Dylan Berichon

Thanks to the folks at the local alignment shop, I've found out that the truck has a bent frame. This explains a great deal. I wonder how easy / difficult it would be to straighten it out.

Hi All! I'm wrenching on my 1980 720 Longbed. Been busy replacing the front end suspension and steering components this past week, but have hit a couple of snags. It appears that there is a major issue... somewhere. I'm wondering if the upper control arms might be bent, or if the subframe is messed up somehow. Here's some photos of the passenger side. It appears someone replaced the upper control arm at some point with a unit out of a junk yard: The arm is making contact with the shock, even when the car is sitting on the groud. The old shock I had pulled off was actually bent. The tire also sits at the wrong angle, there's a LOT of negative camber (tire points towards the middle of the truck). It's as though the upper control arm is too short. Also, when trying to get the control arm off the drivers side of the car, I wasn't able to get the upper control arm to clear the inner part of the fender. I disconnected the ball joint, and the two bolts on the back of the arm (just like the manual says to do) but I couldn't get the right angle to get the arm off. Photo of the drivers side: Any ideas how to proceed from here? I'm not sure how to fix these issues. And finally, does anyone know where I can source new upper control arms for this thing? I've scoured and haven't been able to find them anywhere. Thanks as always!

I pulled the two bolts off from the back of the arm that were accessed from the engine compartment, not the bolts that stick out of either end of the arm. I got the arm off of the truck, but I couldn't get the arm to clear the subframe of the truck.

Hi All! The suspension rebuild on my 720 continues! I'm trying to figure out how the upper control arm comes out of the truck. I removed the ball joint and unbolted the back of the arm as described in the Factory Service manual, but no amount of twisting or turning allowed me to clear the body of the truck to get the thing out. Any tricks to getting this thing out? Also, does anyone know of a vendor that has new upper control arms available? I was able to find lower ones, but couldn't track down upper arms. It would be ideal to find some that already had the bushings pressed into them, but I have new bushings on hand if not. Thanks as always, the help on this forum has been tremendous.

I went and picked this tool up from Harbor Freight and you were correct, it works very well! The first ball joint I popped with it wasn't still connected to the control arm. Big mistake! When it "popped" free, it went FLYING across the garage I'm using and narrowly missed hitting me in the face. It hit the ceiling before taking rest across the room. Lesson learned! I used this tool on every ball joint (control arm and tie rods) except for the lower control arm ball joint (because the tool isn't quite bit enough). I was able to get those free eventually with use of another tool. Now comes the fun task of putting everything back together and packing it with grease!

Hi all! Thanks for the helpful suggestions! I've given up for the day after making about zero progress on the whole project. The good news is that I'm replacing EVERYTHING up front in regards to suspension and steering (with the exception of the upper control arms since I couldn't track any new ones down), so if I tear any old rubber it won't really matter too much at the end of the day. I'll keep you all posted if I make any progress.

Now I've discovered I also am unable to break the Tie-Rod free from the wheel hub. I don't understand why I'm having such an issue getting any of this stuff apart. I don't see any rust on anything.

Greetings all! I've taken a break from attempting to replace the steering and suspension pieces on my '80 720 long bed. I've hit a snag trying to get the upper ball joint off the drivers side. The ball joint is removed from the upper control arm, but I can't break it free from the wheel hub. I've got the bolt off, and I'm using a proper ball joint removal fork tool, but no matter how hard I wrench on it, the ball joint won't budge. I've soaked it with P'blast, put a torch on the thing, beat on it with a big hammer, used a lot of colourful language, but nothing is working. If you have any ideas I'd love to hear them. Am I forgetting something or...? Thanks as always.

Any one have any suggestions for 720 pieces? I'm mainly trying to find some suspension parts (Control arms, ball joints, bushings, etc...) Checked out the links above (very useful!) but didn't find much truck suspension stuff. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!

Hi All! I know this is an old thread, but I thought I'd just update those that were curious. I got the Weber installed this past weekend and got the truck through the emissions test. It passed with flying colours! Thanks again for all the input here! It is greatly appreciated.

Hi All! So, to make a long story short, the vendor I ordered the carburetor from cancelled my order. I went ahead and ordered a Weber carburetor through my work. I have access to TONS of jets (we sell Weber conversion kits for antique Volvos that also use 2.0 liter motors) so I'm certain I'll be able to track down whatever I need to make this thing run correctly. Any suggestions for initial jets to try? Thanks again for all the input. I only need to pass the idle test here in Oregon, so I think the Weber will get the job done. I'm hoping so, anyway.

I'm not sure what the exact timing setting was. I've always set timing "by ear" to where a car (or truck, in this case) just stops pinging. I can put a light on it and see what it says.

I've ordered a replacement Hitachi carb that is Federal spec, and got it a pretty good deal on it through my work. (A weber kit was a little more expensive, as it turns out.) I'm confident after reading through the form that the truck will pass once I get the new carb dialed in. Here's hoping, anyway. Thanks for the input all, especially smoke and ggzilla.

My only concern was being able to get a weber jetted correctly to run lean enough at idle. I've helped convert a few Volvos from SUs to Webers, and even after jetting them, I found the webers seem to run a little richer at idle for whatever reason. (I actually like the SU carbs better than the weber, for the record.) From what I've read, a weber is a much better choice than the original Hitachi carb for performance reasons, but I don't think I've ever had the Hitachi carb on this truck set up correctly during the time I've owned it, probably because it is just worn out. A golden rule I've learned is that you can't tune a warn out carb, no matter how hard you try. It's sounding more and more like a weber would be the way to go... I'd just hate to drop the cash for one and have it not pass emissions.

It's sounding like a carburetor replacement might be in order, if I can't get this one to work correctly. Are original Hitachi carbs still available for this thing? I've done some digging, and so far I've only found a "Canadian" version available (and it's very expensive). How would a Weber compare? Would a weber carb allow the truck to pass emissions? Thanks for the input so far guys. I hope I can get to the bottom of this.