A-Arm Bushing Removal?
Team Owner
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 23,831
Likes: 10
From: Springfield MO
St. Jude Donor '07
I just pried the shells out with a cold chisel and a hammer. The upper cross shafts can come out with the shells in place. The lowers are a bit more complicated - the outer shells pin the crossshaft into the arm.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 845
Likes: 1
From: Columbus Indiana
I just rebuilt a set of a-arms I got off e-bay. Just drill the rubber out of the bushings. I chucked my a-arms in the vise. Hold them by the shaft, not the body of the arm. Drill both ends out. After a certain point, you can work the arms back and forth, and the old rubber will just crumble and fall out. The outer shells are in the a-arm, and are easily driven out with a SMALL ball peen hammer. the inners are on the shaft. If you look close, you'll see where they are split. Just take a small slotted screwdriver and drive it into the slot. A tiny bit of WD-40, and it'll slide right off the shaft end. You don't need a press or anything fancy to change out your ball joints and bushings, and really, you don't even need a lot of time. I did all four of mine in about 2 hours. That was a lot of jawing with a few of my friends who were over just killing time.
Hope this helps.....John
Hope this helps.....John
Burning Brakes
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 1,145
Likes: 5
From: South of London, Engerland
OK, I got another opinion! 
I burnt mine out.
Get a decent-sized blowtorch and heat the outer shell of the bushing. Eventually it'll get so hot that the rubber expands and forces itself out of the bush, leaving it all charred and loose. Worked a treat. The metal gets nowhere near red-hot.
Obviously this screws up the paint, so if you're not planning to re-paint the A-arms then you need to use one of the more time-consuming mechanical methods.
I burnt mine out.
Get a decent-sized blowtorch and heat the outer shell of the bushing. Eventually it'll get so hot that the rubber expands and forces itself out of the bush, leaving it all charred and loose. Worked a treat. The metal gets nowhere near red-hot.
Obviously this screws up the paint, so if you're not planning to re-paint the A-arms then you need to use one of the more time-consuming mechanical methods.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 3,028
Likes: 0
From: Madison Ms
For the lower a arm, put it in a vice clamed near the bushing. Take a big screwdriver or chisel and beat in the NON-LIPPED side. Next beat it downward, and it will pop out. Nothing to it. Just did it.
Pro
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 582
Likes: 0
From: Ashaway RI
Originally Posted by BenUK
OK, I got another opinion!
I burnt mine out.
Get a decent-sized blowtorch and heat the outer shell of the bushing. Eventually it'll get so hot that the rubber expands and forces itself out of the bush, leaving it all charred and loose. Worked a treat. The metal gets nowhere near red-hot.
Obviously this screws up the paint, so if you're not planning to re-paint the A-arms then you need to use one of the more time-consuming mechanical methods.
I burnt mine out.
Get a decent-sized blowtorch and heat the outer shell of the bushing. Eventually it'll get so hot that the rubber expands and forces itself out of the bush, leaving it all charred and loose. Worked a treat. The metal gets nowhere near red-hot.
Obviously this screws up the paint, so if you're not planning to re-paint the A-arms then you need to use one of the more time-consuming mechanical methods.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 3,028
Likes: 0
From: Madison Ms
Originally Posted by BenUK
OK, I got another opinion!
Obviously this screws up the paint, so if you're not planning to re-paint the A-arms then you need to use one of the more time-consuming mechanical methods.
Obviously this screws up the paint, so if you're not planning to re-paint the A-arms then you need to use one of the more time-consuming mechanical methods.
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Burning Brakes
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 1,145
Likes: 5
From: South of London, Engerland
Originally Posted by MsVetteMan
Uhhh......I can take one out in about 2 minutes.
and am waiting to do the other. (My wife gave birth to our first child yesterday... Vette projects have to wait, apparently 
) I'm certainly interested in finding a less messy method.What do you mean about hitting the non-lipped side before you hit it downwards? Do you just beat on the bushing first before you try to hit it out of the A-arm?
I don't have a vise to clamp the A-arm in. I guess this is going to make things pretty much impossible?
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 3,028
Likes: 0
From: Madison Ms
First I removed the poly bushing. Then I took a big screw driver and started collasping the end inwards. Then took the screwdriver and hammer and beat it downward until it popped out. This would be very difficult to do with out a vise or something to hold the a arm steady.
