Classic Performance Products Front End Rebuilt Kit Install - Breaking It Down

Since the upper and lower A-arms need to be disassembled, we first had to remove the rotors from both sides. Miramontes removed the small grease cover and the cotter pin and, using an adjustable wrench, removed the spindle nut and took off the rotor.

For the spindles, we used a 3/4-inch box wrench top and bottom. If you don't have access to a ball joint tool, you can also try using a hammer and some hard blows on the spindle edge to more or less "pop" the joint loose. We were lucky; the spindle practically fell off.

Whats left? Not a whole lot, just the upper A-arms. Once you're at this stage, you might as well clean everything up. We went ahead and steam-cleaned the undercarriage and painted all the factory components.

CPP's kit comes with a new idler arm, so we went ahead and painted that with the factory center steering bar. We bolted up the new arm with a 5/8-inch socket and an 11/16-inch wrench. From there, Miramontes attached the center steering bar with its associated nut and fastened it down with a 9/16-inch wrench.

Miramontes dove into the engine bay and began unbolting the upper A-arms. He used a 15/16-inch socket and wrench on both sides to remove them. He took note of how many shims were on each side and set those aside. Alignment will have to be done once the new parts have been installed.

Once the arms are off, and depending on the availability of tooling, the ball joints and bushings can be removed. We set up the arms in a vise and used a grinding wheel to grind off the heads of the rivets that were holding the ball joints in place. Next, we pried the ball joint off, but we had better luck using an air-powered hammer. For the factory bushings a special press must be used, or as an alternative you can get away with a large hammer. Still, we suggest taking the arms to a qualified suspension shop to get them removed correctly.

Next we needed to installI CPP's new bushings, ball joints, and bumpstops. The ball joints were a cinch and bolted in with new hardware, and a 7/16-inch wrench was used to tighten them down. The new ball joints also require a special installing tool. If you don't have access to one, we recommend getting a rental from your local hardware store.

Paint to Protect
What's the point of cleaning all that old stuff without laying down something to protect it? We made the extra effort to wash, clean, and repaint all the old factory components, along with the new CPP parts. Grab a can of Brake-Kleen and some fast-drying black primer, and you're set.

Grease the Zerks
It may not be one of the things that gets overlooked, but this CPP kit comes with brand-new Zerk fittings. These fittings feed each point of movement with fresh grease to keep things moving freely. We installed each Zerk into its proper points and liberally greased it with a grease gun.