installing front arms on gq

[biggsy]

Are front radius drop arms ok to do at home..... I have all the big jacks car stands and high lifts jacks... Can I get an idea on how to do the job...I know what needs to be done and removing the rear tie rod..But are there any tricks..And if I do remove one radius arm the diff is not going to fling forward or back...

[woodys72]

easy to do at home, did it last weekend with the help of the missus!
to be safe I did the following:
1: Support front of car on chassis/axle stands ( I put the stands under the gearbox crossmember)
2: Remove front swaybar from vehicle
3: Undo the tie rod off 1 end, you can swing it out of the way once 1 side is undone
4: Loosen off the large bolts on the rear of the radius arms, and remove the nut
5: Undo the bolts holding the radius arms onto the front diff
6: Lower the diff end of the radius arm and turn 90 degrees so you can remove the arm from the chassis mount.

I think that was all the steps I followed.

When assembling it back together, do the big nut up about half way and do up the diff bolts tight, do the big nut up once the diff end is done. Swaybars should be tightened up once the full weight of the vehicle is on the ground

hope that helps!

[biggsy]

Thats aewsome mate.. Cheers buddy

[chunderlicious]

i recomend undoing the panhard before undoing the radius arm rear nuts. otherwise itll scare the shit out of you as it drags the whole car to one side after.

also, have some patience, think and dont go under the car unless needed. it takes alot of force sometimes to get the arms back in (if the bushes arent perfectly straight, or diff mounts arent straight) and thats when stands always seem to get unsteady for some reason

[coxy321]

My hot tip for this one is to crack ALL or your nuts/bolts before even jacking the car up. Doing this will remove 99% of the chance of the car slipping off the jack stands due to reefing on the tools too hard.

[its aford not a nissan]

i just did one arm at a time , no jacks or anything as the other arm stops the diff from rotating , unless you are putting in arms for a raised car then it would be a little trickier

[woodys72]

I agree with the cracking all the nuts and bolts before jacking the car up ONLY if you are going to lift it high enough to take the front wheels off the ground. I only used stands to take some of the body weight away from the front diff so I could move it around if need be, but the wheels were still on the ground.

Im not sure why removing the panhard rod was necessary? I didn't even touch it.

The reason I do up the diff bolts first is so that I can allow for any forward roll the diff may have done, I have offset caster bushes and needed to put the rear diff bolt into the arm first, then use a small bottle jack to position the front bolt into place.

Good luck! I nearly paid someone to do the work for me until I realised how easy it was