Front lower rearmost (frame) control arm bushing replacement question..

[SlimPickins]

Hey all. So I'm neck deep in swapping out all four front control arms on my '98 Montero, 155k miles. This is my first go at any real suspension work. I ordered the complete arms from RockAuto, all AC Delco, to save some time vs bushing removal/install on my OEM arms. Convenience over cash as I'm new at this. So.. The rear bushings on the lower control arm are set into the frame. The factory service manual mentions a special tool for removal and recommends removing the differential carrier in order to remove the bushing on the driver side. These bushings don't look terrible and are rubber with a metal sleeve through center. First, did you guys swap these bushings or just the front bushing which is pressed into the lower control arm itself and came installed in the new AC Delco unit..? Should I just leave these lower rear bushings in the frame alone? If I do swap them, am I correct in assuming there is nothing magical about the Mitsubishi special tool and that I can just rent a universal bushing press from parts store? On the surface, removing the differential carrier to access the left side sounds a bit daunting... Whatcha think/experience? Thanks so much.

 

[jaccox23]

1. I'd replace while you're that far in. Rubber wears with time and environment
2. Just rent a parts store C-clamp press
3. The carrier can stay in place. Yes it makes install and removal difficult but not nearly as difficult as moving the carrier

 

[Toasty]

I get them out with a C clamp and a small section of exhaust tubing (for the bushing to press into) with a little plate on it to clamp on. The driver side you can get the new bushing in just un bolting the rear most mount on the front diff.

 

[Salonika]

I couldn't get mine out. I was hitting them with a sledge hammer and had a clamp to help, no dice. A friend with experience said #1, a shop would use a hydraulic press to get mine out, #2, he wiggled them with a pry bar and said they felt tight. I gave up. It's the only thing I didn't replace up front, they are substantial enough that you probably don't need to. My truck took an alignment just fine in spite of that. If I could have gotten them out I would have replaced, but I have no regrets for giving up. I had 200k at the time.

 

[SlimPickins]

Great advice, thank you all so much. I'll take a closer look and assess the rigidity with a pry bar or similar. I'll give it a shot if they're buggered, leave it alone if not.. I'd rather get them done as stated, I'm already this far into it. Wish me luck.

 

[PA_JERO]

Purchasing all polyurethane bushings would have been cheaper than buying complete arm units. You will eventually have to replace the rubber ones you install in the next couple years, aftermarket rubber is junk and typically deteriorates in a short time. Just my advice, rebuild factory arms with poly, and never look back. Also, they can appear to be in good shape and seem tight, but when you put the weight of the front of the truck on them, there is alot more play than you think. My truck used to clunk when I would back down a driveway, once I did new bushings in the lower arms, that all went away and mine didn't appear bad at all when removing. I would definitely replace both lowers.

Eitherway, those bushings are a booger, just curse at it a lot and pray to jesus. Boom!

 

[SlimPickins]

Any tips on getting the new ones in? I bought OEM.

 

[PA_JERO]

C-clamp

 

['round n' back again]

big C clamps

 

['round n' back again]

ive done this job a hundred ways

the method that works best for me (excepting leafspring bushings)
is a socket the exact size of the bushing but slightly smaller than the hole, turned with the back of the socket toward the bushing
another deep well socket on the other side of the frame hole slightly larger that the hole

with razor knife and water trim carefully the old bushing so there is no bushing rubber protruding from its hole. this give the pushing socket a clear defined surface to push on
run a long bolt or all thread through the whole mess.
on the pushing socket i put a nut of the proper size for that socket in the socket to keep the threaded bolt/rod in one place. or if the center hole of the bushing is the right size I thread into that nut. hold the socket firmly with chain vise, vice grips , hand whatever and hit it with the burp gun
or get a plate and put it over the socket so the nut you attach to the all thread will push on the outer edge of the socket.

if you are a clever soul, do your work rightly and are accurate with your layout the socket will neatly push the old bushing out

this never happens...
or almost never.
generally there is something misaligned or caddy - whompus and the business falls apart. eventually it will work- it must


once you got her moving spray a bit of soapy water into the mess it will help things along.


good luck
save your swearing for golf.
this is a machine and no matter how hard it resists its designed to comply, all the laws of physics and the finest engineering minds on the plante have teamed up to make this so.
Golf , on the other hand is the spawn of the devil....
satans pastime,
lucifers pleasure.

 

[SlimPickins]

Thanks again everyone for the input. So I replaced the passenger side a few days back and just wanted to add to the list of experiences. Over the course of several days prior to pulling the old bushing, I doused it in Liquid Wrench and the home made version (1:1 acetone and ATF fluid). I'm not sure if this did much. I rented a ball joint/U joint press set from O'Reilly's Auto Parts (part #67045) which fit very well for this application. I purchased a stack of washers with the same diameter as the rear end of the bushing and epoxied them together so that they'd stay intact when maneuvering the press. I placed this washer sandwich between the end of the press bolt and the rear of the bushing and was able to tighten the press using my breaker bar. I'd stop periodically, remove the press, check my progress and douse the exposed end of the bushing's metal sleeve in penetrating oil as it slowly protruded out. Once it got really difficult, I knew the front end of the bushing had protruded into the press cup and was being sandwiched between my washers and the end of this cup. I then removed the press and easily tapped the bushing the rest of the way out. The new bushing had been placed in the freezer for a few hours in hopes of contracting it's metal sleeve a bit to ease installation. I did put a thin coat of copper anti-seize on the metal sleeve of the new bushing, not sure if this is a great idea or not but went with it. Using another stack of larger washers to fit the larger diameter of the front end of the bushing, I reversed the process and viola, passenger side done. My kids learned some new words, think I re-herniated a disk and O'Reilly's probably needs to replace the bolt on the press...

 

['round n' back again]

wow multi tasking
teaching kids english
enriching ur doc
made sure oreillys never rents to u again
and...
got that damn bushing replaced
even on my best days i cant get that much done

 

[SlimPickins]

Ha! It was an anomaly, trust me. Except for the kids learning some new words. I get a bit, uh, 'verbose' when working on the truck. Just me or does NOTHING go without hiccup?

 

[SlimPickins]

Having a helluva time getting the driver side bushing in as the differential gets in the way. The manual says to disconnect the differential but gives no further info. I've read that one can get it in without detaching the diff but I'm not clear on how that works... Any advice?

 

[MarkGramlich]

If you can get the diameters of the bushing, I might be able to come up with the correct tools. If you know the part numbers, that would be great too. I purchased a few hundred Mitsubishi service tools a number of years ago. The one you need may be in the mix.