Control Arm bushings

[eazhar]

What common power tools are good for removing the metal sleeves that surround the urathane/rubbery material on the bushing?

I saw this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG1hQlw6xMk
But taking a hacksaw and chisel on the controls arms on the 21 mm bushing took me close to 2 hours each!! Mostly because a small lip forms at the end making it fasten into the arm.

Now all that are remaining are the 24 mm bushings sleeves that are connected to the subframe.

So before i waste another day on the other the other two does anyone have any recommendations on cheap POWER tools to remove them? I was thinking either a rotary file set, an angle grinder, or just getting some cutting discs for my cordless drill might do it.

On that note I'm still not sure the best way to press new ones in. I have a press in one of our labs that I was planning on using for the ones on the control arms but not entirely sure about the subframe ones. Without succumbing to a "J" tool, I was thinking about using a C clamp with two blocks of wood to press it in. What have you guys done?


PS before anyone mentions the obvious, yes I agree buying new control arms would've settled the first headache

[SC-Type]

I didn't even think new control arms were available...

here is how I removed mine. I'd say it was about 30 minutes to do the last one once i realized what i was doing.

Tools include a 5 lbs sledge hammer, a flat chisel, gloves and eye protection.
Here are the pictures from the control arm which can be applied to the sub frame bushings as well.
This is the side that you want to start whaling on, I'll be calling it the outer lip:



once you get about 270 degree of the outer lip pounded in, start working on the outer casing to de-bond the rust. Make sure you leave your skirt indoors for this one, you`ll end up applying quite a bit of force to dent it, you dont need to dent it all 270*s but, in about 3 locations will do:

Once you've worked the outer casing at both locations where they meet the frame, then move on to just hitting the outer lip side to start moving it out:

might need to drive the chisel in here to help it break away:

Hit here:

or here:


You might not need to drill some of the rubber out like this:

I only did it for one of the four. It should be the first thing you do to help relief some of the pressure of the rubber as you work the outer casing and outer lip. You'll notice the difference here:

The bottom one looks like the rubber is squishing out which is a result of the compressing the outer casing and lip in so much, and upper is the one with the drilled out rubber.
hope that helps, overall its not that hard, just need to know where to hit and how much pressure to apply.

[SC-Type]

Here is how one guy re-installed the bushing.

get some PVC and some misc hardware to draw it in.

here is how i did it:
To install the subframe/control arm bushings I used a 1" socket and tapped it in between the supports with a rubber mallet. This is to keep the mounts from bending in. I tapped in the bushing with the mallet for the first half until more resistance was felt, which is when it reached the 2nd mounting tab. I used the new control arm bolt and nut. The large silver washer is simply the old control arm washer. Heres the part that you'll need to get creative with, its the split collar or cups, not to sure what to call them. They are from my power steering pulley tool set. These apply the force of the draw around the bushing in as you tighten the nut.

fyi I went a little over board with the washers.


same idea is used for the control arm bushings, switch from a longer bolt to the shorter bolt:


in all honesty the power steering pump cups were slightly to small and fumbled them alot and would have preferred to do it the PVC way.

Good luck!