AOW162435

Lightweight.



Andreas

e9stibi

I did now 4 arms on 2 cars and I can tell you that the "ease" significantly changed. I was about to give up on the first arm after hours (but hung in ...). I had the proper "tools" but not the right technique. After reading the posting on "opening the big sleeve like a fish can", the second one took 90 min. Number 3 and 4 took maybe 60-90 mins total. This does not include cleaning and taking time to not mess it up (particularly when making the cuts which needs to be deep but not "too deep").

Overall, still a rewarding DIY.

windydog

Andreas:

You have always given good advice. I would be curious to see the setup fixture you have to protect the AL.

Thanks for the excellent photos.

windydog

Update:
I ended up taking the things to work and got a G job from the shop.

I should have them installed by week end.

jakfrost

Bwahahahahaa...that is funny. It helps to have a multi-lingual wife/partner. Mine can swear in English, Swedish ( mother tongue ), French, German, and a smattering of Arabic which is really funny...lots of stuff about your mother and shoes

She keeps my sense of humour intact with her back up cursing!!

Jim

Mike J

I don't use any fancy techniques - I have done quite a few sets now, basically torch out the inside bushings, cut the sleeve, use a big hammer and sharp chisel to drive out the sleeve with some aggressive hitting, clean the barrel corrosion up and push in the new bushings.

In and out both sides installed is about 2 - 2.5 hours, just over one hour a side including removing and installing in the car.

I wire brush some of the crap off the arms, but do not clean them up with bead blasting etc. that would take more time.

I would say the only skill is to cut the outside shell of the bushing without scoring the inside barrel of the A arm - I peel the inside shell a bit with a sharp chisel and then cut it with a metal blade on a sawzall to prevent the scoring.

Yes, it's a brute force method, good to make you feel better afterwards.

Cheers,

Mike

windydog

Quick update:

Thanks everyone for the solid advice. The car as everyone suspected drives great because the old bushings were worn.

Eurotrio

Pleasure reading this ...haha.

I'm in the process of working on the first one. The rear busing which has a split inner sleeve was not too bad, but the front bushing sleeve appears to be one piece. PITA for sure....job will continue today. Perhaps the front bushing is more difficult because I did not torch it as much. It just seems so weird to burn rubber and not knowing how hot it gets before the aluminum control arm would be damaged.