advice pressing in/out upper control arm bushings

[RedlineRex]

i went to three different shops today to get my old bushings pressed out and get the ES pressed back in but none of then said they could do it? one shop said that they would have to torch out the rubber bushing then everything falls apart. another shop said they would just use some penetrating oil then air hammer it out. i have an air hammer here at the house, but i'm a little iffy on this suggestion. can somebody please shed a little light on this subject? i just want to get the truck back together... TIA

 

[2cold]

Both of those shops suggestions would work. I can tell you from watching someone else try, don't try to install them with an aluminum baseball bat.

A good c-clamp can work ok for installing them, with a little light oil or silicone on the metal surfaces but don't put oil or sillicone on the rubber parts of the new ones, cuase it's bad for the rubber.

And the reason they were able to tell you what would work but wouldn't do it for you is cuz it's a pain in the ass.

 

[Irid]

Use an industrial press, it should take like 10 minutes. The lowers are a PITA and require a special tool unless you get creative.

You won't be able to "push" them out by hammering on them, you need something with constant pressure. I did it a month ago when I rebuilt my front end. I have an industrial 12 ton press from harbor freight for just this type of thing. That thing rocks.

 

[RedlineRex]

maybe i will give the air hammer the old college try tomorrow after work. if it fails miserably, then i will get ahold of the 6ton press i bought years ago from harbor freight (never used). only drawback is that they live an hour away and cant get then til the weekend. any sacto syty'ers around that knows of a shop in town (or has the hardware in their garage) to help a guy out?

 

[Methuselah]

I had good success with notching the outer bushing cylinders (after flaming the rubber out) with a sawzall. This causes the cylinder to pull away from the control arm and then I hammered them out.

I was able to press new bushings in by using a pulley puller to grab on the opposite side of the control arm pivot, and using a piece of weld steel to press against one of the old outer bushing cylinders I notched out. This was not nearly as effective, however, as taking a sledge hammer to the new bushing, after placing one of the old outer bushing cylinders I cut out on top of it.
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Herbalaire vaporizer

 

[lewisstraughn]

I made a tool using a section of grade 8 threaded rod about 7" long, nuts, washers and a socket that just fits inside the hole in the A arm. I took a 2.5" diameter piece of rigid conduit about 2.5" long and placed it over the end that is flanged and made sure it was big enough to clear the flange. I had to notch the conduit to alow it to sit flush over the torsion bar opening on the lower A arms. Get a piece of flat 3/8" steel stock and drill a hole in the center for the threaded rod. Then get one of your sockets that fits into the other end with the open end against the bushing. Run the threaded rod though the socket, bushing, conduit, and steel stock. Place a grade eight flat washer that is large enough to cover the socket. Put nuts on each end and begin to tighten the nuts and the bushing will move into the end with the conduit. To install the new bushing just turn the homemade tool around and press the new bushing in. Real simple and no heating, cutting, or damaging the A arms. If you have any questions on how this works give me a call and I can help you do it.

 

[myclone]

Took mine to a local heavy truck spring/alignment shop. They pressed the old ones out and the new ones in for $20 and were done in ~1.5hrs. Only got my hands dirty carrying the A arms in/out of the shop and didnt even lose any skin off my knuckles(removing/installing the arms was a diff story all togeather).

 

[Methuselah]

I like Lewis' idea. I assure you though, my solution was only as brute force as was necessary to remove the bushings. The outer cylinders of my bushings had siezed to the control arms, I damaged things when I tried to press them out...but pressing them out after notching them was a snap.

So I guess Im saying dont do it my way unless you really have to
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Strain index

 

[Ian Turgeon]

a vice and 2 sleves, one small enough to press inside the a arm, the other large enough for the entire bushing to fit inside, squish together and it will all come apart.

uppers and lowers were the same except for the sleve in the lowers. We had replacements, so removal went like this:

 

[ibanez691]

i just did mine last week the uppers i had to use a torch and cut the rubber out and cut the metal inhalf then they just hammerd out and used a big hammer to put in the new ones

 

[Lynn D. Brown]

CR bushings

CR bushings

Myclone - I wish I could get a shop to do 1.5 hrs of work for $20.
U were pretty lucky there. I gotta get me a press one of these days.

BTW, oil will not hurt ES bushings - they R Polyurethane, not rubber.

 

[Sy#26]

REAL helpful if you mark the positions of the eccentric washers before you remove the bushings; then your alignment should be at least in the ballpark on re-assembly for the trip to the alignment shop. CHECK your toe-in, its a critical part of the front end setup. Alignment monkey set mine @ supposedly 0.1"; first launch was *real* exciting! Turned out to be @ 0.4", reset it w/ trammel bar to proper specs.

Barry - Sy#26
Bangor, MI

 

[MattGE]

FWIW Make sure that the truck is in rest position before you tighten everything back up. If not, you will be buying more new bushings soon.