Arning Drop Part 2

Between the weather and health issues it’s been a full month since my last installment. I’ve finally gotten back to good health. The weather has prematurely turned warm, so I decided it was time to get back to the Arning drop project. I’m guessing that most people finish this modification in a weekend. Certainly longer if they are working on a big block car with the engine installed (like me). I’m taking an exceptionally long time to get the job done.

Since I was able to see and actually touch both upper control arm bolts on the passenger side, I felt that side would be less difficult than the driver’s side. That was my thinking, but I might have been wrong. Removing the shock and upper control arm were definitely not as challenging as the driver’s side. Drilling the new holes in the shock tower presented no issues. The studs on the new upper control arm slid right into the new holes I had drilled. After that is when the wheels fell off of the wagon.

I was able to start the new washers and nuts on the control arm studs by hand more easily than the driver’s side. But the position of the new holes moved the upper control arm attachment point extremely close to the passenger side exhaust manifold. Too close to get a socket on the bolt, no matter what combination of ratchets and swivels I tried. The trick with the offset box end wrench I used on the driver’s side didn’t quite work either. Eventually I had to crawl under the car and use the offset box end wrench to tighten the nuts from below. There was just enough room to turn the wrench about 1/4 turn at a time. It took a lot of wrench turning, but I eventually got both nuts tightened down. The rest of the passenger side went together without a problem.

With new ball joints I wanted to make sure they were well lubricated. I pumped away with my trusty grease gun in an attempt to fill the ball joint with grease. I eventually gave up, decided my grease gun wasn’t working, and ordered a new grease gun. This is the grease gun I purchased. LUMAX LX-1152 Black Heavy Duty Deluxe Pistol Grease Gun

Now that I had my new grease gun, I lubricated both upper ball joints. The Arning drop and upper control arm project is now finished. I need to align the front end, and I may decide to install the roller bearing idler arm I have in stock while I’m working in the area. My EPAS kit has also finally arrived. Depending on how ambitious I feel I may install that before the show season starts, or I may leave it for later. I’m undecided at this point in time.