Ok, been a couple days, been pondering this. I did take out one spring. I'm pretty sure I had them in correctly. The springs have, just like the factory spring, round coil on one end, and a tapered coil on the other. The tapered end has to go at the top, right? The old springs came out this way, plus the pocket in the lower control arm is made to hold the round coil end yes? The "white paint" mark Moog says "goes up" is nonexistent at this point. Sigh. Also, as I mentioned some time ago, regarding my clanking noise, I just noticed I'm not running the brake caliper "hardware" because of my wheels, the bolt holding the brake pad spring touches my rim! I kind of overlooked the fact that I need to secure the calipers, lol. Again, embarrassing to admit but I'm hoping a thinner, round Allen bolt will provide clearance, but It will be close! So I'm thinking my noise definitely could be the brake calipers smacking the inner side of the wheel when I hit bumps in the road, there is a rubbing/wear strip on the inside of my wheel where its been contacting the caliper. And lastly, I'm in the process of replace the control arm bushings, I already committed to it while trying to figure out my noises. Long post, sorry but hopefully it helps somebody, lol
Thanks for the picture!! That looks good. Did you get your noise taken care of ? How bad were the control arm bushings? P.I.A. to change them ? Looks like it sits at about factory height?, I'm running a slightly taller tire, so won't have much rake. Thanks again for the pics.!!! YES, you have certainly helped me!! Got a parts book now, if you need any obscure part numbers down the line. Hopefully we can get enough folks together for that front sway bar "group buy"
Thanks for the picture!! That looks good. Did you get your noise taken care of ? How bad were the control arm bushings? P.I.A. to change them ? Looks like it sits at about factory height?, I'm running a slightly taller tire, so won't have much rake. Thanks again for the pics.!!! YES, you have certainly helped me!! Got a parts book now, if you need any obscure part numbers down the line. Hopefully we can get enough folks together for that front sway bar "group buy"
I've currently got the front control arms off, bushings pressed out, and waiting on the new parts. I won't be able to work on this stuff until Wednesday, my day off work. A bit of PIA , yes. I'm a motorcycle mechanic so I'm fortunate to be able to bring these parts to work to use a press, bead-blaster for cleaning, random tools, etc...I got them off the van in my garage though but yes, those things are tight! And honestly they probably weren't really worn out but it's nice to know that now they'll be fresh. I'll try and snap a few pics tomorrow. I threw a quick coat of black paint on the control arms, as well. Lastly, the side pic of my van I initially wanted to show you, for some unknown reason won't upload, I'll have to try some others.
Did you change the ball joints with the control arms still mounted on the van? Was wondering if you could do bushings AND ball joints off the van, those arms look rather spindly to be clamped down trying to press the BJ . Yeah got the last picture, the other must be too cool to view! lol
Did you change the ball joints with the control arms still mounted on the van? Was wondering if you could do bushings AND ball joints off the van, those arms look rather spindly to be clamped down trying to press the BJ . Yeah got the last picture, the other must be too cool to view! lol
I did not change the ball joints with the CA's mounted in the van, no. I removed them mainly to replace the CA bushings and as long as they are out, I'm doing the ball joints. The joints themselves seem to be good, but the boots are not at all looking good. As long as it's all apart, I'm replacing all these parts. I plan on putting back in the Moog springs as we've been over, and I want to see the gap in my pic way up above in this thread, when the van is on the ground and on its own weight, because after discovering my brake caliper scenario, I'm doubting there is anything wrong with the coil spring.
I've got my front suspension all put back together and of course will need an alignment asap. But, I'm waiting for a replacement (Spectra) radiator to show up, lol. The brand new one leaked, so the new one is in transit. In the meantime I'm working on odds 'n ends....a couple HotSystem gauges, planning my radio install, etc... Also, I put in Energy Suspension bushings in the front upper shocks plus the strut arm bushings. They had good reviews for relatively cheap price point, so we'll see soon enough.