Control arm bushings

[AL]

My RF control arm bushing has pulled out and I wanna get it replaced, however I see multiple posts on upgrading bushings for handling purposes and I am thinking now is a good time to look into that I think... Is the lower control arm bushings the ones that get replaced with the bushing upgrade? If so what am I looking at when upgrading? BXX or Adam I am waiting for you to answer

[BXX]

Your gen 2 has no poly replacement for the front lca bushing. Your best bet is replacing it with a Moog bushing. ZZP IIRC makes poly bushings for the rear bushing in the front lca, but running one still poly bushing and one OE style rubber bushing isnt a good idea.

 

Your pretty much left with this for a performance upgrade.

 

http://www.zzperformance.com/grand_prix/products1.php?id=986&catid=138

 

Otherwise, replace the bushings on the lca, front and rear with these.

 

Front (vertical) Moog PN K6712

Rear (horizontal) Moog K80778 OR Raybestos PN 5651333

[AL]

Damn, no bushing upgrades... I mise well replace the whole arm then, since I have to remove it anyways

[BXX]

Only the Moog front vertical bushings are worth a damn, so if your doin the entire arm, might as well get a Moog unit so the bushing is much less likely to slip ever again.

[AL]

So the dorman bushings arent very good? Ill keep that in mind... If I am going to replace the bushing anyways, theres really no point in buying the new arm

[jman093]

I don't see what's so bad about on going poly on the rear bushing only. That's the bushing that's going to deflect much more anyways since it takes the brunt of the force under cornering. You wouldn't want to poly the front one even if they made such a thing. Being vertical, the arm wouldn't move if it was poly, which is why the ZZP has a front heim. The ZZP arms do look pretty trick, but if I was on a budget, I would totally poly the rear bushing.

[Andrew]

http://www.wbodystore.com/Performance-Control-Arms-pair-p-286.html#

[AL]

Eh I can do all that to my current arms for way less than 250

[Stevo]

Apologies for dragging up an old thread but after spending nearly an hour searching and rummaging through dead end threads I have to ask this question.

 

I have to replace the vertical bushings and I am assuming that the part requires that it should be pressed out and the new one pressed in. I am unsure if I can even get the whole control arm here in town. What kind of press is required to fit the bearing. Do I need an Arbor Press or can I simply jury rig a set of 1/4-20 nut & bolt and progressively large washers to force it in? I'm still scratching my head as to why GM decided to use vertical bushings on it's control arms.

 

I think I may be lucky on the swaybar endlinks though.

[Cutlass350]

Apologies for dragging up an old thread but after spending nearly an hour searching and rummaging through dead end threads I have to ask this question.

 

I have to replace the vertical bushings and I am assuming that the part requires that it should be pressed out and the new one pressed in. I am unsure if I can even get the whole control arm here in town. What kind of press is required to fit the bearing. Do I need an Arbor Press or can I simply jury rig a set of 1/4-20 nut & bolt and progressively large washers to force it in? I'm still scratching my head as to why GM decided to use vertical bushings on it's control arms.

 

I think I may be lucky on the swaybar endlinks though.

 

I agree that the GM vertical bushings suck. GM went to one horizontal and one vertical bushing because of suspension dynamics, NVH, etc. It is a better design - well, assuming that they don't use cheap *ss bushings that often fail with 100K to 150K miles.

 

The bushings really need to be pressed in with a cup that fit "perfectly" around the edge of the bushing and is the same diameter as the hole. The cup doesn't move, it's used as a guide. Then, a "plate" is used to press the bushing in place.

 

Can it be done without the correct tools? Some people may have be semi-successful. Note, without the correct tools, stress will be put on the bushing resulting on an early failure.

 

Some people freeze the bushing to shrink it, and heat the arm up to ~120F (not too hot!) to expand the hole. And, actually, that's how it should be done with a proper install. But, IMHO, most shops just push the bushing in since it "works" and is much quicker.

 

There are hand presses for doing bushing installs.

Of course, you can always likely get a new control arm from the web. More expensive, but it's a huge time saver - yank old one out, put new one it. Typical of many time vs cost tradeoffs in working on cars.

 

Good Luck!

[Cutlass350]

FYI:

 

NOTE: I do not know if the kits I listed below have the proper size sleeve for your application.

 

This is similar to the one that I had:

(I sold it for very little since I never used it and a co-worker need to do a bushing R&R).

 

 

I think this is the one that I had (~$80):

Neiko Upper Control Arm Bushing Removal Tool Repair for Ford, GM & Chrysler

http://www.amazon.com/Neiko-Control-Bushing-Chrysler-OTC-7068/dp/B00170UTYY

 

 

Here's the better OTC tool: (~$160)

OTC 7068 Upper Control Arm Bushing Service Set

http://www.amazon.com/OTC-7068-Control-Bushing-Service/dp/B0002SRHJ2/

 

 

On ebay, do an ebay search for:

88219 Removal Installer Upper Control Arm Bushing Service

or

Removal Installer Upper Control Arm Bushing Service Set C-Frame tool Kit

or

Upper Control Arm Bushing Service Set Remover installer

 

 

FYI:

Part2 Replacing Control Arm Bushings

 

 

Also, SP Tools 11100 Bushing Replacement Tool

Edited August 5, 2012 by Cutlass350

[AL]

I bought my control arm off rockauto

[Cutlass350]

I bought my control arm off rockauto

That's what I also did.

