lower control arm bushing replacement question

[81SPIDERMATT]

ok arms are off of the car.... rebuilding rather than new arms for financial reasons... plan on local machine shop to press out the old and press in the new... how do i access the lower control arm bushings... it apears to me that the bolt is fixed with the center thiingy that bolts to the cross member.... any help would be appreciated

[manoa matt]

The shop will orient the A arm vertically and press the center pivot bolt out and it will take the lower bushing out with it. Then they will remove the pivot bolt and press out the other bushing. Make sure when the press in the bushings on the upper A arm they don't bottom them out in the hole. The upper bushings have raised ridges that prevent them from being pushed in all the way. And when pressing out and pressing in the bushings on the lower arms, sometimes you need a bar or length of wood between the arms or the arm can deform.

[81SPIDERMATT]

that is a huge help thank you... and thanks to all who have help with past posts and wisdom..my car is better for it

[engineerted]

Measure the distance between the bushings on the upper arms before they are pressed out, that way the shop has something to shoot for when they are pressed back in. That is your tip for the day.

Ted

[81SPIDERMATT]

measure and use a brace got it.... but the center bracket thing that screws to the crossmember... is not that a good thing to use as a measurement and or support ... just asking... i have built a brace out of wood though allready that i think should be ok

[81SPIDERMATT]

and we are back.... can not find torque specs for reassembly .... also this may be a stupid question but without a pit how do tighten everything with weight on the wheels?????...i am not that skinny.. excited

[81SPIDERMATT]

oh .. replace upper and lower ball joints and bushings... are the specs different for each

[manoa matt]

http://mirafiori.com/faq/content/elisusp/elisusp.html

http://www.mirafiori.com/~thad/bushing.html

http://mirafiori.com/faq/content/spider ... l_Arms.htm

http://mirafiori.com/faq/content/sbbush ... shings.htm

[81SPIDERMATT]

AWESOME... THANK YOU.. GREAT INFO............. cinder blocks...boy do i feel dumb

[81SPIDERMATT]

am i missing something,,,, below is a copy of instructions that i am trying to follow

Install a spring compressor and compress the spring.
Once the spring is loose (no tension on the lower control arm) you can remove the pivot bolt from the upper control arm. The upper control arm should now be loose from the chassis.
NOTE: If there is still some residual spring tension, then put a floor jack under the ball joint and jack up the lower control arm a little. Then remove the pivot bolt.
Tilt the steering knuckle down until it rests on the floor. Remove the spring.
After the spring is removed, immediately remove the spring compressor.Never leave a spring in a compressed state.
Unbolt the lower control arm from the crossmember.
IMPORTANT: there may be some spacers (shims) between the pivot bar and the

crossmember. Do not remove the shims, they are for setting the wheel alignment.

DONE! Repeat steps 5-17 for the other side of the car. Put a mark on the steering knuckles so that you know to which side they belong.

You can now remove the control arms from the steering knuckles. Use the same tool that you used for removing the tie rod in step 11.

Remove the grease seal from the back of the hubs, then remove the inner wheel bearing. Be careful to keep the bearings and hubs together! The bearings must go back to the same hub from which they were removed. The hubs must go back to the same spindle from which they were removed.

Clean the wheel bearings with mineral spirits or turpentine. Dry thoroughly. Also clean the inside of the hubs with a rag dipped in solvent. Clean the spindles on the steering knuckles.

Now is a good time to carefully inspect the crossmember for cracks, rust damage, etc. It is relatively easy to replace the crossmember now that all the suspension is removed. Better to do it now then after everything is back together!

INSTALLATION

IMPORTANT: Do not tighten the rubber bushings on the pivot pins until told to do so! The rubber bushings must be tightened only after everything is back together and the car is loaded with weight to simulate the normal driving height. If you tighten them in advance, the rubber will become twisted after the car is dropped and loaded with weight. This will cause premature failure of the bushings.
The upper control arm must slide into position during step 8, so start by cleaning the shock tower where the upper control arm attaches. This will make it easier to slide the upper control arm into position.
Attach both control arms to the steering knuckle.Torque the nuts to 72 ft-lbs. You can use a crowfoot wrench on your torque wrench. Don’t worry about the small resulting error in torque.
Here is a picture of a crowfoot wrench:
Attach the lower control arm to the crossmember.Torque the nuts to 43 ft-lbs. Let theassembly tilt down until it rests on the ground.
Use a spring compressor to compress the spring, then place the pad on top of the spring.Rotate the pad until it properly butts-up against the end of the spring.
There is a shoulder on the lower control arm that the end of the spring should also butt-up against. Orient the spring so that the end of the spring is in the proper position, then insert the spring into the shock tower.
Push the bottom of the spring into place on the lower control arm.Make sure the end of the spring is going to be up against the shoulder on the lower control arm.


it is that last part.... car is jacked up high....spring is compressed ..... i am still inches away from being able to get spring onto lower control arm....getting frustrated.... please help

[81SPIDERMATT]

also if i really compress the spring the bolt of the compressor hits the chock tower

[geert]

am i missing something,,,, below is a copy of instructions that i am trying to follow

it is that last part.... car is jacked up high....spring is compressed ..... i am still inches away from being able to get spring onto lower control arm....getting frustrated.... please help

hope I can help.

Never get frustated : the fun is in the job ! (once it's done)

A manual is always great except for the practical details ( I love 'need special tools nr xxxx, rebuilding is the reverse .... )

some ideas in pictures, if you think it might help you and need some more words, let know.
I did cut 1 coil on the springs, wich helped a lot also.
Careful with compressed springs and ... have fun !

[81SPIDERMATT]

i know rebuilding in reverse gets me also ... funny how you will get stuck on one thing..... was trying to compress way to far... once i read it again WORD BY WORD "Make sure the end of the spring is going to be up against the shoulder on the lower control arm." SHOULDER...SHOULDER..THAT IS THE ONE... my fault for not paying attention close enough in the first place when taking apart... i don't think i could get that spring any way near compressed enough to assemble the way that i pictured it in my mind....thanks to greert for giving me the confidence with pictures to try and band the spring myself... also i used only one side of the spring compressor to sorta bend the spring crooked (after a couple of tries because the way the spring has to end up)..also this felt a little unsafe..but it allowed me to get the top in the tower and the bottom resting on the SHOULDER ONLY ...of the bottom control arm.... then the jack on the ball joint and away we go.....fininshing assemly today during the race and off to the shop monday 8 am for alighnment. snow is melting..roads are drying.highs near 50 next week...ready to tear up some mountain roads

THANKS AGAIN TO EVERYONE... WHAT A GREAT COMMUNITY ..MY CAR LOVES YOU AS MUCH AS I DO