a-arm bushing replacement

[79chevykid]

im buying a total polyurethane bushing kit soon so i was going to get the old ones out  i cant figure out how, i tried searching for it but didnt find anything except to take it to a shop, has anyone done this on their own? if so how?? thanks   -kyle     

[slammed79]

Slide hammer is a very common method

[79chevykid]

well right after i posted this i went back and tried again with a little more force and i did manage to get both sleeves with the bushing inside out of one of the bottom arms, so i think i can get the others the same way. the kit im getting i think has the inside metal but not the outside, heres the link to it http://www.suspensionconnection.com/cgi-bin/suscon/7-2018C.html 

[79chevykid]

has anyone bought just the outside metal sleeve?

i found these http://www.carpartsdiscount.com/auto/parts/79/chevrolet/c10/control_arms/control_arm_bushing.html?3593=34653, its the closest thing to what i need, but i dont really want to spend the extra $40. they also have the upper ones/w the shell

[bake74]

     I am surprised the polyurethane kit doesn't come with the outside metal sleeves.

[79chevykid]

yeah i dont know why they are so hard to find, about 99% of the kits i found said, "does not include outer shell you must reuse your old one" which doesnt make sense because its so simple of a part and its so easy to mess it up when removing it. what im going to do is just straiten out the old ones the best i can and use them, i only have 2 out so ill be more careful on the others.

[onelow84]

what if you left the sleeves pressed in the control arms and just torched out the old rubber and reinstall new bushings?  It does not seem like the sleeves would hold tight repressing the old ones back in.

[79chevykid]

yeah that seems like that might work, but another thing is the sleeves might be easyer to get out with heat applied to what its being held in by. i do like the idea of burning it out

[onelow84]

I bought the energy suspension polyurethane bushing kit and it came with the metal sleeves, just an fyi in case you havent ordered them. they worked great! I used a torch and set the rubber on fire. let it burn for about 15 minutes and they came right apart. then I took an air hammer and  hammered out the sleeves. real quick and easy. I used a ball joint press to press them back in. it is very messy and I recomend if you have access to a wood burning stove to put them in there. i tracked rubber through the house and upset the wife! good luck

[mats1985gmc]

Truckin magazine did a 1973 control arm bushings. Check it out.
here is the link

http://www.truckinweb.com/tech/1005tr_1973_chevy_c10_buildup/index.html

[79chevykid]

i was looking on energy suspensions site for 30 min till i figured out you have to download the catalog and now its just giving me some numbers im not sure what they mean, so i guess my question is how much is the whole kit and how much is just the upper and lower bushings with the shell?  thanks   -kyle

[79chevykid]

so i got the bushings tonight, and i have all the old ones out, only 1 shell was a little bent up but fixable. now im going to start on sandblasting everything and getting them painted, ill keep you updated with pictures and everything. im really glad the new kit came with all the body mount bushings, does anyone know of a good source for a bolt kit with body bolts and leaf spring bolts or anything?  thanks   -kyle

[1979C20]

Could you do me a favor and measure the heighth of you body mounts? Both the top and bottom piece. Im going to make me own poor mans body mounts with rubber hockey pucks.

[jaredts]

so i got the bushings tonight, and i have all the old ones out, only 1 shell was a little bent up but fixable. now im going to start on sandblasting everything and getting them painted, ill keep you updated with pictures and everything. im really glad the new kit came with all the body mount bushings, does anyone know of a good source for a bolt kit with body bolts and leaf spring bolts or anything?

The hardware kits I have seen aren't that impressive.  Cheap hex bolts like you can get at the hardware store.  So just get them at the hardware store.

[79chevykid]

Could you do me a favor and measure the heighth of you body mounts? Both the top and bottom piece. Im going to make me own poor mans body mounts with rubber hockey pucks.

The body mounts are 2 1\2 inches tall, my brother just did the hockey puck trick on his jeep ike last weekend