OK; Who jerked the front end out from under my M-M!

Jeremy D. Ledford

PCS Volunteer Chapter President
Roberts posting on, OK; who pinched the engine from my Criterion. gave me an idea to show you what my 73 M-M combo is currently undergoing. Last Thursday it went to Ray's Safety Lane over in Lebanon for a COMPLETE front end rebuild and rehab. Most of my stuff I can do on my own but this was one job that I needed to put into the healing hands of someone that knew what they were doing and had the equipment to to so. Ray's is a one man two bay shop housed in a cinder block building on West Main Street that has been in business since 1959. You walk in you see no fancy alignment machine connected to a computer with lasers and mirrors. You see the original Bear Wheel aligner rack that was installed when the shop was built in 1959! Operated by the original owners nephew Wayne who's been there since 1963 (and also drove a funeral home ambulance part time as well from 63 till 79) and who has been the sole owner and shop man since 1980. So everything is done old school and done right the first time! That's why he has the car! Probably could have taken it to a Tuffys, Midas or a shop like that but I wasn't real crazy about having a 18 year old kid working under the front of my car that plays Tokyo drift in the Walmart parking lot with his buddies on Saturday nights doing the job I wanted done to the car! Everything is being done, brakes, rotors, bearings, shocks, springs, tie rods, ball joints, brake hoses the whole nine yards! You'll also notice that a lot of the main parts, control arms, etc have been cleaned and painted prior to installation! I pulled these parts from one of my parts cars, blasted and repainted them up prior to taking the car to the shop! Thought might as well start with as many cleaned and freshened up parts as I could too! The rest of the clean up, touch up and painting will be done after the car comes back home! View the pics and enjoy! Point is do the job once and do it right!
 

Attachments

  • 73 Suspension 034.jpg
    73 Suspension 034.jpg
    95.7 KB · Views: 369
  • 73 Suspension 022.jpg
    73 Suspension 022.jpg
    91.4 KB · Views: 369
  • 73 Suspension 028.jpg
    73 Suspension 028.jpg
    90.8 KB · Views: 373
  • 73 Suspension 020.jpg
    73 Suspension 020.jpg
    90.3 KB · Views: 383
  • 73 Suspension 029.jpg
    73 Suspension 029.jpg
    93 KB · Views: 366
  • 73 Suspension 039.jpg
    73 Suspension 039.jpg
    90.1 KB · Views: 369
Last edited:
Now to give you a scope of the shop and equpment (posting this for Ed and Paul)! He's prolly got one of the only alignment racks in town that will actually hold a pro-car! I should have the ole girl back home tomorrow or Thursday after alignment and final adjustments are made!
 

Attachments

  • 73 Suspension 024.jpg
    73 Suspension 024.jpg
    92.2 KB · Views: 344
  • 73 Suspension 027.jpg
    73 Suspension 027.jpg
    94.1 KB · Views: 338
  • 73 Suspension 032.jpg
    73 Suspension 032.jpg
    95.3 KB · Views: 325
  • 73 Suspension 033.jpg
    73 Suspension 033.jpg
    97.7 KB · Views: 335
  • 73 Suspension 038.jpg
    73 Suspension 038.jpg
    97.7 KB · Views: 333
  • 73 Suspension.jpg
    73 Suspension.jpg
    94 KB · Views: 330
Jeremy, it looks like you found the right place and guy for the job. Back when I had my Lifeliner I found a shop with the old front end "pit" machine, but it was in a bay with a low height door! Hope to see you and the car in Ohio.
 
You definitely picked the right guy for the job. You know as well as I do there are very few guys like him left here in Lebanon that have the old school knowledge that he does. Looking good.:thumbsup::toocool:

Josh
 
the big thing with these cars is you will only have to do it once. that is if you do it right the first time. we are not putting the miles on one to wear it back out. but looks like a nice job being done. get the things cleaned up and painted before you put it together make sure when you look under there it looks right. one should never looking under there ad see everything the same color of black.
 
Looks good, Jeremy! I found a very similar shop near me a few years back. I've got a couple of vehicles that need some front end checkouts and asked my mechanic recently if the guy was still in business. Sadly, I learned that the guy who aligned my limo and (since sold) 9C1 Caprice suffered a severe stroke a couple of years ago. Fortunately, his nephew took over the shop and supposedly does equally good work. I'll go with independent shops over the chain places anytime!
 
Got the 73 back from the shop yesterday afternoon! This is probably the best that the coach has driven and ridden in a good number of years! Drives and turns really smooth and the road noise in the cab has been cut by 50% to since there is no longer any vibration in the front end anymore! Smooth braking too! When ya have your hands on the wheel you can actually tell there's something there now too! Needless to say I'm very happy and pleased with the final results!
 
Hope you missed that sudden down por we got yesterday afternoon. Glad it drives good now, now I won't have to watch you swerve allover the road anymore when I'm behind you on the way to a meet.:yankchain::bonk::071:


Josh
 
Things are always easier with a lift, aren't they??? Wish I had one!!!:3some:

I have 2... one identical to the one that I got for Dan, and another like the one in the video below.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5e5c8euXEw[/ame]


[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kXzzrufv_M[/ame]
 
Back
Top