LCA doesn't look right
I really appreciate all the discussion. It is all food for thought...and a great learning experience for a 69 year old newbie:(. Given my age and inexperience, my best option is to just go with one of the spare (i.e. STRAIGHT) LCA's that I have in the attic. I have already removed the sway bar tab from the bent arm and will install it on the "new" pre-72 arm.
I had to remove the old bushing from the LCA I will use, and that was a bear. After breaking off two washers and eating up almost all of the steel lip on the old bushing in the process, I decided that I would have to do something to get more weld area into the game. VOILA! My new "bushing pushing" tool.
I welded 4 flat bar strips into the ID of the bushing. It's a little touchy getting down inside the bushing to weld the edge of the strip, but it doesn't have to be pretty. Once I got all 4 of them in, I sqeezed them in to contact a nut and welded the nut in place. The bolt threaded into the nut was the point that the press rod contacted. Since I figured that the heat of welding had swelled the bushing somewhat, I filled the cavity from the T-bar size with crushed ice and let it melt down several times. I don't know if that actually helped to contract the bushing at all, but I wasn't about the go at this thing a third time if I could help it. First push...popped right out.
I really appreciate all the discussion. It is all food for thought...and a great learning experience for a 69 year old newbie:(. Given my age and inexperience, my best option is to just go with one of the spare (i.e. STRAIGHT) LCA's that I have in the attic. I have already removed the sway bar tab from the bent arm and will install it on the "new" pre-72 arm.
I had to remove the old bushing from the LCA I will use, and that was a bear. After breaking off two washers and eating up almost all of the steel lip on the old bushing in the process, I decided that I would have to do something to get more weld area into the game. VOILA! My new "bushing pushing" tool.
I welded 4 flat bar strips into the ID of the bushing. It's a little touchy getting down inside the bushing to weld the edge of the strip, but it doesn't have to be pretty. Once I got all 4 of them in, I sqeezed them in to contact a nut and welded the nut in place. The bolt threaded into the nut was the point that the press rod contacted. Since I figured that the heat of welding had swelled the bushing somewhat, I filled the cavity from the T-bar size with crushed ice and let it melt down several times. I don't know if that actually helped to contract the bushing at all, but I wasn't about the go at this thing a third time if I could help it. First push...popped right out.
