These things are a PIA to get out, but not
as bad once you figure out how to do it.
The first one I did took almost three hours. The second one took
me 45 minutes from jacking up the car to backing the car out of the
driveway
upon completion.
I claim no responsibility for this
information,
other than it is provided as a guide. Whatever you break or hurt
after reading this is YOUR problem.
Parts needed:
Rear Control Arm bushing
Front control arm bushing. (your dealer will tell you they can only
get the entire control arm. The part is from a 2nd gen max, but is the
same size and shape as in 3rd gens.)
Tools needed:
Regular hand tools, but on the large size (17, 22 and 24mm to
remove the control arm from the car).
Breaker bar
Pulling tool. i.e. pulley puller.
LARGE vice
Hydraulic press- optional, but highly recommended (I bought
a 12 ton shop press from Harbor freight a while back for about $120.
I've
used it four times in the last month. very handy. will crush aluminum
cans
to less than 1/4" thick. :)
Hacksaw
Blowtorch- the regular propane variety will work. nothing
special.
Eye protection Full face shield recommended, but it's your
choice.
Vice grips or some Channel Locks
Fan you'll find out later.
Leather gloves
Cold chisel (or suitable old flat head screwdriver that you're
not afraid to whack with a hammer).
Decent sized hammer. I did it with an 8 oz ball peen hammer,
but I recommend larger!
okay.. sooo, here's what you do.
1. Jack up car, support w/ jack stands.
2. Remove wheel
3. Unbolt ball joint and sway bar end link.
4. Unbolt the large bolt on front and the two in back of the control
arm.
5. Twist the control arm down and see if the front bushing is loose
enough to pull off. if not, then use the pulley puller to pull the
control arm & bushing off of the car. Remove the rear bushing from
the control arm with the puller or whatever means necessary. Note which
direction the flat spots are on this bushing for when you put it back
on.
Now here's the fun part.
6. Get out the blowtorch, leather gloves, vice grips, screwdriver,
eye/face protection, and a fan. Set your fan up so that you've got good
ventilation in the garage. Clamp the control arm in the vice so the
front bushing is easy to get to. heat the thing up with the blowtorch
and burn the rubber out of the bushing. (watch out. chunks of burning
rubber will fall off and land on things- particularly your tennis
shoes. not fun. wear work boots. watch your workbench to make sure you
don't catch something else on fire.) as the rubber is burning, use the
screwdriver to "scoop out" the melting rubber so that it doesn't take
as long. Keep heating the center part of the bushing with the
blowtorch. Sooner or later the rubber will melt all the way around the
center part of the bushing and you can pull it out with the vice grips.
If you're a pyromaniac like me, continue burning the rubber out of the
bushing until it's gone, or put your fire can aside for later use. I
highly recommend using full face protection while you're digging in the
burning rubber bushing. I flipped a chunk of molten, flaming rubber
onto my face and how have a chunk of black shit about 1/2" wide and 1"
long stuck to my chin. Hopefully it'll peel off.
7. Take apart your hacksaw. Stick the blade through the new hole in the
bushing. Reattach the blade on the hacksaw. Cut two grooves about 1/4 -
3/8" apart in the outer bushing metal until it's just about to hit the
outer part of the control arm itself. You'll see what I mean when you
get there. DO NOT cut into the control arm steel. Bad news, as that
part holds the most force of any part on the entire car.
8. Use your cold chisel and hammer to beat/carve out the slice of metal
you just cut. It'll just kinda peel back off of the control arm bushing
steel if you do it right.
9. Use whatever means necessary to remove the rest of the bushing. This
won't be too hard. I used the old center part of the bushing and
hammered the outer portion out. If you put any nicks or gouges in the
surface, use a file to smooth them out so that the inside is smooth for
the new bushing to slide in.
10. Put your new bushing in the freezer.
11. Now, get your wire brush and cleaner and go to town on the entire
control arm. Yes, the ENTIRE thing.
12.. Grab the bushing out of the freezer. If you're lucky, the heat
difference
between the parts will have caused the clearances to open up enough
that the pieces slide together. If not, stick 'em in the vice and push
it in there ASAP.
15. If that didn't work, now you get to use the hydraulic press. Stick
the control arm in the press and finish pressing the bushing in until
it's correctly seated in the control arm.
17. If you bought a new rear bushing , then coat the inside of the
bushing and the shaft with some dish soap or windex. Slide the new
bushing on. if it doesn't go, whack it on the ground and It'll slide
right in.
18. Put the control arm back on the car, and reassemble the front
suspension, but DO NOT tighten the 27mm front control arm bushing
nut yet!
(If you do, you�ll ruin the bushing the second you drop the car off the
jack stands!) Torque everything else to spec- FSM says 87-108 for
everything, but really darn tight is
about right if you don't have a torque wrench.
19. Replace the front wheel and torque to spec.
20. Lower car from jack stands to that the car is resting on all fours.
21. NOW it's time to torque down the two large control arm bushing nuts
that you didn't do earlier. Get your 27mm socket and torque wrench. You
can reach both nuts from just in front of the front wheels. No need to
crawl under the car unless you can't get leverage on the torque wrench
without it.
22. Drive away happy.
If, after reading the procedure, you don't
feel
that you are up to the job or have the proper tools to do it, contact
me
(matt@mattblehm.com) and
I will be glad to do it for you by a core exchange method. (you
send
me money, your vehicle information, and a mailing address. I send
you a set of control arms w/ new bushings. When you send me your
old control arms back, I'll send you some of the money back so I don't
have to buy another set of control arms.)