Wishbones

It probably won't last as long. Definite pays your money, takes your choice but remeber to factor your time into it.

Fortunately axle stands are required to meet certain standards & inherently simple. If you've got dead smooth tarmac then the cheap ones with a flat bottom don't sink into it but on anything but a dead flat surface they're a bit rocky. & car jacks with lot's of lift are much nicer than those nasty £10 ones. They don't look any cheaper than Halfords or Machine Mart though.

They don't last long anyway! Really I just want to get the car patched up to last me a few months and be able to sell on with a relatively clear conscience. The suspension bushes are the bane of every Escort drivers life!

OK thanks for that, perhaps I'll have a wander down to Halfords when I've got some time.

Cheers,

Rob

If they've got a special offer on they're often cheapest, don't buy a jack that lifts to less than 450mm , you'll just regret it later.

Having just gone through a wishbone replacement myself, I can offer a bit of advice that may be useful (apologies if you don't need it).

If you're doing both wishbones, do the first one, then check for any change in the tracking and correct it, before staring on the second. This way, you'll know that you only have to adjust the side you've just worked on to put it right. You'll also know that by straightening the steering you've got the toe angle of the wheel correct. You wouldn't know this if you'd got both sides to adjust at once.

To understand why I'm telling you this, read my thread "Upset tracking after lower arm replacement."

Hope I'm not patronising you, but you're apparent lack of a jack & stands leads me to believe that you (like me) are quite inexperienced. You'll also need a balljoint splitter, some large sockets to fit the mounting bolts, and a breaker bar (the bolts are pretty tight - about

100 lb ft on my car). And after replacement, don't tighten the bolts until you've lowered the car and settled the suspension.

HTH

Stuart Sharp

Advice is always welcome! Although I have a fair degree of mechanical experience, I have really only just started to do more than the basics on my car.

I think it's a bit late for that. The tracking is already a mile out. I swapped the front and rear wheel over a couple of weeks ago and when I'd done the tracking had changed. It also changed slightly a week before that after I had bew brake pads fitted - they told me then the bushes were split so I wasn't surprised. If I've read Haynes correctly, so long as I end up with the same amount of thread exposed on each track rod end, and the toe is withing spec., then it's OK. In any case I am hoping to get set of guages to help me do this.

The proceedure I am proposing to follow is that in Haynes, which is do bolts up finger-tight, lower car. tighten to specified torque. Fully slacken, tighten to torque again and then a further 90 degrees. I'm not entirely sure how the car is supported when the bolts are slackened off though (or even what useful purpose this serves)! And one other thing that's just popped into my head - where exactly would I support the car on an axle stand at the front? The bottom of the strut is the only place I can think of, but that's not a prticularly solid area of car is it?

Cheers,

Robert