Upgrading a classic car's front suspension involves systematically removing components like the upper and lower A-arms, spring and shock assembly, and drum brakes, then installing new QA1 coilover shocks with proper anti-seize application on all threaded connections to prevent seizing, while carefully tracking shims and maintaining proper alignment throughout the process.
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Upgrading the 1968 Chevelle Nomad Front Suspension | Denali 605PRO GrillAdded:
What are you doing, weirdo? I don't know how I we wasted such a weirdo.
>> I literally don't know how I weigh such a weirdo. You're w I'm What are we just a goal?
>> Okay.
>> What are we such a weirdo?
>> Stop. We've been to dinner.
>> Hey, >> welcome back to Cross Thread Garage and Salvage. This uh is probably the first time ever that I've actually been ahead a week on a video. So, I'm going to get started on the rear end now. Swapping brakes. We did the front brakes already.
You'll see that next week. This week, what you're seeing is the front suspension upgrades from QA1. So, if you saw last week, we got the old Carolina squat. Now, we've done a little bit of adjustment already. This is probably still going to have to go a little bit higher to get good clearance for our new wheels and tires, which you're going to see in this episode when we throw them on the front and the back. But I'm going to tear into the back brakes. Front brakes are already done. Front suspension's already done. And this week, you're going to see Caitlyn and Gracie and I tackle the front suspension and get that thing lowered down and sitting amazing. Welcome back to Crossread Garage and Salvage. quite possibly both the best and the worst dad and daughter Garage channel on the internet. And we're glad you're here. So, make sure you're subscribed and following along as we finish out building the 68 Chevel Nomad wagon for Hot Rod Power Tour 3 weeks away as I say this to the camera right now. Time crunch. All right, I'm back. The next day, Gracie is here. Uh, Caitlyn's got some work going on in the house, so she'll be out here after a little bit. But we're going to move to the front. Actually, last night after I turned the camera off, I said, you know, I actually don't have any idea how the front of these uh A bodies come apart.
Probably pretty standard, you know, GM stuff. So, I went ahead and and got this side kind of where you see it right now.
So, lower A arm, new uh coilover, upper A arm. Obviously comes with new ball joints. This is the drum brake spindle, the stock drum brake spindle. But this bare kit we're going to be putting on next week. I just threw this on so I'd have something to mount a wheel on. That is a conversion kit that's designed to work with the drum brake spindle. So, we won't have to swap that out. And uh we do need to hook up steering still, but I just painted this freshly here. Got that cleaned up with a wire wheel and painted. Went ahead and cleaned up the spindle as well. So, right now, Gracie, we're moving on to this side over here. And we're going to do the exact same thing on this side.
Pull the upper A arm, lower A ar, pull the spring and shock out, remove the drum brakes, uh disconnect the steering. But to do any of that, where do you think we got to start?
>> Spring. Mhm.
>> Pull the wheel off.
>> Yeah. Anybody's wondering about Graciey's head. We'll just get the out of the way. What happened?
>> It peeled.
>> We went to the beach on that all-inclusive vacation that she was talking about.
>> Yeah. I'm tired because last night we got home from our all-inclusive vacation at 2:30.
It wasn't all inclusive, Grace.
>> Well, I didn't pay for it.
>> She got a little bit too much sun. We'll see in 20 years whether it makes a difference.
If you're all wrinkly right there in 20 years, you can blame your all-inclusive vacation.
All right, let's run this down. Trig's back in the shop with us. He was a bad dog the other day. Ran off when the front door was left open. All right.
Probably need to pull that center cap off to begin with.
>> How? Just to rip it off.
>> Yeah, it should. It just presses in. Pop out.
Oh, come down.
There we go.
All right. There's a there's a ring buckle.
So that's bearing and washer.
Keep keep going.
Feels like one of your brake shoes is bound up in there. Let me see.
All right. So that's a drum and those are shoes.
And this will be why our brakes were in such bad condition.
We got them backwards. Pretty sure the fat shoe is supposed to go on the back.
Maybe I'm wrong about that. I I don't think I'm wrong about that. I think the fat shoe is supposed to go on the back.
Push on either side of the pin here.
Get right in there.
And then you got to squeeze on the pin.
Okay. Right there. Push in and then turn.
You're turning the pin in the spring.
Show you one more time.
Okay, that one's not your fault.
The whole thing is spinning.
All right.
Come on.
All right, that's all garbage now. So, let's clear this garbage out of here.
