Control Arm Bushing Swap - Get In Control

While installing the cross-shaft nuts, we placed the alignment shims back into their original positions between the cross-shaft and framerail. We tightened the cross-shaft frame nuts using a -inch wrench and used a 15/16-inch wrench on the cross-shaft end nuts. The final torque of 75 ft-lb and 50 ft-lb respectively, we'll apply with the vehicle at normal ride height.

Brian Carson compressed the front coil spring on the bench and applied a metal strap to keep one side under tension to give it this shape and ensure it's clocked correctly, so it properly fits the lower control arm cup. It makes installation a snap. (If you're doing this project yourself, you can simply employ the spring compressor that was shown in Part I.--Ed.)

After positioning the spring, we used a hydraulic jack under the lower ball joint to raise the lower control arm.

We then mounted the steering knuckle onto the lower ball-joint shaft and threaded the supplied castellated nut on by hand.

Next we raised the hydraulic jack, compressing the coil spring while aligning the upper ball-joint stud with the steering knuckle, and threaded the supplied castellated nut onto the ball-joint stud.

We tightened the upper and lower ball joint nuts using 3/4- and 7/8-inch wrenches, respectively. Ultimately, we'll torque the upper nut to at least 50 ft-lb, while the lower nut gets 90 ft-lb. You might find in either instance that the castellated nut slots don't align with the ball-joint stud's cotter pin hole. If that's the case, don't back the nut off--continue tightening instead. Maximum torque shouldn't exceed 80 ft-lb for the upper nut or 120 ft-lb for the lower.

Once the spring is fully compressed, we employ a pair of metal sheers to cut the strap.

We inserted the tie-rod stud through its hole in the steering-knuckle and torqued the nut to 35 ft-lb using an 11/16-inch socket. Maximum torque should not exceed 50 ft-lb when lining up the cotter pin hole. We then inserted the pin.

The sway-bar endlink was reinstalled using a -inch wrench and was torqued to 25 ft-lb. After reinstalling the shock absorbers, we torqued the upper-stud nut on each to 10 ft-lb with a 9/16-inch socket, while the lower retaining bolts we torqued to 20 ft-lb, using a -inch socket.

Since we recently replaced the brake rotors, there wasn't a need to remove them from their spindles. They did get greasy during the process, however, so we used high-quality brake cleaner to remove any contaminants from the pad surfaces.

We reinstalled the brake caliper and torqued the retaining bolts to 35 ft-lb. Then we screwed the grease fittings into the ball joints and lubricated the entire suspension with a high-pressure grease gun.

After we reinstalled the wheels, and once back on the ground and returned to its normal ride height, we torqued the control arm bolts to the recommended settings, and the Trans Am's frontend was professionally aligned to complete the project.