How do I get the outer bushing shells out of the A-arm? My new ES bushings come with the inner and outer sleeves...but I'm having trouble removing the old ones. The ancient rubber bushings required drilling, burning and chiseling to remove. Now they're out of the way, but the crosshaft is still pinned in the arm, and I'm at a bit of an impasse.

 

I had mine pressed out and the new ones pressed in at a machine shop for $10.

 

:comp:

 

air chissle

 

I always take mine to a friend who presses them out and the new ones in.

 

That's bacially how I took them out. Drilling the rubber sounds easy but the bit had a tendacy to slid into an existing hole. I tried using an air chisel but my cheap thing didn't work. I wound up making a few cuts with the dremel and then beating them out.

 

Sheesh, guys, it's not hard at all! Take a hacksaw and assemble it inside the bushing, running lengthwise, and saw two grooves on opposite sides of the barrel but do not cut all the way thru to the control arm. Then remove the saw and cut thru the flanges on each end at the grooves. Take a cold chisel and collapse the bushing and remove. If you have a sawzall you can do it in about 5 minutes each.
I guess it's too late now, but the easy way to remove the rubber is with a hole saw with no pilot bit. Takes about 5 minutes each, clean, easy, quick.
To remove the inner bushing shell from the shaft, use a cold chisel on the seam to split it and pry it open with a screwdriver. About 30 seconds each.....
To install the bushings, I used a flapper wheel to clean the surfaces of the control am. Then use blocks between the ends of the control arm to prevent tweeking and knocking them out of alignment, and more blocks and/or old bearing races and/or large sockets for pounding on. Support the arm end you are pounding on your pounding surface--DO NOT POUND AGAINST THE ARM ITSELF. Lightly grease the bushing shells. Tap shell into arm with hammer. DON'T FORGET TO INSTALL THE SHAFT BEFORE YOU INSTALL THE SECOND BUSHING. I put anti-sieze on the shaft just 'cause.
Took me about 2 hours to do all bushings in all arms, but I was taking my time......Try searching the archives, there are threads about this. It's not as hard as many people make it out to be (or at least mine weren't).

John

 

I think I'll toss the bushings in the freezer for a while to see if I can get the shells to shrink a bit. The sawzall idea is a good one...I'll give that a shot.

 

That's exactly what I did: hole saw to remove the rubber, sawzall a little to collapse the bushing.

 

Since you've got ES ... must be poly ... if so, you DO NOT need to remove outer shells ... you can reuse the outer shells along with new poly bushings & new inner sleeves. I used a $7 deep hole saw I got from Lowe's & a penknife to hog out the old rubber in mine. I never even tried to remove my old outer shells ... & I reused them along with the new ES poly bushings & inner sleeves. Used plenty of silicone grease. Cleaned shafts end-threads well with tap & carb cleaner ... then installed end bolts with loctite. This method works great if replacing w/ poly but will not work if replacing w/rubber. If you like, you can use the new ES outer shells to make Christmas tree ornaments.

-edit- If you've already begun hacking/sawing/beating on the old outer shells then you may've already screwed the pooch ... if the old outer shells are damaged then go ahead & replace them too. Then again, maybe the next fellow will read this before he starts ... I have previously posted this method here at CF & at CAC.

 

I'd like to get the cross-shaft out so I can clean and paint everything.

 

I cleaned my entire control arm and its xshaft ... pressure washer & wire wheel ... and then painted it real nice too. Really, this poly method is easy and there's NO, NO risk of bending/tweaking/damaging CA.