Burning Brakes
Joined: May 2005
Posts: 1,145
Likes: 5
From: South of London, Engerland
Originally Posted by MsVetteMan
First I removed the poly bushing. Then I took a big screw driver and started collasping the end inwards. Then took the screwdriver and hammer and beat it downward until it popped out. This would be very difficult to do with out a vise or something to hold the a arm steady.
...I think.
Last edited by BenUK; Aug 21, 2006 at 10:56 AM.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 8,339
Likes: 24
From: I can walk to MA
Originally Posted by BenUK
Ah-hah - I think poly bushes are different, in that the flexible material isn't bonded tightly to the metal bits. Rubber bushes are all glued together, so you can't knock the outer shell out without separating it from the inner shell. Hence the heat to destroy the rubber first.
...I think.
...I think.
Picking up a few tips from Lar's paper ... and doing oodles of them since, Ive learned:
A little heat with a propane torch on the arm will expand the arm enough
to let the shell come out easier. I no longer remove the rubber at all.
After heating (cross shaft held in vice), use your air chisel or cold chisel
to push the inner edge of the inner sleeve enought to see it is not
frozen to the shaft. Next, use the air chisel to work the inner edge
of the outer shell ... then pry with the air chisel under the outer lip
of the outer shell. Work around and on opposite sides. Use a little more
heat to make it easier. Note that I also have made a special bit for
my air chisel. Starting with a wide chisel bit, use your grinder to turn the
flat cutting edge to a crescent shaped curve. Then, make the crescent
shaped edge thin but not sharp. Round it over to be blunt. You don't
want to cut through the shells, just push and pry them.
I hope this helps. Every time I do another set, I learn a new trick.
Last edited by NHvette; Aug 21, 2006 at 11:31 AM.
Team Owner
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 23,831
Likes: 10
From: Springfield MO
St. Jude Donor '07
I just wedged the arm against something soild, then used a cold chisel and hammer to hit the lip of the outer bushing shell. Moving around the lip allows the shell to come out straight. I think I took about 20 minutes per arm, and I didn't do anything to the old rubber bushings inside the shells. If I had had an air chisel it would have been much faster.
MSVetteMan, you're making waaaaay too much work for yourself.
MSVetteMan, you're making waaaaay too much work for yourself.
Racer
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 428
Likes: 1
From: West Des Moines Iowa
Originally Posted by big_G
Me and my air chisel can do each one in 10 seconds or less...HA!
Blow that thing away fast with an air chisel, job done in no time, The "big G" is thinkin' straight, he knows the deal --"gettin' it done and drinkin' beer with the ladies"--- while MsVetteman is drinkin' gallons of Pepto.
Gonzo
Last edited by gonzo14; Aug 21, 2006 at 08:36 PM.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jan 2005
Posts: 3,028
Likes: 0
From: Madison Ms
Easy now boys. Easy. Hey, I got the upper control arms off tonight, and you don't have to take the fan shroud off. Just got a crow bar and pried one side off, then twisted it upwards, and pried the other side off. Just enough flex in the shroud to get them out.
Now the upper bushings came out pretty easy as well, and I just skipped the screwdriver part and went straight to the BFH!! Bent them in a bit, and hammered them out in 5 seconds............WINNER!! Actually it took a few minutes, but they busted right out.
The rubber shouldn't make a difference, just get a BFH!!
Now the upper bushings came out pretty easy as well, and I just skipped the screwdriver part and went straight to the BFH!! Bent them in a bit, and hammered them out in 5 seconds............WINNER!! Actually it took a few minutes, but they busted right out.
The rubber shouldn't make a difference, just get a BFH!!
Racer
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 428
Likes: 1
From: West Des Moines Iowa
Originally Posted by MsVetteMan
Easy now boys. Easy. Hey, I got the upper control arms off tonight, and you don't have to take the fan shroud off. Just got a crow bar and pried one side off, then twisted it upwards, and pried the other side off. Just enough flex in the shroud to get them out.
Now the upper bushings came out pretty easy as well, and I just skipped the screwdriver part and went straight to the BFH!! Bent them in a bit, and hammered them out in 5 seconds............WINNER!! Actually it took a few minutes, but they busted right out.
The rubber shouldn't make a difference, just get a BFH!!
Now the upper bushings came out pretty easy as well, and I just skipped the screwdriver part and went straight to the BFH!! Bent them in a bit, and hammered them out in 5 seconds............WINNER!! Actually it took a few minutes, but they busted right out.
The rubber shouldn't make a difference, just get a BFH!!
P.S. INVEST IN AN AIR CHISEL
Gonzo
