Wow, that was not a fun task to put in the control arm set. I new it was difficult, but it should have been easier. Here's why.

I am in the military and went to the base hobby shop where they are supposed to have presses and such. Well they do have a press, but not all the damn drifts or punches or whatever they are called. So we had to improvise with sockets. Did not work as planned.

Hack saw for caster arm, then used air chisel for the sleeve. De-burred, pressed in done. Caster arm easy! FUCA, wow that was not fun. Have to use the air chisel, cut the metal part off the outer edge and proceeded to press it out. Well the socket fits not quite right, so the metal sleeve on one side pushed out as the other side just wedged in. Out came the BFH and bashed it.

K thats out, put new bushings in super easy, Install FUCA, shii.... it wont fit, When pressing the old one out the rear side of both my FUCA's bent inward.

Now what???? No spare arms laying around $400 fu

So I put a hydro bottle jack inside the mounts and pressed it back out nice and slow. There was no mark or cracking on the coating so the metal was not out of its elastic limit, cool.

Put int FUCA after shizniting myself.

Now the hobby shop is closing in 15 min and I have my arms with new bushings in sitting on the bench (beside the FUCA) going I am screwed. Nope, me and my boy put the arms, struts, upright, brakes and wheels back on the car in those 15 min. But not torqued to spec.

Damn it again, it is 445 in San Diego and getting dark, I just pushed the car from the lift, to the parking lot to jack it up and continue.

In the parking lot got the braces on, oh yeah, we just put the nut on the caster arm to hold it up while we pushed it out to the lot.

So in lot at 5pm, dark just got braces on, balljoints and eccentric botls fairly loose, I drive with hazrds on no more the 10mph for 4 miles to my buddies house.

LET THERE BE LIGHT, and there was plenty in the garage. SWEET, now to torque everything to spec and line up the eccentric bolts to the marks, put new cotter pins in ball joints/tie rod. 122lbs check , check check all different specs tqd, wheels on,,test drive.

YAY, all done, no squeaks, nothing abnormal, just a little pull to left, slightly more then before. Now to get an alignment on Tuesday.

Oh and my low speed creaks and such while turning and breaking are gone, as well as the high speed freeway shakes and vibes. Braking seems to have improved and steering is mush tighter. Well worth the 7.5 hours it took me. That time includes the parking lot and limping it back while stopping at Carls Jr for food shenanigans. Time to drink a beer and go to bed.

Jeremy

 

Wow what a job.. I still need to order my balljoints even though i replaced them 2 years ago.. I guess its better to have everything new.. I'm also doing steering and sway at the same time Hopefully.. Looking forward to the better ride quality with these bushings..

 

That sounds about right. I too had dreams of pressing out the bushings all nice and easy. 1 Torch, air chisel, and drill later they come out like a bastard. Once they are in though it's like a whole new world!

 

Yeah wish I had the money or could have waited to do ball joints and tie rods at the same time, but my highway vibes were bad. Lower ball joints and tie rods will be in about 6 months. Should be pretty damn easy in comparison. Now I know how it all comes apart. I'll do the rack then and wait on sways as I think I will be getting TRD bars pretty soon.

Yeah, the car is stock, but with the poly bushings it is nice and controlled and much more rigid feeling.

Jeremy