New owner from Austin, Texas! 85 ram 50

[thehive]

It's for the full arm. I know because I bought a set for my second gen. Ball joint, shaft, bushings and all.

[85d50austin]

Awesome I just placed the order!

didn't even think of it until after i placed the order but i really hope these will fit my 85 RAM 50, i don't have a mighty max. I know they are practically the same but this has me questioning wether its going to fit or not.

[85d50austin]

Damn they took 200 out of my account and then sent me an email saying the parts discontinued and they cancelled the order. I can't find this part anywhere and now I can't even get my money back for 5 business days

[85d50austin]

Okay , so I decided I'm just going to get the "good" used contol arm from eBay. I got two new UCA shafts, two new upper ball joints, the idler arm rebuild kit, LCA bushings and I think that's it for now. Are there any other bushings/ suspension parts I should replace while I have my front suspension torn down?

[pennyman1]

Strut rod bushings

[85d50austin]

I'm having trouble finding a step by step in how to get the ball joint and upper control arm replaced
what all do I need to remove and in what order.
do I need to remove the coil spring?
any tips?

just my first time tacking a job like this and want to make sure I do it right

[85d50austin]

image.jpgimage.jpgimage.jpgimage.jpgimage.jpgimage.jpgimage.jpg

A few "before" pics
ball joint was shot. Previous owner even had a couple of welds on it that broke, tells me this has probly been a trouble maker long before I took over. Ball joint is popped out of control arm and made a pretty gnarly score in it
it ate through my tires

also on the upper control shaft on my drivers side, I am able to move the inner nut with my finger. I tried to move the same nut on my passenger side and couldn't. Is this something that needs to be tightened or is it just a dust seal or something. To clarify its the inner nut not the huge ones on the sides. If you look at the first picture, if I put my finger into those holes to access the control shaft bolt I can move the nut on the left inside of that hole

on a positive note I did just successfully fix my transmission leak from the seal on my extension housing. Definitely a confidence booster but this suspension is gonna drive me crazy

as always chime in with tips pointers suggestions if you have any

also still wondering a good basic step by step or at least a list of all the parts that need to be removed in order to change upper contol arm and lower control arm bushings

I'll post some pics of the process and after pics as soon as I get back to it

thanks in advance!

[85d50austin]

Pennyman, I would like to get the 4.63 or 4.88 gears in the back as you had mentioned before. What would be the best way to accomplish this? are there any makes/models that are a direct swap? I have a couple of salvage yards close to me but want to know what I'm looking for.


also is there any way to get a/c in my 85 mighty max w/ g63b engine? I saw a d50 with a/c at the junk yard and started taking apart but had ports going into the engine that I'm not sure mine has

thanks in advance!

[geezer101]

My '85 has an air international A/C installed in it with the 4G63 engine - so yeah, it is more than 'do-able'. Do you have a rubber plug in the firewall on the opposite side of your steering rack that doesn't seem to do anything? This is where the A/C lines should pass through. Tried posting a pic of my RHD L200 but I keep getting an invalid URL thingamy.

[geezer101]

p.s. I have a daft idea of modding the front for coil over shocks. Most of my front end is in equally as bad condition as yours and was thinking that now would be as good as time as any to look for a good upgrade. It would take a bit of custom mounting but it appears to be not that far from straight forward. It would shed some weight and make the set up height adjustable -
s-l1600.jpg
...any thoughts on this?

[85d50austin]

Well I have since redone almost all of my front suspension so ride quality is good. I was still wanting to raise my front height slightly and was thinking if it would be better to get new moog shocks or just getting a couple spring spacers to add an inch or two.

now when I redid my suspension there seemed to have been a metal donut on top of the spring that had portion that the spring rested on to keep it from moving. It seems as if you found a coil over that fits into the groove of that donut it would seem plausible. Especially if it had the same type of crab claw bottom mounts.

[85d50austin]

All how would I go about getting one of these international a/c units for my dodge?

[geezer101]

now when I redid my suspension there seemed to have been a metal donut on top of the spring that had portion that the spring rested on to keep it from moving. It seems as if you found a coil over that fits into the groove of that donut it would seem plausible. Especially if it had the same type of crab claw bottom mounts.

I don't think the upper spring mount will allow the coil over I've shown to fit in place of the factory shocker. I was thinking more of cutting off the upper spring mount and deleting the factory spring completely and welding on a custom mount to accommodate the coil over assembly. It would lose some weight over the lower control arm and allow for height adjustment. The coil overs pictured are rated 1300-1500lbs which should be more than adequate for a relatively lightweight truck.

All how would I go about getting one of these international a/c units for my dodge?

I would think this is something you would have to go hunting for. My L200 express must've had the A/C fitted from new - the cooler unit under the glovebox is stupid big (the actual core inside the case is bigger than a loaf of bread) I was pretty lucky to find a truck of this year with air con. I think it would be plausible to use the compressor from any 6 bolt 4G63 engine along with engine bay hardware from a later MM etc, but the hard part would be sourcing the unit for inside the cab.
I'll try a direct link seeming I keep getting these infernal INVALID URL MESSAGES!!?! - http://i1089.photobucket.com/albums/...psa84e3d4e.jpg

[geezer101]

Just a bit of info on the A/C question. I dug through my stockpile of parts and found an A/C compressor off a 4G62 cyclone engine I bought from an importer many moons ago but never used. The die cast cradle mounting the compressor in place onto the inlet side of the block is a direct swap for the welded steel compressor mount that was used on my A/C. But the part I'm not 100% on is the L200's compressor pulley alignment. The original SANDEN SD-508 compressor has a double pulley on it as opposed to the single pulley on the Mitsubishi unit. If the belt is meant to line up with the outer pulley then the Mitsubishi compressor and mount are a direct swap/install.

*and extra info - Air International was an Australian founded company that built A/C retrofits for vehicles built and/or imported into Australia
http://www.ai-thermal.com/about-us/history

[pennyman1]

Frigette makes retrofit A/C kits for these trucks here in the US - I have seen them on ebay, but they are high priced - like $1150.00. The compressor for the g63b mounts low on the passenger side of the block, unlike the 2.6 that mounts high on the drivers side under the distributor. Lone star in Dallas Texas was the other company that made the Mopar dock / dealer install kits back in the day.

[geezer101]

Goddammit. Did it again... There should be a MM 2.6 with A/C or even using the A/C compressor and plumbing off a Conquest as it's a 2.6. It will be the refrigerator hardware under the dash that will take some messing around to get it to work. I'd bet not having a working A/C in Texas in peak summer would be bad.

[pennyman1]

But those parts will not mount to a G63B - and the under dash parts from a starquest are also way different, as the starquest was designed from the start with A/C- the trucks were addons after the fact.

[geezer101]

So is it a G63B/4G63 engine or the 4G54 this thread was referring to? You got me confused here pennyman. I thought 85d50austins' truck was running the 4G63. Anyhoo I hope my investigating has opened up some part hunting options for 85d50's search for cold air. The electrical side of running the A/C doesn't seem to be complicated either. I'm going on a field trip to a pick-a-part wrecker to have a look at A/C lines on Mitsu Pajeros and Tritons as mine will not be compatible with the newer model Mitsu A/C compressor I'm thinking of using.

[pennyman1]

g63b is the motor