1983 LeBaron bushes - easy to fit?

[Hankman]

Hi.

Has anyone fitted these type of swaybar and control arm bushes on a K-body car? Are there any hints/tips?

The car was diagnosed by a respected local American car specialist however they're very popular with long wait times. Just wondering if a decent traditional mechanic can fit them without too much hassle? Many thanks

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[Dave999]

potentially lebaron 1 manual here or at least something
need to register to get access


https://en.chrysler-club.net/manuals.php?ddlb_model=4

must admit i thought these were totally different from the 1960- 76 type mopar set up, so what looks like A body strut rod bushes and upper arm bushes in your picture may well be sway bar bushes on one of the later cars

if it does indeed follow the earlier set up, and they are strut rod bushes and upper arm bushes both will involve a reasonable amount of work

upper arm off to do upper arm bushes, and you need the tool to fit them, Potentially a bolt tensioned fork and anvil splitter for the ball joint. not just a pickle fork style. you want to tension the joint with the bolt/fork/anvil and hit the steering knuckle eye it with a big hammer or similar.
or undo the nuts halfway and use the weight/spring of the suspension and hit the eye.

if those are strut rod bushes the lower arm needs to be free in order to get the rod out
so you are going to be undoing upper or lower ball joint anyway


on the other hand
have you got a front wheel drive lebaron? if so nothing i have said is useful if you have a raer wheel drive car it may be

you are at a cross over where some cars in the F M and similar bodies had torsion bars and rear wheel drive and some had the new front wheel drive configuration



Dave

[Hankman]

Hi Dave,

Many thanks for all the info - appreciate the time you've taken

Yes, my LeBaron is a FWD 'K-body'. I understand it was the first FWD car that Chrysler had produced. I read that initially they didn't have an engine for it so used the 2.6 Astron engine used in the Mitsubishi Starion and Galant

The strut rod bushes were really manky and I found a Chrysler specialist (A1 Chrysler Ltd, Higham, Kent) who used heat and brute force to get the bolts and the sleeves out.

Found out today that other rubber bushes have disintegrated so I'm going to replace them all anyway to eliminate any more issues.

All the best

[Dave999]

ah.... so a real first year of the new generation, car...

yes i'd be lost, but one presumes they will have persisted with the metal cased bushing that needs to be pressed in and pressed out style set up
with the added complication of floating axles and CV joints up front

all good fun but you are getting there

if its anything like the older cars you will, when they are all done, have that OH...this is how its supposed to be, Moment

i.e wow this is really quite competent at being a car.... why didn't i get on with this job earlier....


Dave