control arm bushings, Fun, Fun

[geno58]

Well now, just finished up replacing the control arm bushings and cutting the coils, on my 80 spider. One smashed thumb and a peeled cutical, all I can say is it was more fun than a barrel of monkeys..

[WYSpider]

Did you do the lower control arm bushings? If so what was your DIY technique. Upper bushings are supposed to be easy. The lower, not so much.

[CajunMike]

There is nothing easy about control arm bushings either upper or lower. Back in the day my father and i did them without a press and man what a job. What started out as what we thought would be a couple hours turned into an all day curse fest. I'd rather buy a complete set of control arms then do those things again.

[124JOE]

i did a lower early this year it was 72.50 completely built plus S&H

[Divers]

Have to agree. I did top and bottom as complete units. Once I figured out the tricks it was an easy job. I used a jack to compress the spring then installed my internaal spring compressor to keep the spring compressed. After that the removal and installation was a breeze.

[124ADDHE]

I take a flat-blade scredriver and use it as a wedge and hammer it all the way around the outer flange of the lower bushing, this will setup the initial movement to get out the most nasty and rusted bushing, after that, you can use a large socket and c-clamp or as I did, quickly grap a ball-joint seperator fork and continue with the wedge concept...voila, two hits and she pops out...... I now use ant-seize where the bushing mates for a rust-free removal next time

[WYSpider]

Thanks 124ADDHE, I was wondering what type of lubricant to use to insert the new bushings. Anti-seize is a good idea for both purposes - lube and to prevent rust.

[geno58]

New bushings go in easy, getting the old ones out can be a fun time. I used an air chisel to get the old ones out.
The problem is there is no short cut , the inner fender panels need to come out, brake calipers need to come off with there mounts and tie rod arms. I used a sissors type ball joint seperator to pop the ball joints with out damaging the rubber boots.
I made spring compresors out of a couple of turn buckles, crude but worked. Used a 4-1/2" grinder with a cut off wheel to cut the coils and a small copeing saw to cut down the rubber bump stops. fortunitly my car has only about 32,000 miles on it, and rust wasn't as bad as it could have been. Rubber parts are more of an issue.

[BEEK]

a pair of proper sized sockets and a vice is how I installed 1000's of upper bushings, the lowers I used a hammer and a socket, (my snap on man cringes) I usually replaced the lower bushings while control arms were still on the car, , just takes good aim with the hammer. The biggest fault I see in bushing replacing is over tightening the nuts on the pivot points. This will lead to very early failure of the bushings. I did use an air chisel to remove the old ones.

[124ADDHE]

Hi Beek. It would be great if you could please clarify how you hammer out a lower bushing with it still on the car? I just cant imagine getting the power to hammer these things out, an air-chisel had no effect on mine, was rusted solid and had to be worked hard! Thanks.

[BEEK]

hammer was for install, used air tool for removal