All right, Gracie. We got to get this one, this one, and this one out. And you see this one has this little box that's kind of turned down over top of it to lock that in so it can't spin. So, we've got to get this little tab here, this little wing, pried up. Same thing on this side, pried up. And then we can run that out. those three bolts. This whole backing plate will come off of there and we'll be looking at the spindle, right?
Yep. There's a nut on the back. It's just spinning. That's on me. I forgot.
Not like I didn't just do this on the other side.
Hit it.
Go ahead and cut it. Let it drip into that bucket.
We've got all new lines and hardware coming for the brakes on the front.
Let's keep cutting in the same spot. You have to kind of chew through it cuz it's a little bigger than those.
coming.
What's Oh, yeah. It was hooked on.
All right. One thing that my wife and I have agreed on for a long time now is that as often as possible, and with rare exception, we're going to sit down at the dinner table together as a family every night. There's lots to enjoy about it, but the thing I most enjoy is the sounds, the laughter, the conversation, and what I'm hearing right now makes me almost as happy. It's the sound of a steak grilling at 700° in the new Monument Grills Denali 605 Pro only 10 minutes after lighting the grill.
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Now, I wouldn't consider myself a grill master. I still pull a steak with a thermometer, but the display gets me close. The probes though make me certain.
And just as we were sitting down to enjoy these perfectly seared steaks, the sky opened up. So much for dinner on the patio. We hauled the whole family back inside and sat down at the kitchen table. And I'll just tell you a secret.
The steak tasted exactly the same. Turns out a good sear doesn't care where you eat it. And neither does good company.
And that's what this grill really does.
gets the food off fast and gets you back to your people. The Denali 605 Pro ships with a free cover and a rotisserie kit, and using code Denali Pro50 at checkout gets you an exclusive deal at Monument Grills. Links in the description and pinned in the comments. So, go look for yourself and cook for your people and start enjoying the time that should be yours when you're sitting down to a perfectly cooked dinner.
All right, Graciey's going to do that.
I'm going to do the dangerous part with the spring. You guys know the deal on separating these jack underneath, maybe a limiting strap to make sure it doesn't pop and hit you in the face and knock all your teeth out. And uh we're going to make sure that that happens here. So, here we go.
That's as far as we've gotten so far.
Sway bar is off. Steering links are down. Um, this upper A arm comes off with two bolts, actually two nuts here and here. Uh, we're going to have to do that from the top grace, which means we're going to need to put the car back down on the lift. All right, pull that lock.
I can't remember what size those were.
But we got these off. And those through bolts that come through and hold this upper ar a ar a ar a ar a ar a ar a ar a ar a ar a ar a ar ar ar ar ar ar ar ar ar ar ar ar ar ar ar ar ar ar ar ar ar ar ar ar ar ar ar ar ar ar ar ar ar ar ar ar ar ar ar ar ar on are knurled which means like they they press in and they they're kind of cut so they don't turn. So we just need to take the the nuts off this end. We don't have to do anything on that inside. We do need to keep track of the shims because we're going to put the exact same shims back in uh as come out before we take it to get the alignment done. That should get us close to where it was. And we'll work backwards from there instead of just going no shims at all. Is that going to be it?
>> Mhm.
>> Okay.
So, we need to actually bring it towards me.
Let me see if I can break this free for you.
And then I'll go ahead and cut this one.
And then you can run them both out. Now, when I refer to those shims, I'm talking about right here. You see the stack of shims here >> and the stack of shims here that's kind of in between there. You need to keep track of those. So, when you pull that nut off, it should be loose. And you just grab it and pick them all up.
There's about six of them there, maybe five. But they're all individual ones, okay? And they'll come right out of the top. Don't lose them through the bottom.
And do one side at a time so we can know what's supposed to be where.
Okay. Okay.
>> I really hope that header is not in the way. If that header is in the way of that coming off of that bolt.
He's so ticked.
This side over here, I had to pull the steering because I couldn't get it off.
So, I had to actually disconnect the steering down here at the rag joint.
Move it out of the way to get that off.
I was not anticipating having to pull.
>> It's getting tighter. Well, it's getting tighter because you're out there into that dirty threads that somebody brilliantly spray painted previous owner.
So, well, maybe not the guy I bought it from, but some previous owner.
Um, so your threads are all trashed on the outside.
Wait a minute.
>> Let me make sure it's not spinning loose.
Go ahead and turn it.
Okay. Yeah, it's not spinning.
