Control Arm Bushing
- Thread starter nadroj
- Start date
![[driving]](/images/smilies/icon_smile_driving.gif "Driving [driving]"){kind=icon}
Here are two ways to go about it. The tug of war or the beauty and the beast. First option is to raise the front end for ground clearance remove the two 15mm bolts that hold the bushing carrier to the frame once loose with a large pair of channelocks and pre soak of penatrating oil latch it from the forward facing to the little end point. With a hercules type grip pull from side to side, not moving ? Use more penatrator and try, try again. Second option is to lift car in front by the subframe ( make sure its centered ) remove wheels take complete arm off ( inspect the two ball joints for play, replace if in doubt ). Place in a table vise and with a three leg puller and penatrating oil remove. Once removed take them to your local machine shop or with a air hammer bend metal lip on ethier end inward and push out. (NOTE) durring installation line markings on bushing and carrier together. (NOTE) while reinstalling arm the large channelocks are required to hold ball joints from spinning to tighten down.and if you make one wrong move, its another $70 down the drain to get a new control arm because you ripped the boot. All you have to do is put control arm in place, put the nut on until the ball joint spins, and put a jack under it with a piece of wood and put a little pressure on it. i dunno, maybe the channel locks work fine, but i just feel safer using the jack.
I replaced my control arms and bushings a little over a month ago. I removed the control arms with the bushings still attached to them. I used a pickle fork to release the ball joints from the strut and subframe since I was replacing the arms. I sprayed the bushings with penetrating oil and used a gear puller to pull the bushings/bushing brackets off of the old control arms as a unit. I took the old bushings/bushing brackets to a local shop to have the old bushings pressed out and the new ones pressed in - cost me $20 (1/2 hour labor).
To reinstall the control arms and bushings, I first bolted up the new control arm ball joints - didn't need to use a jack or channel locks or anything to keep the ball joints from spinning while tightening. To install the new bushings onto the control arms, I liberally lubed up the control arm and bushing with dishsoap and just pushed them on. With a little bit of pressure and twisting, they slid right on. Bolted the bushing brackets up, quickly put the wheels back on, lowered the car, bounced the front end up and down a few times, and let it sit for the rest of the day to let the bushings set.
All in all, a quick and easy job.
To reinstall the control arms and bushings, I first bolted up the new control arm ball joints - didn't need to use a jack or channel locks or anything to keep the ball joints from spinning while tightening. To install the new bushings onto the control arms, I liberally lubed up the control arm and bushing with dishsoap and just pushed them on. With a little bit of pressure and twisting, they slid right on. Bolted the bushing brackets up, quickly put the wheels back on, lowered the car, bounced the front end up and down a few times, and let it sit for the rest of the day to let the bushings set.
All in all, a quick and easy job.
If you are just going to replace the bushings, just remove the lollipop from the control arm, take it to a shop to have them press out the old bushings and press in the new ones, then reinstall the lollipop on the control arms. You don't need to take the control arms off the car, but you will need something like a gear puller to pull the lollipop with the old bushings off of the control arms. I think it would be damn near impossible to pull them off by hand.
are you installing stock bushings? if not, i reccomend these: Polyurethane Control Arm Bushings. Easy to install with a can of WD40 and a couple of 2X4s and a vise. you can get them in offset or centered. you can cut off the inner coller of the stock bushing with a Wizzer type cut off tool, just be careful to not cut the control arm.
i have do have them on my car. i didnt notice a difference in any noise over the stock rubber ones. I got the offset bushings and you can feel a difference in the corners, its not huge, but noticable. why would they be noisy? they come with a special lube that goes over the rubbing surfaces of the 2 peices of it.