K member and A arm Swap questions

[ssms5411]

Re: K member and A arm Swap questions

Good luck on the rear main, I hate those, I think mines leaking but not too much ,so I'm not worrying about it until I have a built tranny and convertor to go in.

[LETZRIDE]

Re: K member and A arm Swap questions

mines going through 2-3 of the smaller oil containers between fill ups...Ive had it done twice by a shop (still under warranty, and I had it done when I did the stall for free) and both times within 200km's its leaking. I don't wanna waste time going back to the shop because obviously something is being done incorrectly as it keeps getting worse and worse. Before I had it done I never had the low oil light come on...now I get it 2-3 time inbetween oil changes...pissin me off...

[LETZRIDE]

Re: K member and A arm Swap questions

question, MY A arms are one side poly, the other side an adjustable rod end...how can I make an adjustment to that rod end while the arm is on the car? and what should I be setting that arm up at? i.e how many threads or how long should that back arm be?

I would like to be able to pull out those aluminum pieces from the joint, and just spin the arm in the whole, but I don't think this is possible due to how tight it fits in there, unless there is a trick? I don't want to have to undo the ball joint etc just to be able to grease the rod end every few months...

[ssms5411]

Re: K member and A arm Swap questions

We just lined it up with the stock A arms before putting it on and was good from there, thats why we did the K first, then A-arms, I just grease the rod end by putting grease just on the outside and thats it theres no place to grease the inside, the poly side should have a grease fitting on it. I think it is too tight of an area to spin it. If you got both rod ends then I have no idea.

[LETZRIDE]

Re: K member and A arm Swap questions

We just lined it up with the stock A arms before putting it on and was good from there, thats why we did the K first, then A-arms, I just grease the rod end by putting grease just on the outside and thats it theres no place to grease the inside, the poly side should have a grease fitting on it. I think it is too tight of an area to spin it. If you got both rod ends then I have no idea.

one side is poly, but no grease fitting is on it...

[LETZRIDE]

Re: K member and A arm Swap questions

Well the cars back on the road...gunna try and get it in for an alignment tommorrow morning, along with having my mechanic tighten the two back bolts for the K member (I had to put nuts up in through the holes, and I don't have anything that can hold the nut from turning while I torque the bolt. (I tried all my wrenches and they are too long, and I dont want to go buy a stubby when I can do without it for a 5km trip to the mechanics and have him snug it up in 5 mins.)

anyways, alignment is off, wheel is cocked to the left. I would say if you were looking at a clock, the wheel is at 10-11 O clock to stay straight...I hope this isnt going to be a huge ordeal at the alignment shop to get this done.

The front end of the car is ATLEAST 3 inches higher, holy hell...it looks bad lol...I'll see if I can snap some pics in the next few days...I dont know what I am going to do about this....

I didnt try and take any turns hard because A) the alignment is not done, and B) those 2 back bolts that give support to the A arm are not in...but the car felt like the turning radius got alot better...it feels like it is able to turn alot tighter now...maybe because of the A arms? or maybe its in my head cause I havent driven it in 1.5 weeks...

[ssms5411]

Re: K member and A arm Swap questions

Good to hear,height will settle some or do what I do , pop the hood and push down on the front end. If it is still high some QA-1 shocks and springs would be nice since you can adjust the height of it and you'll lose more weight.LOL They will be able to allign it if they know how to allign cars. LOL I had no problems, thats why the rod ends are adjustable if its too far off. I told you it will save some weight, mine with lowering springs came up about 1.5"s but try and push on top of the radiator support to see how much it will compress.

[LETZRIDE]

Re: K member and A arm Swap questions

Good to hear,height will settle some or do what I do , pop the hood and push down on the front end. If it is still high some QA-1 shocks and springs would be nice since you can adjust the height of it and you'll lose more weight.LOL They will be able to allign it if they know how to allign cars. LOL I had no problems, thats why the rod ends are adjustable if its too far off. I told you it will save some weight, mine with lowering springs came up about 1.5"s but try and push on top of the radiator support to see how much it will compress.

I'll give that a shot...see this is the thing..the rod ends are adjustable, but you virtually have to take the arm off the car to adjust it, because there is no way that thing is spinning in that slot...secondly, in order to make it fit, I actually had to make the passenger side shorter then the drivers side.

The drivers side I put in with 11 threads showing, the passenger side only had like 7-8 threads...but I had to do it like that because otherwise the arm absolutly refused to line up with the holes and go in...so I dont know if this will create a problem. I know they should be able to align it, but how much time it takes them will cost me more money out of my pocket....

and as far as the Qa1 and springs, although I would love the setup, I got a bunch of other stuff I have ahead of that that I need done....but man does the car look weird now.