Just keep turning it. It's going to get tight and then it'll come off. Boy, there might just be enough room there.
>> That's tightening it.
>> No, that's too loosey.
>> You're backwards. Take it off. Turn it around.
How is that going to tighten it?
>> Just keep going.
Trust me.
I'm just going to tell you guys. So, if you do this yourself, you know, this will not come out of there with the headers installed. Unless, of course, the magic of cut off wheels and a sincere disinterest in what the instructions say matter to you. Then of course it will.
Now I just took enough off of the end of that knurled bolt to be able to get it past there. There's plenty of thread there to re-engage. It's not going to be a problem.
Probably. I believe we've got some cleanup to do here.
>> And then we're done.
>> The other side. I had a Yeah, I got a bunch of walnuts and acorns right here in the frame. So we're going to stick the vacuum. The other thing is this is probably full. Yep. We're going to stick the vacuum hose up here and then I'm going to blow in this end with the air compressor and just blow all that dirt back into the vacuum.
>> Did you just ask and then we're done?
>> Grace >> for today?
>> No, we're not done for today. We might be done for dinner.
That's a possibility.
And then we're done.
>> No. What time is it?
>> Well, yeah. After dinner, we're done.
>> No, >> we have church.
>> After dinner, we have church. And then after church, we have all the time in the world.
>> No, we have to go to bed.
>> Well, that's when Grace or that's when Caitlyn comes back out and helps me. You got to go to bed. Caitlyn will help me put this back together tonight. But I'd really love to get this done tonight so that Friday and Saturday I can do the brakes all the way around. And this week we will have done the suspension and the brakes and it'll be great.
Who that?
>> Dinner.
>> I'm wondering what time >> right now.
>> We're Grace is ready for dinner right now. How you doing?
>> If you give us 10 minutes, if you give us 10 minutes, we'll be prepped for dinner, actually.
>> Well, I've got to prep for dinner.
>> Like, I can make dinner.
>> If you want to start now, whenever dinner's ready, we'll be ready.
>> Okay.
>> What are you What are you talking like 30 minutes?
>> Um, I can probably I can probably do it.
All right. All right, Gracie. And while we're waiting on that steering arm and the spindle to dry, or waiting on the paint to dry, we can go ahead and start assembling our lower A arm here. So, what we need to do is what we did the other day. Okay, we need to replace this T- bar with this bushing.
So, these have got to go apart.
This has got to get pushed out of here.
This rubber bushing, I think. I have to get that with a hammer.
So, if you were putting it in a stock lower control arm, that's what you would use if you were using a QA1 shock, coilover shock. But, we're not using a stock lower control arm. We're using a QA1 lower control arm. So, the rubber bushing here needs to be cut out.
If I can find a good knife. Not sure I can.
There we go.
Just had to get it started. Speaking of which, we got to get this little him joint looking bushing in here. But first, we got to put a new clip in.
Those the needles are too big.
See how much smaller those holes are?
You guys see what we're looking at here?
Yeah. So, smaller needles.
I discovered earlier today.
If I put this like that and then we put this over like that and then you take that hammer right there and you just tap that till it seats in there.
Wait.
Okay. Now tap just that one more time.
Good. All right.
Now, next ring.
See if I can do this onehanded without it flying across the shop like yours did.
You have any idea how fast this is going together compared to my experience last night figuring this out as I went?
Some of you know this, but I'm kind of an idiot. I have no idea what I'm doing most of the time. So, last night I did the driver's side basically as an opportunity to learn.
Put this through. Go down.
Pick it up a little bit.
Okay.
That Let's set this one down. Mom texted and said dinner's ready.
>> Mhm.
Well, then let's go eat dinner.
Be right back. All right.
>> Hey, >> we've been to dinner.
>> Hey, >> we've been to dinner. We've been to church Wednesday night.
>> I went to a friend's house.
>> Kaylee went to a friend's house.
>> You didn't change the battery.
>> I didn't change the battery, but I will soon.
Now, we're back on the suspension. So, uh, the spindle that Gracie and I painted up looks like it was brand new, rebuilt straight out of Philippines.
That's ready to go. We also rebuilt this with a can of sweet patina satin black.
>> You tell me, Chip.
>> Tuck that over here out of the way.
Get that out of the way. We'll set this over here on the side.
>> My leg is itching.
Not wearing your overalls, I see.
>> No. At least I don't have to advertise for overalls anymore.
>> I don't know how to You didn't have to advertise before.
