I need to replace the front rubber bushings and am planning to use the Elephant Racing bushings and install tools. I have not been able to find a video or other info regarding removal of the control arms. I am not near my car so I can't crawl under right now.
Will I need to remove the hubs, brakes or anything else to remove the control arms?
Thanks,
Jack
I did the Elephant rubber bushings and it was not too tough if you have the big clamp tool or equivalent.
The Elephant has how to vids on their site.
The only hard part was getting the old bushings off. I used lots of heat
David
This is the minimum needed to replace the bushings...
1. Disconnecting the inboard cv axle
2. Flex brake line from the arm to the body
3. The bottom shock bolt
Once this is done you will need to support the control arm under the bearing area (balancing) before you go any further.
Once you have this done it's a simple matter of unbolting the camber mount and the inside nut on the shaft and press the shaft out and replace the bushing.
hope this helps
Burning the rubber bushing is messy.
They do just pop out when they get molten. The burnt rubber is sticky goo and can drip.
I have done this twice recently, once at the track so it is not too bad.
loosen both front wheels (lugs)
Block rear and jack up front and support with jackstands on/near front body donuts, remove wheels.
Remove steering rack cover (2X large rear bolts, 2X front small (8mm?))
Jack up on spindle to take the load off of the balljoint.
Remove balljoint retention bolts (early vs late differ - one has a wedge bolt) one on each side.
See if you can get the balljoint to pull out of the strut (this will be the first challenge).
The first time I did this I had to pull the top hats loose from the shock tower mounts (will ruin your alignment , so make carefully first).
Then I was able to compress the strut and had more range of motion to wrestle the strut off the ball joint.
Once the strut comes loose, support it up out of the way, don't let any weight pull on the brake flex line.
Lower the jack and the control arm will just pivot down away from the car.
Mark the allen screws that are at the back of each control arm (tis sets your front ride height), then remove them completely from the rear torsion bar holder, then the rear holder will slide right out the back.
Loosen the front bolts that hold the control arm front carrier in, lower it and the torsion bar should be able to come out the back now.
Now the second challenge (maybe) is to pull the rear bushing carrier free from the steering rack bracket.
It is supposed to slide right out, but you might have to fight a bit.
My bushings weren't too hard to get off I didn't need heat or anything and they are still intact.
I was going to get the elephant polybronze bushings, but one of my rear carriers was out of round. For the extra $$ to get the elephant replacement rear carriers, it was the same price (bushings plus carriers) to just get the spherical bushings, so I got them instead.
Heres a pic:
After purchasing the elephants, I found these for significantly less:
http://www.tarett.com/items/914-products/914-suspension/914-monoballs~bushings/front-control-arm-bushing-kit-69-89-911-914-rsrfbk-detail.htm
They look to be very similar. Cant say about the quality of the tarett, but the elephants are like butter.
If you are going with the rubber bushings, absolutely make note of the angle of your bushing retainers when you pull off your control arms. That way, when you install the new rubber bushings and go to set the angles, you will be putting them back in the same position. I just did this with Elephant rubber bushings and had a problem with the retainers being off slightly....not sure if I just wasn't accurate in measuring or if they moved a little. I used the angles provided with the Elephant instructions but it's also possible that my car may be slightly different. Be diligent in all those details and it should be fairly easy.
Easy! 20 ton press takes the bushings with the wings off in a couple minutes. There's no good place to grab the other end bushings on the press, so I use an air cut off tool and make a vertical slice down the steel bushing cap, effectively splitting it in half. Pops right off. Of course this method is only if you are using Rebel bushings and you don't need the stock ones.
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