You need to use a press. And make some spacers so you don't crush the control arm itself. Then use the press to press in the new bushings. I had a piece of steel pipe cut length-wise and used that as a spacer. Some use wood blocks. I'd use hardwood if you go the wood direction, like oak or maple.

 

I have a press but the cross shaft just deforms the bushing sleeve. Torch??

 

That and or an air hammer, I know some are afraid of these methods. I am not afraid to use them..

 

I had to use an air chisel to get mine out. What a bear of a job.

 

I'm a cheater....I take mine to my front end guy...He only charges me a $100 for all eight bushings....Its worth it to me.

 

I'm a cheater....I take mine to my front end guy...He only charges me a $100 four all eight bushings....Its worth it to me.

Great deal, I might just leave a few sets of arms with you at Lead East and get them in the fall when I come down. :sign0020:

 

I used a hammer and chisel last time. Collapse them in on themselves. About ten minutes per arm. And you'll get a nice work out!

Good luck.

 

That's the way I done mine to. It was a H**lva workout. I'll pay somebody the next time. Van :gba:

 

Well I got one a arm stripped with a air chisel. I'm rethinking this process!!! What a pain in the arse! Till I get them blasted and rebuilt I may as well buy new ones.

 

I took mine to the local machine shop 40 buck for both control arms.

 

If you are really careful and don't damage the outer sleeve of the bushing (the bit thats really hard to get out) you can re-use it and just replace the rubber or polyurethane, and the centre piece parts, which are the only parts that should move, and the parts that wear out. In saying that, the outer bush can get rusty so sand it and protect it if needed. Remember to only grease the inner piece between the rubber/urethane and the centre sleeve.

 

Rubber bushings are bonded to BOTH the inner and outer sleeves and there is no rotation of the rubber on the sleeves. The rubber twists instead of rotating. If the rubber is loose from the sleeve it is bad and WILL squeek sooner or later no mater how much grease is used.
That's the reason for tightening the bushings with the full weight of the car on the suspension, it allows equal twist of the rubber between the bushings.

 

X2 on what Don said.

I've never had good luck pressing the old ones out, have always used an air chisel or hammer and chisel or both. A factor here is whether the control arms are distorted from a previous replacement where the fixtures weren't used.

The pressing fixtures are not new, they are shown in the shop manual. If they are distorted from not using a fixture, fixing that is far less work than getting the old bushings out. Bend the bushing area in the control arms back to where the holes for the bushing are square to the centerline of the shaft/bushings. A big crescent wrench with the control arm in a vise goes a long ways.

 

search you tube, great videos of how to do it but need a custom part that others mentioned..

 

if you have access to a 10-12 Ton press and a helpful friend, within a couple of hours you can press out the old ones and press in the new ones... and making the 'tooling' you need is not difficult... I've made them from angle iron and exhaust tubing.. cut to length of course. Once you make a set for your Trifive, you can use them over and over again. If you or your friend have never done it before, DO find a video of the correct process and view it til you understand it.

 

I make the spacers out of 2 inch black pipe 12 in for lower 9 inch for upper, a short maybe 1 to 2 inch spacer for the outer side the arm does not easily set on the press and a 3/4 in long piece of angle for the small area on the lowers to keep the bushing ends of the lower control from collapsing on itself. If, after a couple of attempts the bushing does not come out (to avoid distorting the arm) I just torch it out, first burn the rubber out then the outer sleeve should be fairly easy to heat, collapse it and usually it will be out within 20 to thirty minutes. If the arms are distorted enough from all the mistreatment trying to get the bushings out without spacers (or from prior attempts) you may want to consider new replacements from CPP, about 250 a pair but they come complete with new ball joints, bushings and cross arms, either painted or powder coated, seems to depend, then all you need to do is install them, which with lowers can be another interesting tale when compressing the spring. Good Luck

 

I made my spacers out of angle iron. I cut the notches for the lower control arm shaft and then welded them together. It was easier to cut notches before welding together.

 

I made my spacers out of square tubing. Somewhere on this forum there's a diagram & photos of the dimensions. If you're still at a loss, private message me & I'll send you the ones I made for the price of a flat rate box. You need a pretty tall press.