Front End Rebuild

washfishman · Post by **washfishman** » Mon May 23, 2005 11:02 pm

I'm interested in rebuilding my front end this summer. I have 300K + miles and its not feeling near as tight as it did in its early life. I know this is not a high performance sports car, and I dont want to invest more money then I need to. As I see it now, my struts need replaced, and my stabilizer bar bushings. I'm getting some sound when I turn that sound like CV's might be going bad also. Here are a few questions:

1. How hard of a job is this?
2. What tools will be needed?
3. How much money will this cost?
4. What should be replaced?

3A-C Power · Post by **3A-C Power** » Tue May 24, 2005 7:07 am

I just did the job on the weekend, so look forward to an official write-up sometime soon. I can tell you it will be alot easier for you than it was for me, if I assume correctly that your front crossmember is not broken. The swaybar and front control arm bushings are a pain in the ass, but everything else is straightforward. The hardest 2 things to change are actually the ones that are more than likely fine.

shogun · Post by **shogun** » Tue May 24, 2005 9:38 am

it took me about 4 hours to complete the task but then again i have a press and lots of tools, i replaced all front bushings, struts, springs, basically everything that moves n front

ps. i used pneumatic tools hellped a lot and shrunk the time to complete the job

3A-C Power · Post by **3A-C Power** » Tue May 24, 2005 11:34 am

My job went alot faster now that I have a compressor and an impact gun. Some bolts however require turning painfully small increments with a wrench, because they have limited access. The bolts that hold the steering rack on were the worst. Most people shouldn't have to undo those ones.

shogun · Post by **shogun** » Tue May 24, 2005 12:24 pm

that is true, but the bad thing with pneumatic tools is that you can f#"#ck up the screws

washfishman · Post by **washfishman** » Tue May 24, 2005 4:15 pm

How do you know when your Steering Rack needs to be replaced/rebuilt?

Typrus · Post by **Typrus** » Tue May 24, 2005 7:14 pm

How about rebuild on the front to convert to a tube frame? I want lighter weight with increased strength and better torsion absorbsion. If I can shave 200 or so lbs off, thats that much better performance in all categories. Plus, if I ever go through with my TDI and 4A-GTE conversions, I want to know that when I pop that clutch, I won't watch my front and or back end wrap up.

takza · Post by **takza** » Wed May 25, 2005 6:10 am

washfishman wrote: How do you know when your Steering Rack needs to be replaced/rebuilt?

If it's PS...you look for leaks under the boots. Look for sideplay where the steering shaft goes in....same at the ends of the rack...check the inner tierod ends. You want essentially no play at all.

dug320 · Post by **dug320** » Sat May 28, 2005 2:20 pm

It was not my original intent .... but I ended up replacing the front end.

front struts
outer control arms
power steering rack
lower ball joints

Purchased from ebay
a cheap spring compresser (make sure it can take an impact gun)
cheap electric impact gun
front end seperater kit (made in taiwan)

Impact gun made putting the bolts back for the sway bar easier.

I picked up a 3 foot long flat steel bar to leverage the ball lower ball joint off the knuckle.

Car is much tighter and well worth the effort. To do everything took about 4 hours.

Typrus · Post by **Typrus** » Sat May 28, 2005 8:03 pm

What of my question?

dug320 · Post by **dug320** » Sun May 29, 2005 5:49 pm

1. On a scale of hardness it is about 6 out of 10. 4 hours to everything.

2 and 3 Metric set of wrenches and sockets. Impact gun could help but not necessary. Front end body set (ebay) 59.99 but look around. I picked up the same set off a web site for 29.99. Flat steel bar (3 feet long) to help leverage (free if you look around) round ones can pinch what you leverage against.

Parts vary depending on the source. Power steering rack was 89.99 (including shipping Ebay)
Outer tie rods where $25 each from local parts store. Outer ball joints were $45 each from local parts store. One litre of Dextron ATM fluid for power steering.

4. Not sure "what should be replaced". There are lots of different tests for each part. The biggest problem with each test is that it assumes that the other parts are functioning properly.

Ball joints - pull them off and check for any vertical play and rubber covers are intact. Cracks in the rubber (replace) vertical movement (replace).
Power steering rack - pull outer tie rods off of hub. Any play as you pull and push means inner tie rods are worn (replace rack). At the same time replace outer rods (might as well as treat it as one unit).

I did not mention replacing the bushings on the sway bar and the control arms. I don't think they need to be addressed as much as the other components.

Does this help?

3A-C Power · Post by **3A-C Power** » Mon May 30, 2005 12:37 pm

I might disagree about the inner tie rods. They were among the cheapest parts I bought, and when I got the old ones off I found there was no discernible play in the rack bushings, so it looks like the steering rack is fine. One boot was bad though and the rack looked devoid of grease on one side, so I decided to put 2 new boots on and pack the area full of grease while I'm in there.

It's true that ball joints don't manifest their problems very clearly when you're trying to find out what's wrong. The swaybar always keeps force on the control arms pushing back at the front struts, so it seems tight when you try to wiggle it. I had no idea of how sloppy my left ball joint was until I got it off.

dug320 · Post by **dug320** » Tue May 31, 2005 12:49 am

I know what you mean about the inner tie rods. But for money it was cheaper for me to replace the whole thing than just the inners.

Which way is best? Equally fun.