alsil Posted August 28, 2000 Share Posted August 28, 2000 What's up! I was trying to seperate the lower control arms from the stub axle housing on the rear of my '71. I pulled the bolt from the spindle pin, do I have to pull the screw? I unbolted the spindle pin on either side, and then loosened the screw in the middle. The arm loosens to the point that I can move it all the way back and forth, what am I missing? I have run across this before, and just decided to leave it, but this time, I'm replacing all bushings, and having the arm and housing sandblasted. Plus, I'm installing discs in the back, and have to pull the stub axle in order to remove the backing plate. So I really need to get these seperated. Any Ideas? Thanks ------------------ http://refuse.netdojo.com/Zcar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pparaska Posted August 28, 2000 Share Posted August 28, 2000 Yes, you have to pull the spindle pin lock bolt's nut and then tap out the spindle pin lock bolt. After that, it's on to what generally considered the toughest disassembly process on the Z - removing the spindle pin. It's generally rusted in pretty well on cars tha see salt on the roads or even alot of rain. There are many ways: (All of these methods work better when you can soak the spindle pin area with something like Liquid Wrench or Kroil for days before hand.) 0) Wimp out and take the strut/arm to a machine shop or good mechanic and have them press it out. Beware that the arm can get bent if they mount it wrong in the press. 1) cut the spindle pin on either side of the strut, where the bushings run up against the strut housing, separate the strut from the arm, and hammer out the parts of the pin using a drift and hammer. Buy a new spindle pin before you do this to make sure you can still get one. 2) put the nut on the spindle so that it is the first thing the hammer will hit when driving the pin out of the arm/strut. Use a brass hammer (or a hunk or brass and a small sledge (2 lb) hammer) to drive the pin through. Note that if you have to really hit the pin with alot of force, it might compress the threaded end of the pin and screw up the pitch of the threads so the nut won't work anymore. That's why I did... 3) Make a tool out of tool steel rod that's the same OD as the spindle pin. One end of the rod should be drilled and tapped to match the threaded end of the spindle pin, and be deep enough so that that it extends to the unthreaded shoulder of the spindle pin when fully threaded onto the pin. Thread this tightly onto the end of the spindle pin. Now you can use a sledge hammer on the other end of the rod to drive the pin out, without messing put the threads. Both 2 and 3 require that you have a very solid method of supporting the other end of the assembly. The key here is to make sure that you are supporting the inner sleeve of the bushing at the other end of the assembly, so the shock load gets firmly transferred to the strut housing in an equal but opposite direction to which you are banging on the pin end. I used a piece of steel pipe that had the same ID as the inner sleeve of the stock bushing to do that. The reason for this is that the pin is generally rusted into the strut housing and you need to support that housing well to get the pin to move through it. When you put it back together, make sure you coat the spindle pin with Anti-sieze so you can get it apart again if you ever need to. Good luck, ------------------ Pete Paraska - 73 540Z - Marathon Z Project - pparaska@home.com">pparaska@home.com - Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alsil Posted August 28, 2000 Author Share Posted August 28, 2000 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Never Mind!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Why the hell would Nissan design it that way? Doesn't make any sense. Probably why they changed the design in '79. ------------------ http://refuse.netdojo.com/Zcar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest dankinzle Posted August 28, 2000 Share Posted August 28, 2000 No kidding. Pete is right on with this one. When I was trying to get mine out, I had to hammer for like 2 hours just to get one out...not to mention that lock bolt. Needless to say, the pins and bolts were a total loss. Have fun Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Owen Posted August 29, 2000 Share Posted August 29, 2000 I bought a hyd press from Harbor Freight Tools to do the bushings and those pins... Anyone wanna buy it?? Owen ------------------ http://www.homestead.com/s30z/index.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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