Broken Suspension Tools from American Muscle
I got the kit sold by ESPO (same as the one from Just suspension) made by American Muscle I believe.
Well I managed to break the upper control arm bushing remover/installer and I also broke the lower control arm pivot shaft remover. The tools seemed to be heavy duty.
The first lower control arm pivot came off flawlessly. Granted it took a breaker bar to turn the nuts and get the shaft out. When I tried to spin the nuts off they were seized onto the threaded rods. I tried heat, penetrating oil, wd40, I even had lube on the threads beforehand. Total seized up. I used a pipe wrench to clamp onto the rod and tried to spin the nut free but the threads got ate up and the 7/8 nut went no where.:mumum:
I managed to get the other pivot shaft out by using the other threaded rod from the upper bushing remover. Thank God I got that far on the lower arms.
Now onto the upper bushings. I managed to get one bushing out with relative ease. On the next bushing I ended up snapping the threaded steel rod. So I still have three more bushings to remove and have two broken tools. $115.00 down the drain. :angry7:
These bushing have all been on the car since 1966 which is part of the problem. I soaked everything down with penetrating oil for a good 1/2 hour or so. I remember in the past I had one set of upper control arm bushings that where fused from rust (that a-arm was a dead soldier). These are not rusty.
I bought these tools so I would not have to take them to a shop and I could do it myself. The tools seemed to work great but I didn't even get the job finished. WTF. I know I can head down the hardware store and get new threaded rods and nuts, but now it looks like I will have to take the upper arms to the shop anyways, unless I bust out the muscle and the air hammer. This blows.
Any of you guys had problems with these kits? I'm not sure about the warranty on this product? Any other tricks to get the upper control arm bushings out?
I got the kit sold by ESPO (same as the one from Just suspension) made by American Muscle I believe.
Well I managed to break the upper control arm bushing remover/installer and I also broke the lower control arm pivot shaft remover. The tools seemed to be heavy duty.
The first lower control arm pivot came off flawlessly. Granted it took a breaker bar to turn the nuts and get the shaft out. When I tried to spin the nuts off they were seized onto the threaded rods. I tried heat, penetrating oil, wd40, I even had lube on the threads beforehand. Total seized up. I used a pipe wrench to clamp onto the rod and tried to spin the nut free but the threads got ate up and the 7/8 nut went no where.:mumum:
I managed to get the other pivot shaft out by using the other threaded rod from the upper bushing remover. Thank God I got that far on the lower arms.
Now onto the upper bushings. I managed to get one bushing out with relative ease. On the next bushing I ended up snapping the threaded steel rod. So I still have three more bushings to remove and have two broken tools. $115.00 down the drain. :angry7:
These bushing have all been on the car since 1966 which is part of the problem. I soaked everything down with penetrating oil for a good 1/2 hour or so. I remember in the past I had one set of upper control arm bushings that where fused from rust (that a-arm was a dead soldier). These are not rusty.
I bought these tools so I would not have to take them to a shop and I could do it myself. The tools seemed to work great but I didn't even get the job finished. WTF. I know I can head down the hardware store and get new threaded rods and nuts, but now it looks like I will have to take the upper arms to the shop anyways, unless I bust out the muscle and the air hammer. This blows.
Any of you guys had problems with these kits? I'm not sure about the warranty on this product? Any other tricks to get the upper control arm bushings out?