Installing control arm bushings

[48builder]

Is it possible to install my g-body control arm bushings and lower ball joints at home using a bench vise?

I took my arms to a friends shop over two weeks ago, and still not done. I really want to get this frame wrapped up and the body back on top. I don't know if I can generate enough force in my vise. Anybody ever done this?

Thanks

Walt

[Jbird]

It would probably be wiser to rent a ball joint press, one of them big C-clamp ones with the multi sized tubular receivers. You can clamp either the press or the control arm in the vise. You can use large sockets to press in the bushings. You have to support the control arm where the bushings go thru it so you don't bend the control arm. I use a piece of thin wall tubing sliced up to slip into the control arm and around the bushing.

A lot of parts stores rent tools now-a-days.    Jbird

[wayne petty]

is you vice bolted to to a heavy duty counter or work bench?   right over a leg?

pressing the bushings in with a conventional hydraulic press was always a hard job...no easy way to get a direct press. the other side of the control arm always got in the way...

when i did this for a living i used 3 pound hammers and sockets... using the lip of the vice to back up the control arm holes to stop from bending the tips of the control arms...


to get them out everybody including me used an air hammer with various tips...
a wide blade with a concave curve ground into the edge was great for removing the flanged bushings.. when i worked at good year some of the guys could drive the bushings off and back on without removing it from the car, using the air hammer...

one tech had several differnt sized pieces of thick wall tubing that he had machined the end off at an angle and opened one side a few inch down..  this he used to back up the control arm to drive the bushing with the old hammer and socket.. i think he had a custom made driver.. the slot was wide enough to allow the cross bar to fit.   it's been more than 25 years since i saw those and they were made by him...


much easier if the cross bar is straight is to cut the side out of a legnth of pipe  and slip it between the ears of the control arm and it will allow you to hammer the bushings. in... using a socket or better a short legnth of tubing..    

lower control arms with double holes for each bushing to pass through need spacers to stop from collapsing the end...    sockets and all thread can be used to press them out and in.. beware some have had the small ends of the bushing tube expanded to lock it in place...


chrysler torsion bar lower control arms need a press to drive the tapered pin out and an air hammer to drive out the shell... it take a while.. the're tough...

drive the inner shell off the tapered shaft..

this is important..    drive the tapered shaft into the bushing first...   then using a tube that matches the outer shell drive the bushing and tapered pin in...

if you try to drive the bushing in first and then the tapered pin or drive the two parts in with the tapered in.  you will drive the pin in too deep and then you wont be able to get a proper wheel alignment as the lower control arm is mounted too close to the k member...


again.. the most important thing is to not tighten the pivot bolts until you get the car to final ride height... if tightened with the suspention hanging. the bushing will be locked into a twist.. when driven. the suspention will go beyond where the bushings can twist and they will fail.....every time....

building a press simular to this one would be perfect for pressing suspention bushings...

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=44811

[1FATGMC]

Be carefully, a good friend of mine lost an eye a year ago pressing these in.  He said he had done thousands before this.  He owned an auto parts house by St. Louis and sold it to his son and was doing this for one of his son's customers.

Wear a full face shield,

Sum

[tomslik]

Be carefully, a good friend of mine lost an eye a year ago pressing these in.  He said he had done thousands before this.  He owned an auto parts house by St. Louis and sold it to his son and was doing this for one of his son's customers.

Wear a full face shield,

Sum

ANYTHING in a press can hurt ya....

[48builder]

A lot of parts stores rent tools now-a-days.    Jbird

I'll check and see about renting a press. Every time I stop by my friends shop he says "I'll get them to you by Saturday". Thing is, I'm paying for the job, not asking for a freebie and I told him that. I just want to keep progress going on this car.

I'd like to get one of those presses that Wayne suggests. Can't really justify it for a one-time use.

Thanks

Walt

[enjenjo]

here you go  http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=38335  under $30 you just need to make up a few spacers.

[rooster]

here you go  http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=38335  under $30 you just need to make up a few spacers.

Advance auto parts and auto zone loan that tool out also! Worked for me.

[Pep]

I've used a vice in the past with soapy water as a lubricant.....

[wayne petty]

this is an image of the otc ball joint press...


my idea of an open face press is one that has a movable jack table... or someway to move the top point up and down..  many people have porta powers that just sit in the box most of the time.... a spring loaded slide that a bottle jack sits on top of  and the ram height screw can ajust the height under the press point...   just my thought...


the bushing c clamp has a open face to it will clear the cross shaft... look closely at the image...


find a socket that fits over the rubber and drive the first  bushing home..   slide the shaft in.. probably slide the shaft in first...the the first bushing..  flip it over and take a second deep sc ocket and drive the second one home... use the hammer agenst the back of the control arm to seat the bushing while the bushing is still in the socket agenst the floor.   you can use a long drift if you want...to get it home from the back...

[Ed ke6bnl]

here you go  http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=38335  under $30 you just need to make up a few spacers.

this for me has been a great HF tool done many ball joints and u joints with it flawlessly. ED

[enjenjo]

here you go  http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=38335  under $30 you just need to make up a few spacers.

this for me has been a great HF tool done many ball joints and u joints with it flawlessly. ED

I have both the HF press, and the OTC, and all the parts will interchange. I modified the HF press to be open so it would clear the cross shaft.

[48builder]

[quote="enjenjo
I have both the HF press, and the OTC, and all the parts will interchange. I modified the HF press to be open so it would clear the cross shaft.[/quote]

Thanks, Frank. I'll give the local HF store a call and see if they have it in stock. Maybe I'll get lucky and the shop that has my arms will have them done today and I won't have to bother with them. I'm doing a timing belt on my 2.4 Stratus this weekend and would love to have one less thing to do.

Walt

[tomslik]

[quote="enjenjo
I have both the HF press, and the OTC, and all the parts will interchange. I modified the HF press to be open so it would clear the cross shaft.

Thanks, Frank. I'll give the local HF store a call and see if they have it in stock. Maybe I'll get lucky and the shop that has my arms will have them done today and I won't have to bother with them. I'm doing a timing belt on my 2.4 Stratus this weekend and would love to have one less thing to do.

Walt[/quote]

when you're done with your t-belt, get somebody with a scanner to reset the cam/crank stuff.
yeah, it needs to be done...

[tomslik]

here you go  http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=38335  under $30 you just need to make up a few spacers.

this for me has been a great HF tool done many ball joints and u joints with it flawlessly. ED

I have both the HF press, and the OTC, and all the parts will interchange. I modified the HF press to be open so it would clear the cross shaft.

i read this 5 times and didn't get it, then, like a dull thud.....
i LIKE that idea, cut up a cheap press....