Poly Control Arm Bushings on 1st gen W-body

[White93z34]

alright. this sounds like something that i may have to do down the road.

[AWeb80]

If You Need Bushings turned, i'm the man to do it for ya.

[AWeb80]

I Need To Read This Whole Thread On A Comp. I Didn't Even Know You Were Doing This. I May Try This While The Trans Is Out And When My Headers are done. good work!

[mra32]

you didnt happen to take measurements on these bushings did you?

[xtremerevolution]

you didnt happen to take measurements on these bushings did you?

 

What measurements do you need?

[mra32]

looking for ID of the stock outer sleeves and OD's of the stock inner sleeves and the lengths of them

[xtremerevolution]

looking for ID of the stock outer sleeves and OD's of the stock inner sleeves and the lengths of them

 

Don't have any of that. Are you considering making your own bushings?

[mra32]

yep. It seemed like you had an ordeal with all those parts. That and I just like doing things myself, haha. If you felt so inclined, you could probably do a writeup that could be put in the FAQ section.

[AWeb80]

I'll Be Doing This Is A Few Months

[CRONER]

LOL my car is so stiff as it is now, i'm afraid to do any more suspension (hardening) mods.

Good luck to all of you doing this one, it looks to be pita!

[xtremerevolution]

LOL my car is so stiff as it is now, i'm afraid to do any more suspension (hardening) mods.

Good luck to all of you doing this one, it looks to be pita!

 

If anything, this one is definitely worth it, since it helps considerably in reducing understeer, which is a bit of a problem for these cars.

 

I'll Be Doing This Is A Few Months

 

Good luck. Call me if you need any help. Better than trying it all on our own and running into all the nasty little surprises I did.

 

yep. It seemed like you had an ordeal with all those parts. That and I just like doing things myself, haha. If you felt so inclined, you could probably do a writeup that could be put in the FAQ section.

 

It definitely wasn't a walk in the park if that's what you mean.

[White93z34]

I too would enjoy a write up on this, however when i get around to doing mine, i'll probably just bother you for help then

[AWeb80]

Got my control arms off last night with very little effort. will be ordering the bushings soon.

[AWeb80]

Just ordered the bushings.

 

woo woo!!!!!!!!!1

[BXX]

Soo, what im getting after reading this thread is this..

 

Get those ES bushings

Melt old ones out of control arm

Press in ES bushings, then inner sleeves into ES bushings

Cut to proper length once pressed in

Get new bolts

Install

 

??? That correct??

 

I just wanted to make a point, GM says DO NOT press in new bushings, even though aftermarket does make them available. GM say REPLACE the ENTIRE control arm. The arm WILL BEND when pressing the old ones out and the new ones in. This WILL result in alignmet issues. Me being an alignement tech, I know that even the slightest bend (even un-noticable to the eye) does a good job of screwing up Caster and a possible amount of Camber

 

But, seeming installing these ES bushings doesnt put much load on the arm while pressing them in, I doubt there will be much of an issue compared to pressing the OE style out.

 

 

Thanks man, since i have to put in a new cradle and have spare arms, I might as well do this!!

[CSI_MuNkY]

GM is full of shit...

I had mine pressed out and new ones pressed in, there was no bending... a properly equipped machine shop has a spacer that they put inside the control arm so the arm does not bend.

 

FWIW my alignment afterwards was spot on...

 

This is just GM trying to make an extra buck

 

Jamie

[xtremerevolution]

Soo, what im getting after reading this thread is this..

 

Get those ES bushings

Melt old ones out of control arm

Press in ES bushings, then inner sleeves into ES bushings

Cut to proper length once pressed in

Get new bolts

Install

 

??? That correct??

 

I just wanted to make a point, GM says DO NOT press in new bushings, even though aftermarket does make them available. GM say REPLACE the ENTIRE control arm. The arm WILL BEND when pressing the old ones out and the new ones in. This WILL result in alignmet issues. Me being an alignement tech, I know that even the slightest bend (even un-noticable to the eye) does a good job of screwing up Caster and a possible amount of Camber

 

But, seeming installing these ES bushings doesnt put much load on the arm while pressing them in, I doubt there will be much of an issue compared to pressing the OE style out.

