Lower Control Arm Bushing Removal

[A12 Wanna Bee]

All, got a newbie question. First time doing my lower control bushings. I did the welded washer trick. I got the inner cup out, but there appears to be another part of the bushing still in the LCA, at least it appears to be the same material. My question is… is this piece part of the LCA or is there still a piece of the bushing that I need to get out. I would not have been able the catch this remaining piece with the weld with the bushing shell in place, so I am not really sure what to do next.

 

[dvw]

There is and outer sleeve, rubber, and inner sleeve. Nothing else.
Doug

 

[dadsbee]

Pictures are a beautiful thing... as Doug states, there are only two metal sleeves being an inner generally stuck to the pivot shaft and the outer stuck in the LCA bore.

 

[Cranky]

Yeah, pics are a good thing. My first time to do a full front end rebuild had me scratchin my head and that was before the internet lol

 

[A12 Wanna Bee]

Sorry, I tried to attach pictures, forgot to hit “insert”.

attach pictures…

 

[dadsbee]

That's just the rotating socket... (these are A body arms and tabs BTW)

 

[Cranky]

Looks like the 'outer' sleeve is still in the control arm.....?

 

[dadsbee]

Looks like the 'outer' sleeve is still in the control arm.....?

No it's in his hand...

 

[Beekeeper]

Yep that is the inner tubing that’s part of the torsion bar hex socket

 

[Scott Kiger]

You got it all out. You are good.

 

[1 Wild R/T]

Looks like you took welding on the washer pretty seriously... I usually just tack them & sometimes have to go back and burn them in a little more...

 

[A12 Wanna Bee]

Looks like you took welding on the washer pretty seriously... I usually just tack them & sometimes have to go back and burn them in a little more...

Well, I don’t weld all that often, so I took the opportunity to practice a bit before my stabilizer plates and sway bar tabs get here from BAC. Plus I let the kid try his hand at it too. Nice of you notice though.

 

[A12 Wanna Bee]

That's just the rotating socket...
View attachment 1642019

Hey Dadsbee, question about your sway bar tabs… They look a lot like the ones I got from BAC, aside from how it bends around the rivet on the inboard side. Are those factory tabs? Is that how the factory installed them? I have seen them mounted 180 degrees in the opposite way, but not the way yours are mounted. When I originally bought the car, it had a nice Hotchkis sway bar, but it was mounted to the LCA via the shock bolt and a piece of angle iron, kinda hokey if you ask me. I was seeing a lot of LCAs with the sway bar tabs mounted more towards the middle of the LCA, near the bump stop. I wasn’t sure how I was going to mount the tabs from BAC without getting in the way of the strut bar. The pic of yours really helped a lot in realizing the answer. Do you have any clearance issues between the strut and the tab when the arm articulates?

 

[dadsbee]

Hey Dadsbee, question about your sway bar tabs… They look a lot like the ones I got from BAC, aside from how it bends around the rivet on the inboard side. Are those factory tabs? Is that how the factory installed them? I have seen them mounted 180 degrees in the opposite way, but not the way yours are mounted. When I originally bought the car, it had a nice Hotchkis sway bar, but it was mounted to the LCA via the shock bolt and a piece of angle iron, kinda hokey if you ask me. I was seeing a lot of LCAs with the sway bar tabs mounted more towards the middle of the LCA, near the bump stop. I wasn’t sure how I was going to mount the tabs from BAC without getting in the way of the strut bar. The pic of yours really helped a lot in realizing the answer. Do you have any clearance issues between the strut and the tab when the arm articulates?

Those are factory A BODY LCA's and tabs.

B bodies are mounted the other way...

 

[A12 Wanna Bee]

Got it. Thank you for the clarification. I think I know what I need to do now.

 

[RJ Squirrel]

Quick note about getting that old bushing cup out, if you run a couple of beads around the inside and shrink it a little they pop right out.

 

[A12 Wanna Bee]

Quick note about getting that old bushing cup out, if you run a couple of beads around the inside and shrink it a little they pop right out.

Thanks RJ, truth be told I butchered the other bushing cup during my first removal attempt, so I will give this a shot.

 

[dfrazz]

Curious if you are replacing the bushings with rubber or poly?

 

[A12 Wanna Bee]

Curious if you are replacing the bushings with rubber or poly?

I am replacing them with Delrin bushings and pivot pins from BAC. They are machined to fit the LCA without using the bushing cup.

 

[1STMP]

"Delrin" ?
Don't think you're gonna like
this. Not much give in hard
nylon type materials.
My 4-link has rubber
bushings instead of heim
joints for shock absorption
properties, as are the
bushings in both my upper
and lower a-arms.
You may find these
bushings are going
to cause some problems.
If those are factory
installed bushings, and they
lasted this long, why
change?