The upper control arm bushings are the ones that wear first....they have more movement than the lower control arms.

Like I said earlier that has been ignored....my 68 still has ALL of the original rubber bushings except for one upper control arm. My 20 years were up in 1987according to your statement....huuummmm...and this is 2014...26 more years than the 20 year life you came up with somewhere.

And for 42 years that I have owned the 68...I have not had to put up with a much rougher ride...more vibrations in the streering wheel....and taking the front end apart to re-grease the bushings.

I noticed last nite a friend of mine has a 64 409 with original rubber bushings....I will have to tell him that his control arm bushings failed 30 years ago.

Again...tell me why you need to replace the ball joint parts when you remove the A arms...and why you need special tools to get the A arms off the car?

I will say no more.....to each his own.

 

68L79

The tools I have described will help the original poster of this thread in removal of his control arms without damaging his ball joint grease seals and also help in removing the tie rods from the lower part of the suspension. Which I purchased today and read a few reviews on this tool kit before buying it. Only bad review was someone using a 1/2 Inch Air Impact tool on the kit and stripped out the threads LOL.

http://www.harborfreight.com/front-e...5pc-60306.html

My control arm bushings are 37 years old both up and lower are dry rotted with the passenger side almost metal to metal on the front bushing. I choose not use a fork to remove the ball joints and the special tool I chose does it without damaging the ball joint rubber seal. If you use an impact fork or hammer Fork to separate the ball joints and tie rod ends then it will damage the rubber grease seals. These inexpensive tools can do it without damage. This is why we use special tools to remove stuff

You also live in a more humid state than some do. Places like Denver Colorado are just above the Desert Level of moisture each year and this alone will dry rot rubber faster than some other states with higher moisture levels in the air.

Not all cars can sit in a garage for 42 years and rust will seep into the threads and seats of the parts on any car that sits in weather for even a year

While your replies are not being ignored some of us need tools to separate the Ball Joints the A-Arms. I posted a tool that will not damage the Rubber Grease Seals and ran out and bought the tools today because I also need them for my 2008 Mazda 3 that do not all have grease zerks and if I damage the seals on my daily driver which does sit out in the driveway all year round I will be replacing parts I do not need to replace.

My 1977 Corvette which I am the forth owner of has lots of rusted and frozen suspension parts any tool that I can buy to make my life easier when removing them will be purchased


As I also said in my replies when installing Poly urethane Bushings they will stiffen the suspension, they will last longer then rubber and they will probably not need to be removed in years to come since they are impregnated with Graphite. Graphite is very fine powder that is called a dry lubricant for those that do not know. Really good stuff I like to use graphite on parts that do not necessarily need a wet lubricant like silicone, lithium or grease. When pulling stuff apart and putting it back together again my other favorite is Anti Seize Compound any bolt I remove on my cars that are subject to Weather will get Anti Seize on it. For high temps I use the Copper and for low temps I use the silver. Saves time and prevents rust and seizing of parts subject to water and elements.

 

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...tegrating.html