 

 

Thanks man, since i have to put in a new cradle and have spare arms, I might as well do this!!

 

There's a bit more to this. Read this thread again and you'll see. You can't just press out the bushings and press in the new ones. That only works for two of them. On the other two, you have to press out the entire sleeve as well.

[AWeb80]

UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

What a PITA!!!!!!!

 

 

I finally got the skinny/rear bushings in. Took FOREVER.....

 

Getting the first one out and in was possibly the hardest thing I've done to my suspension.....just took forever to figure out the right way to do it.

 

Heating up and poping the bushing out of the sleeve as a sinch. But getting the new bushing back in the stock sleve is NOT an easy task if you don't know exactly how to do it. It would be hard to type out how I did it, but I called Anrei and used his method of the outer sleeves of the 4 extra bushings and it worked like a charm. Second arm went way faster, but was still a chore.

 

You DEF. need a good bench vise for this job. I hope it's worth the trouble. It is also VERY messy.....the melted rubber turns to a nasty smelly greasy goooooo....and gets everywhere.

 

I had to use GUNK brand Engine Degreaser to clean myself up....our GOJO Orange hand cleaner couldn't budge the rubber off my hands and arms. AND WERE CLOTHES YOU WANT TO THROW AWAY when doing this. I'm glad I did. THey have burnt rubber and that sticky installation grease from ES all over them.

 

 

I'll be calling around Monday to look for a shop to press out the big sleeves and bushings out and these will be done.

 

Thanks for persuing this mod Andrei. and thanks for the help!!!!!!!!!

[xtremerevolution]

LOL, I'm glad you had a good time Adam. If you look back you'll notice that I started this job on the 4th of January and finished on the 7th.

 

I dealt with the rubber a little more easily. I basically torched up that bushing with a mapp gas torch (not sure if you used propane, which doesn't get as hot) until the rubber set on fire, and I pulled it out with a pair of pliers. I then sanded the inside with my dremel's sandpaper flapwheel, which also went very quickly.

 

But yeah, once you figure out how its done, its easy, but the first time you do it, it takes a while.

 

Adam, you would have had a much easier time doing it the way I did if you used two large washers, a long bolt, and a matching nut instead of a vice to press that bushing through, using the sleeve out of one of the 4 extra bushings. Oh well, at least now you'll know if someone else wants to do the job. The other two sleeves will be a piece of cake for any shop to do. Take some pictures while you're at it.

[AWeb80]

I wanted to take pictures, my my arms from elbows down were covered in the ES installation grease and smeared greasy rubber.

 

yea, they came out easy....I used an oxy-acetalyne torch....only took about 30 seconds to get hot. (I didn't get the metal red hot)

 

I should have taken pics of how I used the "extra" sleeves....It worked pretty slick.

[xtremerevolution]

I wanted to take pictures, my my arms from elbows down were covered in the ES installation grease and smeared greasy rubber.

 

yea, they came out easy....I used an oxy-acetalyne torch....only took about 30 seconds to get hot. (I didn't get the metal red hot)

 

I should have taken pics of how I used the "extra" sleeves....It worked pretty slick.

 

Yeah, that ES installation grease is a bitch to work with. It's really sticky and gets all over the place. I'm glad you got that part figured out and that the bolts came out without a problem.

[BXX]

I dunno guys, i dont see what so difficult?? I guess since i work at a shop and have a 20 ton press and acetalene torches, I wont have much of an issue..

 

Soo, 2 stock bushings get melted out, ES ones lubed up and pressed into stock sleeves

other 2 stock bushings pressed out with sleeves, and ES bushings with sleeves need pressed in

 

 

Meh, i will figure it out...

[AWeb80]

yes.

 

That's correct Bob.

 

but the ones you pop out of the sleeve and pop the bare bushing back into the stock sleeve is a VERY tight fit. The bushing is about 1/64" too big by my estimates, but it can and has been made to fit.

[CSI_MuNkY]

Is it the forward or the rearward one that you have to force into the existing sleeve?

 

Jamie

[AWeb80]

rear