Suspension dis-assembly

I finally got some time to work on Studebaker stuff today and so decided to tackle the clean-up and dis-assembly of one side of the front suspension.

First, removal of about 8,000 lbs (only a slight exaggeration) of hardened grease and grime.

This clean up was just to find all the nuts and bolts. I'll make it pretty later, after a long soak.

Then it was time to break out the air tools. Turning the piece upside down, I removed the castellated nut that holds the king pin to the lower support and steering knuckle.

Of course it's blurry--you try holding a camera phone steady when operating an impact hammer.

After the nut is removed, the king pin is driven out of the lower support using a hammer and a brass drift. You gotta love a job when you get to use a hammer! Unfortunately, this step was also supposed to be done with the upper control arm still in place on the car. So after a bit of pondering, I decided a jack stand might just do the trick.

More pieces!

Then it was simply a matter of getting after the bolts on the side of the assembly. These were really on there, requiring that I break out the 3/4-inch impact hammer. The larger tool made short work of things (I didn't even think about taking a picture using it) and soon I was left with even more pieces.

Done for the day.

There are still a couple of parts on there--the long, inner shafts on the control arms require that the bushings holding them in place be pushed out with a press (which I don't have) and there's a keeper in the lower support that needs a press as well.  But this is far enough along to enable me to order parts. Fortunately, it is in very good shape, so I'll just refresh the bushings, bearings and seals.

And even though I have the Shop Manual, I'm going to leave the other side together for reference. You just never know.