windydog

My front bushings are shot, I have the shimmy. Was wondering if anyone has installed themselves?

Was thinking you could press them in/out. Any thoughts? I think the biggest concern is pressing the bushing in/out and ensuring the bushing is concentric to the hole.

And yes I know about the walrods, but I like Bill's advice and opted for the Elephant ones.

Mike J

Hmm - advice is going to be sparse since most of us use the Walrod bushings. They work very well IMHO.

Why are they not recommended?

Cheers,

Mike

kjr914

Windy,
Perhaps pull the arms off and take them down to your local Pcar indy shop and have them do the removal & replacement, if you've got concerns.

EMBPilot

Forget about pressing them out at home w a basic shop press. Either have the pressing done by one of the tried and true RL forum members, a local Indy (not even sure I'd trust an Indy), or do a swap program w FDM (walrod)...

don't ask me how I know, the risks are high for opening up a costly can of worms.

rlme36

I did the elephant racing front bushings I cut out the old as they describe which is the same for the Walrod, PITA either way. I used my bench vise to press them in along with a tool that I've rented before from autozone/advance to put back in. A small amount of dielectric grease does wonder for the reinstall. Used nothin on the first one and thought I was going to snap the tool. It can be done just slow and methodical

il pirata

You could send the front control arms to Elephant Racing to have the bushings installed...they offer the service with prices on their WEB site.

FWIW I have Walrods and like them...however I am in the process of doing a full RS suspension (except shocks which are PSS 10's) and will be using RS front control arms. I will not have a clue as to the difference between Walrods and RS rubber due to everything else that is changing.

kg4nih

I replaced mine this winter while I was upgrading to Koni FSD/M033.

I took my front control arms and the ER bushings to my Pcar Indie. He charged me for 1 hr of labor. Said is was a real PITA and actually took him about 1.5 hrs. He also cleaned the control arms.

bruce7

+1 on the Elephant bushings. I had mine installed on the front by Steve Alarcon
in Torrance (http://www.johnsonsalignment.com). No regrets.

-bruce

Chris V

I'm considering the ER bushing too mainly because their facility is about 20 minutes from my house and I like the idea of staying with the rubber bushings. I called them recently to inquire about the install/refurb program listed on their website. They said it would only take a couple of days turnaround. Figured I'd do this when I install the springs & shocks. I like to think I can perform most of the repairs on the car but from all I've read on this forum it sounds like this is a good one to have someone else do. Drop them off used and pick them up like new.

EMBPilot

my reservation about having an indy do this job is that they are likely going to use the same technique as a shade tree mechanic at home. difference being, their time is limited, ours is not. i would be worried they will score or damage the bushing carriers. whereas, FDM, and a few members here on RL have special made bits for their presses that make short work of this job. rather than the time spent chiseling and blow torching. id rather poke myself in the eye.

then all you would need to do is press in the new bushings yourself at home which takes all but 5 minutes.

Cactus

Well said.

uicnick

+ 1 on ER bushings, no issues here about 2 years old. I took mine to a machine shop for pressing out, got shot down on some shops that didn't want to touch the aluminum.

windydog

Thanks everyone, after talking with another engineer here at work, we are going to tackle it. I am going to use the walrod method for removal of the existing bushings and install via bushing press.

I will document and make available. Time frame is about 1 month pending no urgent stuff comes up at work.

luckyJ

hey windydog,

I have ER sport bushings on the front of my 993 Targa....you are more than welcome to come and test drive...lmk

EMBPilot

You don't need a press to install the bushings.

You do need proper tooling to use a press to remove the bushings.

Using the home method of removing the bushings is a total hack. No engineer required.