Lower Control Arm Bushing replacement

[Andrew224]

Has anyone been able to replace the bushings themselves or will I need to bring it into a shop to have them pressed in?

I'm doing it for a friend and I'm trying to save some cash by just replacing the bushings and not the whole arm/bushing combo.

Andrew

P.S. To clarify, it's for the rear lower control arms.
Modified by Andrew224 at 4:26 PM 6/23/2009

[Chuck Tribolet]

I've had a local private shop do it. They charged me $20 for two arms. SinceI still had the arms from the first round of bushing replacements, it was easyto get them prepped ahead of time. You may have to hunt a bit to find onethat has the right jigs and fixtures. I lucked out and found one on the firsttry.

Some dealers may deny the existance of getting just the bushings. Theoffroad folks will push solid bushings but they had a negative impact on theride of my autocross 240Z.

Do note that you also have to replace the bolts and nuts.

Do NOT plan on getting the nuts off with hand tools. I've done three arms, two needed Ingersol-Rand's BADDEST 1/2" impact wrench (1000 ft. lbs.), one nut on one arm needed to be cut off (The other caved to Ingersol-Rand). I carved up the nut with a pneumatic cuttoff tool. Do note that youare working around the gas tank, and watch where the sparks are going.

When you reassemble things, assemble very loosely. Put the spare in the back of the truck. Jack the diff. NOW torque things down. You want it torqued down at normal ride height. FSM says do it with a half tank. If you trailer a lot (I do) do it with a full tank to simulate the trailer.

[Andrew224]

I was thinking the same thing on replacing the nuts and bolts. I figured that they were not going to come off without a fight and they looked pretty corroded to begin with.

I was also planning on using a small propane torch to heat them up to get them off... I also have a pretty heavy duty 1/2" electric impact wrench. It's such a pain to cut the bolts off, i try to keep it as a last resort.

Thanks for the info!

Andrew

[miamiheat3332]

doesn't heating metal make it expand? and would make that bolt even harder to get off?

[Andrew224]

Heating it does make the metal expand. The nut will expand and the whole will expand, greater than the bolt that goes through the whole. Basically, it make the two parts seperate. It also helps to break down the corroded bond between the two parts, freeing them up and making it easier to unscrew.

Andrew

[Chuck Tribolet]

When I did my uppers the first time, there was one nut that would NOT come off. I banged on it with Ingersol-Rand's
baddest 1/2" impact wrench (1000 ft/lbs) and it didn't budge. Torch didn't help. I had to cut it off with an pneumatic
cut-off tool.

Chuck