[Skinny]

Re: K member and A arm Swap questions

QA1s or some type of coil-over front shock is probably going to be a must to get that front end looking right. As far as the alignment, as long as the k-member is slotted where the A-arms attach, it shouldn't be too much of a problem even if the lengths aren't the same on the arms, just as long as they're close.

Hopefully next week or the week after I'll get around to installing the k-member and a-arms that I've had sitting around for about 7 years now. My alignment is going to be quite a bit more difficult. The A-arm mounting points are fixed on my K-member, meaning that the only way to adjust the caster or camber is to physically pull the arm down out of the slot and lengthen or shorten the rod end. I'll be installing Strange front drag shocks (coil-overs) along with it. Hopefully I'll be able to get the ride height set up a bit nicer.

[LETZRIDE]

Re: K member and A arm Swap questions

nice, bout time you got that thing in...7 years??

I need a few suggestions to... Im having a problem getting the rear bolt in, my mechanic wasn't able to get it in either...The rear bolt on the K member in that cup thing, I can't fit a wrench in there to hold the nut, and the threads that were there are toast from when I had to drill out the old bolts. Anyone have any suggestions for getting that bolt to tighten up and somehow holding the nut in that hole?

Also, did you guys make brackets to hold your brake lines? My brake lines are zip tied right now, but they move left and right when I crank the wheel...mechanic said after time he thinks the metal will wear thin and break. Anyone fab up any brackets ?

[Skinny]

Re: K member and A arm Swap questions

I'm running all new brake lines when I put mine in. I'm still deciding on the routing for the new lines, but I may run the passenger side line forward on the frame rail then across underneath the radiator core support. That way I could lower/remove the k-member without disconnecting the brakes.

As for the bolts, I haven't read through this whole thread, but why do you need a wrench to hold the nut in the frame? Are you using a different nut than factory? If I recall correctly, the factory nut has a bracket on it that sticks out of the slot and prevents the nut from turning.

[LETZRIDE]

Re: K member and A arm Swap questions

I'm running all new brake lines when I put mine in. I'm still deciding on the routing for the new lines, but I may run the passenger side line forward on the frame rail then across underneath the radiator core support. That way I could lower/remove the k-member without disconnecting the brakes.

As for the bolts, I haven't read through this whole thread, but why do you need a wrench to hold the nut in the frame? Are you using a different nut than factory? If I recall correctly, the factory nut has a bracket on it that sticks out of the slot and prevents the nut from turning.

Fwiw, I dropped the K frame without having to remove the brake lines, you just need to be careful, I used a jack under the K frame to lower it down slowly and made sure I didnt snag on anything. I did unbolt the bolt that goes through the "soft" rubber brake line...I thought that piece would come off the caliper, but it didnt do anything other then give me an additional headache of having to bleed the brakes...

The bolt I am referring to is the rear most bolt, it goes through that piece of metal that is tack welded to the car. Inside there is a nut welded to that piece which the original bolt threads into...I snapped the original bolt on both sides and had to drill it out, as a result I destroyed the threads in that nut. So now I need to get a nut on top of that nut to hold the bolt lol...I still can't get it tight. I take it in tuesday to my exhaust guy...we may cut the tack welding, weld the new nut on top, then reweld the thing to the car...or weld a bracket onto the nut itself so that it sticks out the hole and does now allow the nut to turn when I begin torquing it down.

[Skinny]

Re: K member and A arm Swap questions

Maybe I should clarify my previous post.. I want to be able to remove the ENGINE (from the bottom) without removing the brake lines ;)

..we may cut the tack welding, weld the new nut on top, then reweld the thing to the car...or weld a bracket onto the nut itself so that it sticks out the hole and does now allow the nut to turn when I begin torquing it down.

I think either of those would be a good solution.

[LETZRIDE]

Re: K member and A arm Swap questions

Maybe I should clarify my previous post.. I want to be able to remove the ENGINE (from the bottom) without removing the brake lines ;)



I think either of those would be a good solution.

I hope so, its a question of how easy it will be to have this done thats the problem...welding a piece on the nut, may cause the nut not to line up properly, but then I may just cut a slot coming down on the metal tab to make it work.

The only thing I would consider when running your brake lines the way you say is how will running a longer line affect braking? because you will have a longer line to run for the passenger side now, drivers side should still remain the same length I believe.

[Skinny]

Re: K member and A arm Swap questions

The length of the line doesn't make a difference. As long as the lines are full of fluid (no air) and the same diameter, then the master cylinder will still displace the same amount of fluid at each brake caliper.