along.

[ChallengerHK]

   To this day the problems I encounter surrounding my car tend to happen when I didn't sufficiently understand something.

[brads70]

Already know how to replace bushings, thanks.

    I wondered how you would respond!

[autoxcuda]

got my car back today !!!!

man ... night and day ....

although the car is not 100% perfect (due to the tires being worn down to the wire but when i get my new tires he'll redo the alignment)

its probably at 85% and man ... im so happy the car is back to working conditions...

OH and here is the parts that he needed to take out ....

So Marlon charged you $1,000 to do Lower Control Arm bushings and re-align the car? Or did he replace or repair anything else?

Do you have a copy of your repair bill? I would really like to see it.

Man, I'm sorry I don't come over to this site as much as I used to. Marlon can work on older car's suspension. You have to have some experiance and not think like a robot. But it's not exactly brain surgery. I've over heard Marlon has got a little out of whack on his pricing, but I'd lie to know what specific parts and labor were charged on this job.

Good reasonable LA area alignment shops:

Bagge & Son -Culver City http://baggeson.com/ Since 1918 My family has gone there for 50 years.

Cars Muffler and Automotive -Redondo Beach
Lion's Automotive -Torrance