[Venom]

I change those bushings in about 10 min at the shop sometimes without even completely removing the control arm from the vehicle

[BXX]

Hell yeah! Prybar, block o wood, and an air hammer. 10mins a side if that!

 

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk 2

[Stevo]

I'm not sure that freezing the bushing to fit it is a good idea. The inner rubber and outer steel have different shrink rates and could cause delamination if not damage to the inner rubber. An arbor press seems the best way to go. The thing is that the bushings/ball joint for one control arm are $60 and the whole unit w/ hardware is $110. I will more than likely just replace the whole unit.

 

That sucks my friends. That sucks.

 

I just need this thing to last a couple more years so that I can get other things done. There is a 2007 GT special edition package that is exactly like mine w/ 120,000km on it for $8500 nearby but... It's like going to the doctor after your last heart attack, learning that you have to eat right and then later walking past a restaurant with the most delicious looking burger. It's going to kill you and you know it but you still consider it.

[Myotis1134]

Is the tubular control arm with the spherical bearings no longer available from overkillengineeringmotorsports.com?

[Cutlass350]

I'm not sure that freezing the bushing to fit it is a good idea. The inner rubber and outer steel have different shrink rates and could cause delamination if not damage to the inner rubber.

 

By "freezing", I mean put them in a refrigerator's freezer for ~10mins to 1+hours. The temperature in a standard refrigerator's freezer is rather "high" compared to typical low temps in the 48-contigous States. Most people put them in the freezer for

5-30mins.

 

Many places in the 48-contigous States see low temperatures below -5F for many days each year.

 

Average freezer temperature: ~0F.

http://www.google.com/search?q=Average+freezer+temperature

[Schurkey]

By "freezing", I mean put them in a refrigerator's freezer for ~10mins to 1+hours. The temperature in a standard refrigerator's freezer is rather "high" compared to typical low temps in the 48-contigous States. Most people put them in the freezer for

5-30mins.

 

Many places in the 48-contigous States see low temperatures below -5F for many days each year.

 

Average freezer temperature: ~0F.

http://www.google.com/search?q=Average+freezer+temperature

Damn bushings are IN USE on my vehicles at -30 degrees F on at least a few mornings most winters. LAST winter was warm enough it hardly ever got below -10 F around here.

 

Unless you're freezing them using liquid nitrogen, it's simply not an issue. No home or ordinary commercial freezer is going to be cold enough to cause damage.

[Stevo]

I just replaced them with Mevotech control arms. Did not want the hassle of pressing bushings.

 

Both stabilizer bar ends failed as soon as I turned the nuts.

 

It's rediculous that GM changed what was a straight forward design into this. Ugh.... now to get the damn Transmission repaired/replaced.

[Cutlass350]

Glad you got replaced it.

 

Yea, the swaybar end links almost always break when you try to get them off. Well, if you're lucky, the nuts/ends just break off.

 

For one of mine, I had to grind the ^&(^(&^&(*^&( end link at both ends because the link and washers were so *&((()**)( rusted. No amount of beating the ******* out of it, or twisting/bending the ****** out if it would do the trick. I've replaced a bunch of swaybar end links over the years. The first time one was that bad.

 

BTW: If you grind off the end link bar, it stays hot for a while! I got a burn after touching it after ~3mins. Then again, the fact that I was very PO'd at that *()*(*()*) bar and just PUSHED my unstoppable Milwaukee right angle grinder through that bar as fast as I could, might have something to do with how how the bar/metal got.

[Cutlass350]

Ugh.... now to get the damn Transmission repaired/replaced.

FWIW: Most (?all?) AAMCO transmission places are locally owned. And, many have problems keeping/getting decent help.

 

AAMCO did a very good job on My Cutlass' transmission a zillion years ago (over 20?).

However, AAMCO did a massive hack job on my Achieva last year. My Achieva went back almost 10 times! And, they also *******ed the transmission cable so bad it came off after 9 months. Screw that, I replaced that myself rather than bring it back to them, have them fix it for free, and ***** something else up!

 

 

IMHO, if you're going to have it done, check out your local garage! Most get a rebuilt transmission from a national supplier. It comes with the same warranty as everyone else. But, the transmissions are built by experts at one location. You don't play "lottery" with who builds it, and does other stuff.

 

The company that sells these rebuilt tranny sells to only garages. The garages will have to eat it time/cost to replace a bad tranny. So, the garages are not looking for some cheap cr*p like you get at Autozone or mail order. If the company sells junk trannys to the garage, the garage will go with another national tranny rebuild outfit (I think there are 2 or 3 for garages).

 

 

Regardless, I strongly suggest that you do not get an Autozone/etc rebuilt tranny. I know those are junk. Other than GM, I don't know of a GM tranny builder that *I* can recommend. I do know a great auto tranny builder for Mustangs though.

 

FWIW: I have a 100% new GM tranny in my car. I got that a few years ago. I had the dealer do it. If I had known about krivasolds awesome web pages and info back then, then I may have done it myself. Like when I did with my engine R&R and had printouts of every picture/diagram that krivasolds did on his engine R&R.

 

Again, most AAMCO transmission are locally owned. So, your experience at AAMCO could be like my Cutlass, or it could be the nightmare that seemed to never end like with my Achieva.

 

Good Luck with the tranny!

Edited September 5, 2012 by Cutlass350