Any Tricks To Replacing Lower Control Arm Bushings??

[bradfields]

Got the lower control arms off of my 71 Demon and have new polyurethane bushings for them, the instructions that came with the bushings are kinda vague plus I'm as dumb as a stump, so I figured I should ask before I tear the crap out of something........

 

[805moparkid]

ok press the pivot out from the T bar insert side... use a 7/16 on an extension to get the pivot out...

with the pivot out use a screw driver and remove the old rubber bushing...

leave the original inner and outer sleeve in the LCA and pivot...

lube and install the new bushing, then press the pivot in and your golden...

 

[sr71mopar]

If you want to use stock type bushings the original sleeves must be removed. The easiest way to get the outer sleeve out is to weld a washer to it and press it out from the back. The inner can be removed from the pin with a chisel.

 

[hemi71x]

There's a "sticky" right at the top of this page, on how to do something like that.
Guess you missed it before posting.

 

[72bluNblu]

If you've got poly bushings there's nothing hard about the job, just press out the pivots and pry out the old rubber. Slide the new bushings in, the metal sleeves stay in place. Removing the metal sleeves to re-install a stock set of bushings is the hard part, so you skip that step because the poly bushings just ride inside the old sleeves.

If you don't have a press, in a pinch you can remove the pivots by using a propane torch on the rubber. Once the rubber is toast, the pivots will slide right out. :cheers:

 

[bradfields]

Ahhhhhhh, thanks. After posting my question, I found all of the previous posts on the subject........story of my life, a day late and a dollar short, thanks for the help.

 

[mcnoople]

Have you read about the negative effects of using a poly lca bushings? They are some drawbacks to using a poly bushing for this application.

 

[BillGrissom]

Have you read about the negative effects of using a poly lca bushings? They are some drawbacks to using a poly bushing for this application.

Ditto. The idea scares me, with the lower control arm able to slide forward and aft a bit. I hear they also squeak if you don't lube them regularly.

 

[DJVCUDA]

you dont lube them regularly - you lube them correctly the first time and your done.

I've had several sets and never had a problem with squeaks or anything coming loose.

you know the rubber mating surface is smaller then the poly right? so technically if and when the rubber fails, the LCA will move more then the poly..

first time i rebuilt my 66 cuda front end - i went all poly, except the lca's due to reading some crap about it not working correctly yadda yadda

12 years later - guess what were the only bad bushings on my car? you got it - the rubber lca's....

went poly 2 years ago and no squeaks... and no loose lca's

 

[bradfields]

Thanks for all of the help! I now have everything done except for putting the poly rear seals on the torsion bars, I've lubed the heck out of them and tried every way I can think of to get them to slide over the big hex ends of the bars, but I'm not having any luck. Anybody put any of these things on before??

 

[BillGrissom]

I put the poly boots on. Not easy. I had to have the T-bars off the car and push down on the boot against the ground. Lots of lube. Heating the boot helps. It will heat in a microwave, but do so just a few seconds. Any longer and the thin sections get very hot and bubble (how would I know?).

 

[bradfields]

Thanks for the info. I finally got mine on today, kinda jacked up how I did it, but it worked. I found a 3/8 drive oil sending unit socket that had a tapered shoulder on the small end and the big end the same size as the hex end of the torsion bar, put the seal in a vise with the tapered end of the sending unit socket inside the seal, put a 3/4" drive 1 5/16" socket on the small end of the seal and pushed the sending unit socket through the seal, sat the big end of the sending unit socket on the hex end of the torsion bar then pushed the seal off of the socket onto the torsion bar, it wasn't pretty, but it worked!