Pressing out control arm bushings

[markk]

I will be servicing my front suspension in a few weeks and I was wondering if anyone can give me some advice on pressing out the control arm bushings. I will be using a 12 ton press but I read somewhere that you should fabricate a brace out of pipe to support the arm when pressing out the bushings. Has anyone done this? I'm not sure what to use. I called a few places today and they wanted $70 per control arm. I can buy a 12 ton press for less money.

Thanks

[t_l75]

i recently did this a few months back and i found a great article on it: yhis shows a full rebuild but it does include the control arms. I read this thouroughly a few times before i started dissasembling my suspension, it helped me know what things were and what i needed. good luck, if you need any pictures, i may be able to find some, depending on what you need. just let me know.

http://www.corvettemagazine.com/susp...n-rebuild.html

[gtr1999]

You have to be careful pressing them out, you can bend them. The support goes in between the inner arms. I use a hole saw to cut the rubber bushing and then an air chisel to work the bushings out, this method should not damage the arm. I don't know if Lar's is here but if you go to vettemod or CF you can find Lars and get his paper on this job to help.

[garys 68]

What GTR said, hole saw to destroy the old rubber, then chisel out the metal bushing sleeve.
Clean up the A arm surface with some sandpaper before pitting in the new ones.
I used a piece of angle iron cut to the length between the A arm mounts to support when pressing in the new ones. Probably could have done it without a press. Took less than 1 hr.

[lsejlowe]

I'm no pro rebuilder, but when I did my front suspension a few years back I pressed them out with no trouble. I don't see that pressing them out puts the arm at as much risk as pressing them in. You're pressing the bushing down through the hole in the CA so you're not trying to collapse the span of the arm. On the set of arms I did a month or two ago I burned and cut out the rubber, but the outer sleeve was a PITA to remove. Maybe an air chisel makes the job that much easier, but when I do the passenger side arms in a few weeks I'll go for the press first.

[crvtownr]

Here is the link I had to Lars paper, it was very helpful!

http://www.lbfun.com/warehouse/tech_...%20rebuild.pdf

[6880 Mike]

FWIW: I burned what was left of my old bushings. The arms were off the car. Start them with a propane torch and left them go.

Burning rubber stinks, so do them outside.

[lsejlowe]

Am I crazy for thinking you're not likely to bend the arm pressing them out? So long as you securely support the bottom of the arm around the flange of the bushing and the rubber is in good shape they should push right out.

[garys 68]

Each end of the CA on my 68 was bent over with an inside and outside support for it. Those were in ther 40 years and were frozen on both supports. Pressing out the bushing while supporting the outside would have distorted the inside CA bushing support.

Originally Posted by lsejlowe

Am I crazy for thinking you're not likely to bend the arm pressing them out? So long as you securely support the bottom of the arm around the flange of the bushing and the rubber is in good shape they should push right out.

[lsejlowe]

Originally Posted by garys 68

Each end of the CA on my 68 was bent over with an inside and outside support for it. Those were in ther 40 years and were frozen on both supports. Pressing out the bushing while supporting the outside would have distorted the inside CA bushing support.

do you mean on the lower control arm where each bushing has to press through both parts of the arm? This isn't a great pic, but here's how I supported the lower arm when I was pressing in my poly bushings a few months back. Seems like a similar support system would let you press out the old bushings safely, but I can believe it would depend on how old the bushings are and how tightly they've seized up in the arm.



A thread I put together at the time. I never quite got around to adding the pics and info on the lower arm...
Control Arm Bushing Install - Poly

[garys 68]

That's it. I used some angle iron to make a similar support for reinstalling the bushings.
But mine were so corroded they had to be peeled away from the arm even after the rubber was removed.