Labor hours for front suspension rebuild?

[Ronald Radeke]

How many labor hours should a shop charge for a front suspension rebuild? The suspension seems pretty solid, but some of the boots are split open, some are ragged. The bushings defanetely meed replaced.1967 S5 w/55,000 mi.

 

[65sunbeam]

I would get in touch with Doug Jennings in Ohio. He has rebuilt many of them and upgrades them too.
A friend just took two complete crossmembers for him to do. PM me for his contact info.

 

[Barry]

I would get in touch with Doug Jennings in Ohio. He has rebuilt many of them and upgrades them too.
A friend just took two complete crossmembers for him to do. PM me for his contact info.

What Eric said.

The typical auto repair shop (even a "British" shop) does not have the knowledge or tools / fixtures that are necessary to work on the Series Alpine front suspension which has several oddities and gotcha's. After 55+ years and 55,000 miles, all of the rubber parts (especially the A-arm bushings) are probably long gone and the ball joints and tie-rod ends should, at the very least, get a thorough inspection by someone who knows what to look for.

Sections F (Front Suspension) and J (Steering) of WSM-145 are very detailed and will give you an idea of what is involved with rebuilding the front end of a late Series Alpine.

https://sunbeamalpine.org/original-tech-manuals/

 

[boss-tiger]

First I would confirm that the shop has experience and tooling to rebuildi unbeam front suspensions - if they do not I would be hesitant to use them. Also suggest the work includes dropping the crossmember out of the car, full cleaning and inspection. There are several online tech articles including reinforcing the top shock tower area that can crack (factory welding sparce). How many hours labor were you quoted? Let us know, my guess for labor hours would probably be 8-14 hours but I really don't know. The shop will need a press to R&R the A-arm bushings (and tooling to press without damaging). I do know that working on a 50 year old car is nothing but opportunity to find something else needing attention thus making one project turn into 4 or 5. I also know it takes me a month working some evenings and weekends to do this - I could not make $ as a mechanic for sure - ha.

 

[Alpine Addict]

Randy Willet was doing these. Not sure if he still is.

 

[Gordon Holsinger]

Randy Willet was doing these. Not sure if he still is.

Do not try this yourself! The fulcrum pins are difficult Doug Jennings at tiger auto in Dayton

 

[Tim R]

There is quite a bit of difference between early and late Series front suspensions. We usually take about 6-8 hours to completely strip down and rebuild a Series IV or V front suspension unit. BUT we have home made tools that help and have done it several times. Never stripped an early one.
We only ever fit original style metallastic bushes now, we don't go near the nylon replacements (don't last and way too much trouble).

You can do it yourself if you have basic tools and little mechanical knowledge. This video might be of use.

Tim R

 

[Ronald Radeke]

Thank you for all the advice, much appreciated!

 

[bernd_st]

He has a late "rubber bush" suspension, so the video is well covering that. Nevertheless would recommend to go to an expert as mentioned before. Costs money, but saves you a lot of time and potential errors...

P.S. Proper press tools are needed too in order to avoid damage. Have a look on just some examples here:

 

[volvoguys]

You can't overlook the difficulty of dissembling the front end. Bolts are prone to snap off if not done patiently and correctly, to include the caliper, upper a-arm and especially the lower a-arm bolts. A shop can easily add multiple $100's in machine work to extract bolts they carelessly broke off.

 

[Ronald Radeke]

any recommendations as to where to go?

 

[boss-tiger]

I am halfway thru a Tiger front suspension rebuild, mostlly on weekends last two weeks, 30+ hours a guess so far. What I have at this point is everything ready for re-assasembly, I took everything apart, had everything media blasted, edges deburred, measured, welds to reinforce weak areas, used tap to clean all threads, primmed and painted, fastners inspected (some needing replaced),, cleaned on wire wheel, soaked in EvapoRust (fastners took way more time than I expected and there must be a thousond or more it seemed). At halfway can say it has been mess and time consming for sure. Looking forward to re-assemble with all clean parts so my guess is to have it finished but the end of the month (at least thats the plan). Not difficult, very messy, will take up plenty of garage floor space, will put up a fight, and recommend you seek/find help to press out the A-arm bushings and upper ball joint. FYI I have probably done 5 of these so far in last 40 years and never look forward to doing. The video link in prev post is great.

 

[volvoguys]

I am halfway thru a Tiger front suspension rebuild, mostlly on weekends last two weeks, 30+ hours a guess so far. What I have at this point is everything ready for re-assasembly, I took everything apart, had everything media blasted, edges deburred, measured, welds to reinforce weak areas, used tap to clean all threads, primmed and painted, fastners inspected (some needing replaced),, cleaned on wire wheel, soaked in EvapoRust (fastners took way more time than I expected and there must be a thousond or more it seemed). At halfway can say it has been mess and time consming for sure. Looking forward to re-assemble with all clean parts so my guess is to have it finished but the end of the month (at least thats the plan). Not difficult, very messy, will take up plenty of garage floor space, will put up a fight, and recommend you seek/find help to press out the A-arm bushings and upper ball joint. FYI I have probably done 5 of these so far in last 40 years and never look forward to doing. The video link in prev post is great.

Agreed with all of Kragh's ((boss-tiger) comments above. Especially that a pro shop really should press out the A-arm bushing so they don't get bent since it's really easy to do.

I have completely disassembled SV front ends to be sold as parts. This would eliminate your broken-bolts problem but, as you know, it's a pretty long drive to my shop.