Lower Control Arm bushings
JoulesWinfield
11-13-2006, 07:09 AM
Just did em. What a PITA.:banghead:
Luckily I have a compressor and a set of torches cause I dont know how the hell you would get em done without it.
I left the arms in and just unbolted the torsion bar tensioner keys. And the control arm mounting bolts using a 1/2" impact. They came right out no probs there. Also dropped the sway bar cause it sits in front of the front control arm mounts.
Then using an air hammer I made a slot about 1/4" from the inside on the end that the bushing would come out. (Im pretty sure they all go from the inside out so removal is from the outside in). Then I proceeded to hammer the snot out of em, bending the crease further inward to take the pressure off the outer casing of the bushing, until they started to move outward. Then I could just beat on the inner sleeve from the back side until they were the rest of the way out.
Had I known that I could have saved about 4 hours of messing with hammers and heat.
After getting them out I used a drum sanding attachment on my dremmel to make sure the seat area on the lower arm was nice and clean as well as slightly more open than it used to be. Then with the Oxy/Acetelene torch I heated the area around the bushing seats until I thought I might start to melt something. Then quickly slip the new bushing into the arm and beat it in with a dead blow hammer, then a regular steel hammer for just the last couple of centimeters. You dont want to beat on them too much with a steel hammer because you will deform them and may render them useless.
When using torches I always keep my air line handy with a blow nozzle attached as well as having a fire extingusher within arms reach. No need to burn down the house cause my truck is a POS. The air gun will put out most little rubber and grease fires due to the high volume of air. Just make sure whatever your is beyond what blowing towards is not flammable. Cause fire does travel.
Sorry no pics cause I was a mess and so was the whole garage.:evillol:
Luckily I have a compressor and a set of torches cause I dont know how the hell you would get em done without it.
I left the arms in and just unbolted the torsion bar tensioner keys. And the control arm mounting bolts using a 1/2" impact. They came right out no probs there. Also dropped the sway bar cause it sits in front of the front control arm mounts.
Then using an air hammer I made a slot about 1/4" from the inside on the end that the bushing would come out. (Im pretty sure they all go from the inside out so removal is from the outside in). Then I proceeded to hammer the snot out of em, bending the crease further inward to take the pressure off the outer casing of the bushing, until they started to move outward. Then I could just beat on the inner sleeve from the back side until they were the rest of the way out.
Had I known that I could have saved about 4 hours of messing with hammers and heat.
After getting them out I used a drum sanding attachment on my dremmel to make sure the seat area on the lower arm was nice and clean as well as slightly more open than it used to be. Then with the Oxy/Acetelene torch I heated the area around the bushing seats until I thought I might start to melt something. Then quickly slip the new bushing into the arm and beat it in with a dead blow hammer, then a regular steel hammer for just the last couple of centimeters. You dont want to beat on them too much with a steel hammer because you will deform them and may render them useless.
When using torches I always keep my air line handy with a blow nozzle attached as well as having a fire extingusher within arms reach. No need to burn down the house cause my truck is a POS. The air gun will put out most little rubber and grease fires due to the high volume of air. Just make sure whatever your is beyond what blowing towards is not flammable. Cause fire does travel.
Sorry no pics cause I was a mess and so was the whole garage.:evillol:
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