Installing new bushings in lower control arms

[spider2081]

I am in the process of putting together and front suspension. All was going as I would expect until I went to press in the lower control arm bushings. They do not have enough tension or friction to stay in place. The rubber gets compressed on the swing bolt washer when they are in correct posiiton but when I remove the pressure of the press they pop out about an 1/8 of an inch. I am worried if I instal the control arms the bushings outer surface will work and wear in the control arm.
Has anyone else had this problem. The original bushings took some force to press out of the arm.

I know many people buy the control arm assembly and would not bother to rebuild them.

[spiderdan]

Hi spider2081
I experienced bad fitting bushings this past summer. Had my mechanic replace the upper and lowers on my 68 (old ones might have been originals)
I bought the new ones from IAP. I was warned that "10% don't fit properly". Well I guess I'm in that "10%".
Mechanic said upper were to big and lowers were to small (or vise versa).

I ordered the "correct bushings" from Csaba at AR and he had no issues installing theirs.
Csaba comes through again.

[vandor]

You may have the wrong size bushings as posted above.
Another possibility is that when the bushings were pressed in they bent the arms in (I always use a piece of steel between the two ends of the arms so this does not happen), so now there is not enough room between the ends for everything to fit. The rubber in the bushings should not get compressed when everything is in place (maybe just a little), so I suspect this may be the problem.

[spider2081]

I think the bushings are correct, 3 of them were in the trunk of a car I purchased, these are from IAP. Then I have a set I recently purchased from a Fiat Vendor. All seem to measure the same diameter.

The arms are most likely bent because the rubber is really compressed when the bushings seat in place.

I have installed bushings before and not had this problem. I cut a length of 1.5 inch PVC pipe to fit between the arm ears. I slit the tubing in half with a band saw. I install the halves around the swing bolt and tape them together before pressing in the last bushing. This procedure worked before however I assume the control arms side spacing to be correct.

Thanks everyone for you thoughts

[spider2081]

I had the inner cup washers installed backwards. I posted this problem on Mirafiori and someone asked about the washers. Once I installed the washers with the cup facing away from the bushing (cups facing each other on the swing bolt) the bushings seated properly. Vandor made the point the rubber should not be too compressed and I was really compressing the rubber and the busing still was not fully seated.
Thanks everyone for your time.