I have the passenger side disassembled, and I have a couple questions for you guys:

1) Is there an easy way to remove the strut cartridge from the front suspension? I'm assuming this octagonal thing is what's holding it in, but mine is probably the original strut, and it seems to be frozen on.



Question two in a minute, my camera died.

 

2) Notice my old, shitty rotor. Notice my new, shiny rotor. Notice the old, shitty rotor has some sort of bearing in it. Notice my new, shiny one does not. How do I get the bearing out of the old one and into the new one?

 

Don't know about the strut.

What I did was used a brass punch and tapped the old berring races out evenly. Just chuck the entire rotor into a vice, and tap on each side. It will come out eventually.

Check them for any pits or groves. If they have them, buy new. Not worth pulling in a few months because your berrings are trashed.

 

1) I used a pipe wrench and a vise, worked well, don't forget to soak it with PB Blaster.

2) That is the outer wheel bearing, best bet is to buy a new one and install it.

 

Cool, thanks Dan.

 

more than likely your bearings/races are buggered and yo need new ones, plus a new dust seal for each rotor. go to your auto parts store and order/pick up 2 new outer bearings, 2 new inner bearings, and 2 new dust seals. I payed the guys at Midas $20 to install the bearing races, but all they used was a large ball peen hammer to hold the race in place and they tapped it with a claw hammer to set it. pack the bearings with some good grease and install them in your rotors, put the dust seal on the back, and slide your rotor onto the spindle.

 

Sounds good. I started hitting it with the PB Blaster last night, so hopefully it's gonna come out easily today.

 

I say just get new bearings, they do not cost too much. Plus that is what I did with my rotors. Also the best way I found to install the bearings after they were packed with grease was to use a socket that fit around the edges of the bearing and carfully hammered it into the rotor.

 

Yea I agree, new bearings are the way to go. The race must be put in with a punch or press of somekind, and don't forget to properly pack the bearings. As for the strut, like was said earlier a big pipe wrench did it for me. Good luck

 

I have an air powered grease gun, I figure I'll use that for packing the grease in. I had to order the new bearings, they'll be in Saturday morning.

 

yeah. pressing in the races in the new ones is fun though. we ended up having to get a special tool.

 

Don't forget to properly preload the bearings when you are reinstalling everything!

 

Use the brass punch for the races - an older mechanic taught me that - it works!

 

Be very careful and you can do it with a brass punch.

 

What the hell does that mean?

 

The pre-load is in the FSM, if you don't do it correctly, the wheel can wobble and the new bearings will have themselves for lunch.

For re-packing the new bearings, pick up one of those bearing packers and a tub of grease. Your grease gun won't pack them properly.

 

I just thought I would make sure you knew about preloading the bearings, many people forget to do it and its REALLY important. You can pack the grease into the bearings by hand using a folding motion, kneeding the grease into the bearing. But the proper way to do it is with a good bearing packer, so you know the grease is packed full in there.

 

Ugh. I don't have the FSM, I've only got the Haynes manual.

 

Another question. I temporarily installed my rear suspension and put the car on the ground. It didn't look any lower to me, and I thought the RB springs were supposed to drop the car an inch or so. What's the deal?

 

Don't expect a huge drop from the springs, the stockers sag alot over time. The RB ones do lower the car, but if your stock springs were sagged a bunch there won't be a big difference.

As far as preloading the wheel bearings go, the method I use is to tighten the large spindle bolt right up so that it is tight. Then I back the nut right off (tension must still be on the bearings), then I tighten the nut back up a small amount (so that the rotor will spin freely, but is tight). Then you put on the bolt crown, and put your new cottering pin through, followed by the end cap with some grease in it.

 

I put some eibach springs on my car, and was surprised that it hadnt lowered any. I feel like after awhile they "settled" though, and now, I think it might be a little too low, ecspecially in the front!

 

That seems simple enough.

 

theres some good info in here, let's see it in the archives.

 

Alright, next question:

I swapped on my disc brake, LSD rear-end. When I purchased it, the guy sent along a piece that attaches to the master cylinder with outlets for the brake lines. It looks identical to the one already on the car. Also, I noticed that the brake line/hose/whatever was cut. When I went to the parts store today to get a replacement, they looked at me like I was out of my mind when I was trying to explain what I needed. So, I guess this is a two part question.

A) Because my car is an '84, do I need to swap out that piece, or is the swap just a bolt on procedure, and

B) Where the hell can I get a replacement hose for the one that was cut?

 

That's a proportioning valve. Some people install it, others don't. I kept the one that was in my car and I haven't had any problems with my rear disc swap and that's going on three years now. Leave it be. You'll be fine.

I just went down to my local parts store and asked the dude behind the counter for a flexible brake/clutch line that would fit the threads of the hardlines on the axle. I do believe he gave me the clutch hose from a '94 Nissan Pathfinder, but don't remember the year for sure, just that it was from an early 90's Pathfinder. Just bring one of the hard line ends down to the store with you and match it up.