Father and Son 1983 SX/4 Project

[mudkicker715]

Good to know. I got my avatar eagle back in resto myself. I gave you part numbers from my first go round with it, on one side.

[carnuck]

Inner hub seal is a timken 3553.
Outer seal is a timken 3942

3553 = Napa Oil Seal (NOS) 21961
specs:
Steering Knuckle Seal I.D. : 2.2010"
Steering Knuckle Seal O.D. : 2.7410"
Steering Knuckle Seal Width : .1970"

3942 = 24886 (fits '82 to '86 Eagle)

Wheel Seal I.D. : 2.5"
Wheel Seal O.D. : 3.231"
Wheel Seal Width : .19"

[kevindpm61]

We had a good day with the Eagle today. Managed to get the steering dampner, idler arm, and tie rod ends off of the center link. Couldn't get the Pitman arm off because I didn't have a large enough puller. Oh well, it will give me time to clean up and paint the skid plates. We should be able to get the steering linkage back together next weekend.
I won't  be able to get the suspension components installed until I get some rust issues taken care of. Things are slowly moving ahead.

[eaglefreek]

When I saw the car in person, I knew it needed a lot of work and glad it went to the right people. The pitman arm can be tough to get off. A good impact wrench usually helps or some good whacks with a hammer after tightening the puller as tight as possible works, also. If your going to install a new steering box, a little heat from a torch helps, too.
 At least in my area, I've had the best luck with O'reilly's. Their local distribution warehouse is a couple hours away and they would usually have what I needed at the warehouse and the local store would typically have it the next day. If it was a weekend and I needed it right away, I would make the drive to Nashville to pick it up. But, my Festiva gets 40 mpg and there is a restaurant I like to go to when I'm in the area.

[kevindpm61]

The car does need work but I expected that from a car that hasn't been inspected since 1989. I was able to get the Pitman arm nut off with the impact wrench. I rented a puller from the local AutoZone. Hopefully, we will get the old one off next week and get the steering linkage assembled. Today, I'm cleaning up the skid plates so that I can paint them with POR-15.

[eaglefreek]

Except for when I lived in CO for 3.5 years and had emissions testing, I never lived anywhere that had vehicle inspections.

[kevindpm61]

I decided to take a Saturday off from wrenching on the SX/4. Finally got the correct inner seal for the hub assembly. Didn't feel like tearing the hub assembly apart because the rollers felt good to me. I did a "cheater" hub bearing grease packing by removing the old inner seal and used a grease needle to slide down inside the outer rim of the bearing assembly. Cleaned up the old grease that was forced out and installed the new seal.
Degreased and wire wheeled the center link. Acid prepped the metal and painted it with some cast grey paint. Looks sexy!!
The skid plates have been cleaned, etched and painted with POR-15. I have one more coat to apply and they will be finished. Once I get the rust areas repaired, it will be time to get the front end assembled.

[vangremlin]

Everything is looking great!

[kevindpm61]

I spent a large part of the morning working on frame repair on the passenger side of the SX/4. I managed to get two of the worst rust areas repair today. One more area to fix on this side. One minor area to repair on the driver's side.

[kevindpm61]

Thanks vangremlin. I'm having fun playing with my new Millermatic 211 mig welder. I get a lot of pleasure working on restoring cars. Having the ability to mig weld, adds a whole other dimension to what I can do.

[amcfool1]

hi looks like you guys are doing a great job! and good luck!..but...not to complicate things for you, that "trough" above the upper control arm is one of the (few) weak spots on an Eagle. There is no drain, so water, salt crud, etc, just sits there until it eats through. I just went through this with my 84. there was a rust hole less than the diameter of a quarter, but, it was all the way through. Long story short, the whole framerail was rusted out, from the INSIDE, with very little indication from the outside. I had it fixed, (not cheap) and to prevent this in the future, I had the outer "lip" cut off, so water can drain. good luck, gz

[kevindpm61]

Thanks for the info amcfool1. I know that the frame rails are a problem under the control arms. After I cut out the rusted area on the side, I inspected the top surface inside and out. The metal looked solid.  I didn't feel that I needed to get any more aggressive that what I did. If some more rust rears its head in the future, I might have to take the frame repair to the next level Right now, I'm just trying to get this car ready for inspection.

[kevindpm61]

The skid plates have been painted with chassis paint and are ready for reassembly whenever the time comes.The family Bengal, Jake, wanted to take a closer look at them.

[kevindpm61]

The weather has turned bad here in the Northeast. A big snow storm rolled into town last night. It's times like this that I wish I had a heated garage!! I cleaned up the shock towers this week and hit them with a coat of SEM Trim Black. The color seemed to be the closest match I could find to the origin appearance. I will work on getting the new tie rod arms and sleeves dialed in to the same length as the ones that I removed.
It's unfortunate that the temps are now into the 20's. Not much fun doing body work and I can't apply any paints or primers over the repairs so that the rest of the front suspension can be reassembled.

[kevindpm61]

A big snow storm hit the Northeast last night. Looks Like I won't be working on the Eagle this weekend. These temps in the 20's make it hard to work in an unheated garage. Also, we can't prime or paint over the repaired areas. Kinda puts the brakes on reassembling the front end.
I cleaned and painted the shock towers with SEM Trim Black in the comfort of my home. The color was the closest match that I could find to the original finish. I plan on assembling the tie rod end and sleeves today and dialing them in to the same length as the originals we took off.