Question about LCA shaft finish

Hi all,

I'm rebuilding the front suspension on my '71 Satellite, so I took the lower control arms in to have the bushings and shafts removed, and to have the arms glass-bead blasted. I stupidly neglected to tell the guy not to blast the shafts themselves. Now the finish on them is rough, not the smooth "bearing-like" finish they had before blasting. Is this a problem? I'm thinking the rough finish might eat thru the rubber bushing faster? Should I find new ones? As always, thanks for any opinions.

Roger

If you talking about the pivot pin, they don't touch any of the rubber, cause there is a inner sleeve in the bushing. But, maybe treat them with a rust preventative.

Great, thanks!

The tapered part of the pin slides into the K member and the straight part is press into the bushing.
The nut and cotter pin are torque to prevent the pin from rotating making the torsion bar twist and act like a spring to control up and down movement when moving the car down the road

This part is usually plated so it will resist rust, now it will want to rust up so it needs your help to prevent that.

For my lower control arms I didn't blast mine. They were in good shape and I soaked them in evaporust and then coated them in Eastwood's Exo Armor.

Since they are a stamped steel they still have a smooth finish and blasting them would have given them an etched look. Allot of guys paint them cast gray, but they aren't a cast part?

For the cosmoline I used Krylon battery protector spray

Removing a lower control arm bushing outer shell made easy, if you run a 1-3/8 tap into the shell of the bushing after you press out the pin and remove the rubber you can run the tap into the control arm bushing outer shell and press the tap and shell out just like you did the pin. Thanks to the For A bodies only member who shared this trick, and my friend George who told me.

UCUDANT
That would be me.
Glad that "trick" worked out for you.
I have heard that lots of enthusiasts have benefited by doing it that way, even though there is a welding in a washer method, too.
Jim V.
hemi71x

The tap is not a trick - its in the older service manuals.

Yes, that's true, but how many of us have a 1962 maintenance manual, to even know of that method in regards to that bushing shell removal.

And how many of us have a tap that large laying around....

I bought one off ebay, I have rebuilt a few front ends and removing the lower control arm bushing from the arm is the hardest part, and it was soooooo worth a few bucks to buy the tap. I helped remove Georges bushings and he found the tap idea after, I was very thankful.

lol
That's a good point, too.
Guess a person goes out and purchases one to get the job done, if he want's to do it that way.
I watch ebay, and they show up for as little as $15.00, sometimes.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/GREENFIELD-GTD-1-3-8-6-NC-HAND-TAP/311459883236?

Here's an $18.00 one.
That's a good price, and it says two of them are available, if anyone here is interested.

I take an air chisel and push the top step in to the bushing ID after laying a thick washer inside that sleeve. Put it in a press and push on the washer and out the bushing comes. I like the tap as it is faster but haven't come across a deal on one yet.

And who has a 62 manual - just us old guys that have been working on these cars for over 50 years.

False. The pivot pin is bare metal. And I wouldn't worry about it being blasted.

Oh really, so they just let them rust?

They let the whole danged front end rust, most of it is coated to not rust on the shelf, but will on the road. Cosmoline doesn't hold up all that well in use.

I just put my front end together. Also soaked the shaft in evaporust to clean up. I coated the shaft with Boeshield T9 as I pressed into the new bushing to aid in assembly and to protect. Then I lightly coated the part that goes into the k-frame and the k-frame itself with a layer of grease. Once finally torqued down and in the car, I will then coat the exposed threads and nut with Boeshield again.

I also did the Krylon battery protector deal. I folded over the masking tape to make it look a little more like a soft dip line, then a hard spray line at the end.

Here you can see my original cosmoline line

The pivot pin is bare metal (not painted) but it has some form of protection on it - black oxide, phosphate, something. I just did a 67 Plymouth front end that came off a Michigan car with 90k miles on it - no rust. I taped the pivot pins off before having everything sandblasted. Whatever coating it is it has the looked of a heat treated part - not black but darker than plain metal. My 62 and my 69 have the same appearance on these pivots.

Here you can see my factory cosmoline line, I taped it at the line and duplicated it