>> But as always, if you guys have a Bronco out there, >> we're not advertising.
>> Need a Bronco so bad.
>> Oh, you mean asking for advertising.
Asking it.
>> Begging. Pleading.
>> Got it. Got it. I have been corrected on my sizing scale. I now know how to purchase uh overalls, bib overalls for the girl.
All right. Uh I went ahead and threw this in on top. Um as I said before, I went to dinner.
Plenty of thread back here on the back side and over here. What are you doing, weirdo? I don't know how I we wasted such a weirdo.
>> I literally don't know how I weigh such a weirdo. You're w I'm literally just a goal.
>> Okay.
>> What are we just such a weirdo?
>> Stop. All right. Um I've got grease.
>> Ways a spring >> here and here. And I did clean them up.
>> Oh my.
>> The other side did not go together easily. It took me over an hour to get these pins located.
>> I think just to hook this up.
>> Yes, I think we can do this quicker >> cuz it looks to me like this is spread a little bit wider. That one looks a little tight. Oh, also I didn't film this, but in here was a gigantic walnut stash.
>> Gig. I didn't see it either.
>> I ended up using your hood thing to scrape it out. So >> great. You can get the Honda virus. the henta panta the henna Montana virus.
>> Okay, >> let's just set you guys down. I got to have to change this battery and we'll get on trying to squeeze this thing in here. It I mean it's stock setup. It just goes right down.
>> That goes there. You'll see. It's going to happen.
How tight are you kidding me?
>> We're going tight. And then we're going to torque everything to 50 ft-lbs when we're done.
>> Almost there.
>> Did I get there?
>> Oh, by my diagnostical calculations, this is not Oh, wait. Where's that go?
>> Okay, you're going to hold that up.
We've got to get some anti-seize on the bottom here. And then we'll run this down.
>> Thanks for holding it up.
>> I got the nickel.
>> All right. Paint that bottom all the way around. You got to run anti-seize on there so you don't end up gulling it just like we did on the back. And uh Kaylin's about to learn a valuable lesson about anti-seize. Number one, you need more than that. Number two, it's going to get everywhere. So just be prepared for it. We are using the same thing we used on the back.
>> So, it's like a thrust bearing >> uh roller bearing. We got to we got to get anti-seize all over that, too.
>> Where do you go?
>> That goes like a sandwich in between two rings. This is the one it comes with, but we're not using that. This is the optional uh thrust bearing kit.
Okay. Holy smokes. Don't get it all over the adjusters.
>> Well, you said we need a lot of it.
>> Okay, that's good enough. We should go to Niagara Falls again.
>> Okay, look.
>> Hold that. I'll go get >> Oh, we need to make this whole thing.
>> You got to run those all the way down.
We got to get >> It's seizing. This isn't working.
>> Don't run them together. One. You can't run together. You have to run the bottom one down first. There's two rings there.
>> Oh, >> it's like a lock ring.
>> My bad.
>> So, we'll clean it up when you get to the bottom. But then once you get the top ring down, you can paint above it.
That way going up from the beginning, you've got anti-seize on everything. I did pick up wheels and tires today. I'm not going to show you the wheels and tires yet. That's going to be on next week when we do the brakes. So, make sure you're following along subbed. And >> 26 days until hot rod power tour.
>> Huh?
>> 26 days until hot rod power tour.
>> 26 days, which for me working full time.
>> Did you hear me?
>> Huh? I saw that on North Carolina's post.
>> No, I didn't see that.
>> No, I saw that.
>> Oh, so me working full-time plus travel schedule for work. I'm going to be out of town this weekend. Um, and the fact that we don't work more than a few days a week.
>> I promise weekend. basically looking at nine days, maybe 10 days of work, partial days of work to get this done.
So, okay. Well, you painted all the way to the top.
No thread seizing there.
>> You're amazing. Okay.
>> Paint with nickel.
>> Paint it with nickel. Put gloves on if you want, but >> I have not been able to find any found gloves.
>> They're right here.
Well, you move them every other week cuz you get a new thing every other week. I >> The new Gear Wrench tool box really has reorganized everything for us again.
>> He's telling me to get all these tools and I look like an idiot. I don't know what any of these tools are. You're like a serial abuser of counter space.
>> Okay, that's enough out of you. We have the jack up here. We've got the spindle hung. And Caitlyn found out what anti-seize is all about.
Yeah, it's on your face. Go wipe it off. All right, we're going to throw We got a castle nut just holding the top on here.
