Repair-It

No.

Finally posting the harness pics.

LH side of the dash harness partially removed. Random carnage on the RH side of the dash. Apparently the right way to take it apart is to pull the whole assembly forward, then unbolt the plastic frame from the rear. Or just pull real hard. Harness out. Should have taken a pic of the pile or wire too. I pulled the rear bumper impact absorbers for Ed's Roadmaster and some random other bits this weekend. And cleaned lots of rust off the floor...

That sure is disassembled.

Removed various things over the weekend. I'm getting there.

Steering system is out. Some parts. Better shot. I should perform the "steering box procedure" on that box. Then put it in something. Started to take apart the spindles. I need an "inside" spring compressor to remove the coil spring safely. The nuts came off, but the upper control arm isn't budging. I applied lots of penetrating oil, I might need to use heat to get it apart. The upper nuts came off the shocks! I am going to pick up some new upper bushings then put them on the Fleetwood. The AC Delco replacement shocks there are a bit under-damped. These should fix that (Monroe Severe Service).

I never posted shots of the harnesses, so here they are. Half of the dash harness is on the engine, the other half and the rest of the body harness are in its own pile.

Adam wrote: Started to take apart the spindles. I need an "inside" spring compressor to remove the coil spring safely.

DSCN5784.JPG

Nah, just let the lower control arm drop as far as it can (like push it down with your foot firmly) and pry the spring out of the lower perch. There is very little energy stored in the spring at that point. I never had one fly out at me.

kevm14 wrote:

Adam wrote: Started to take apart the spindles. I need an "inside" spring compressor to remove the coil spring safely.

DSCN5784.JPG

Nah, just let the lower control arm drop as far as it can (like push it down with your foot firmly) and pry the spring out of the lower perch. There is very little energy stored in the spring at that point. I never had one fly out at me.

I tried that, but I couldn't get the spring to budge. It was barely loose in the perch. Maybe I need to press harder?

Adam wrote:

kevm14 wrote:

Adam wrote: Started to take apart the spindles. I need an "inside" spring compressor to remove the coil spring safely.

DSCN5784.JPG

Nah, just let the lower control arm drop as far as it can (like push it down with your foot firmly) and pry the spring out of the lower perch. There is very little energy stored in the spring at that point. I never had one fly out at me.

I tried that, but I couldn't get the spring to budge. It was barely loose in the perch. Maybe I need to press harder?

Turns out I just needed to press harder.

Pics from 2 weekends ago.

Most of the front end removed. Removing the upper control arms required more hammering. Normally you smack the studs out with a hammer. However, that wasn't happening. I had to apply some heat and hit it alot.

Adam wrote:

Adam wrote:

kevm14 wrote: Nah, just let the lower control arm drop as far as it can (like push it down with your foot firmly) and pry the spring out of the lower perch. There is very little energy stored in the spring at that point. I never had one fly out at me.

I tried that, but I couldn't get the spring to budge. It was barely loose in the perch. Maybe I need to press harder?

Turns out I just needed to press harder.

Stay tuned next week for my tip on removing the outer tie rods from the spindles without a pickle fork.