We're going to go ahead and jack this up. This is fed through. Ah, without the bushing. We got to put the bushings on.
I am just moving too quick here.
>> This doesn't want to go to bed.
>> Rubber bushing.
There's a rubber bushing that's supposed to go on the top of this. So, we have to bring that all the way back down.
>> What? All the way back down. All of it.
>> Reset.
>> What?
>> This is what I needed right here. So, that is the washers and the bushings.
The rubber bushings. So, one goes on here. And then the small side goes up.
That goes back up there. And it'd be nice if Caitlyn would come over here and help me. Kaitlyn, >> I'm writing things down. Yeah, she's looking at her new diagnostic equipment cuz her truck keeps giving her trouble with the >> Cuz I have a I have a little baby one in my truck that I can connect to my phone, but I don't have >> What was that?
>> Is it your mic keep falling off?
>> I just hit it with my hand.
>> Hey, wait.
You should let me do it cuz I got it through on one try. Get the jack underneath it.
>> Stop.
Where's >> my wrench at?
>> Where's your wrench? What?
>> Where's my wrench at?
>> This one?
>> Yes.
Does this need to be torqued down, too?
>> Well, it's going to spin.
It's going to spin that shaft. So, you actually need a box end or an open-ended wrench and a set of pliers right here if you need it to hold that because you're just spinning. This is just spinning around and around.
>> Did you know this is how people get hernas?
>> Yeah.
>> Okay.
>> The top is a 3/4.
>> No. I think it might be a 3/4.
>> I don't believe so.
I could be wrong though.
Nope. Cuz I'm never wrong.
>> What was it?
>> 316. 1316.
Get me on a game show for this. For goodness sakes.
This one's going a whole different direction.
It's just upside down. That's >> what they want you to think.
>> This might be a bad time to tell you, but I don't know how to do righty tiny or lefty loosey.
>> I tried.
>> On off.
>> Okay.
>> And neither one of these look like an R.
>> We're almost done.
I'm honestly feeling really good about where we're at in this time frame because with the suspension on it now and the exhaust on it now I just have to do the disc brake conversion and hook up the ignition and fuel system and it should run and drive. From there, it's just refining it. You know, putting the interior in, window felts, uh, cooling system, you know, >> cooling >> stuff that needs to be done before you go 4,000 mi on Hot Rod Power Tour.
So, I'm just going to preload this. And I learned a pretty good lesson on the back that it's got to go a lot further than you think it's got to go to get this suspension to carry. So, We're just going to throw a hub on here.
Not because it actually needs to be on there because we're actually going to have to take it off when we put the brakes on next week.
>> Bearing, >> but we're going to look at the back here to make sure the bearing is still centered.
>> Yeah, >> it's in there. Go ahead and slip it on.
And then I've got your other outer bearing and collar here.
Squeaky.
>> Get over here.
>> Move, move, move, dude.
>> So good.
>> Oh, >> wait.
>> Wait. I'll use the extension of my thingy.
I don't know if I'm tightening or >> You're loosening. You're loosening. Oh, I got really excited there.
Oh my word.
It's the coolest thing I've ever seen in my entire life.
Can I have one?
>> You have two? What do you mean, can you have one?
>> They rotate.
>> That's only handtight because, as I said, we're taking that all off. But we've got our bare rotors on now. We've got a whole kit here.
The uh Bear Classic Series 13in disc brakes >> front and rear version.
>> Donkey.
>> Bear. B A E R not B E A R.
>> Donkey.
>> That's a wrap.
>> We are actually almost done. Just a quick recap here for you guys. Next week We're doing the brakes. So again, make sure you're subscribed, following along.
Uh I'm also think the the merchandise store for Cross Garage and Salvage has been a gigantic headache lately. Um missed orders, stuff not going through fulfillment. Um supposed to auto fulfill. Having some trouble with Shopify basically and my own attention.
So >> So we're shutting it down. Get it while you can. It'll be done next week. two weeks from today this publishes u we're going to close it down until we can figure out a better way to manage it.
>> It makes us basically no money. Our margins are so small on that stuff. I think the whole year last year um on merchandise I think we made $1,200 maybe like something like that. It's it's just not worth the headache.
>> We can still >> we can still order stuff. Yes.
>> Just make sure.
>> So couple of weeks we'll shut it down.
When we get it back up and running, we'll let you guys know when. We'll see you next week.
We forgot to put the sway bar on. You're going to catch that next week.
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