Control arm bushing replacement

[matrophy]

I am in the process of replacing lower ball joints and tension rod and sway bar bushings. These bushings were hard, cracked  and deformed. Although they don't look like they need replacing, I'm wondering if I should replace the upper and lower control arm bushings while I'm at it so I don't have to do essentially much of the same work twice down the road. I have done some searching and it seems like pressing in and out the bushings is not an easy job. Are there any tips for doing this? Would a loaner ball joint press do this job or do I need something different? I found horror stories online of guys having to burn out the bushings or drill them out and then scrape the rubber off. I also read that you can heat up the control arm until it smokes and then they press out easier. Any advice/help would be appreciated.

 

 

[datzenmike]

Can't help other than to say that when tightening everything be sure truck is on the ground with weight on it's wheels and the suspension neutral..

[bottomwatcher]

I put in fresh ones last year. 240k miles i replaced everything. My original home made tool made of 3/4 all thread from the hardware store broke right of the bat. The local machine shop sold me a thicker length of metric fine thread all thread and it worked ok but was a wrestling match. I bought a heavy duty balljoint press to do the ball joints on my 3/4 ton Silverado. I think that tool may do the job. Also before reinstalling I ran a brake hone through the bores. Looked like a fresh bored engine cylinder. I used my heavy duty all thread to push the new bushings in. Now that I have the heavy duty balljoint press for shits and grins I used it press out on old universal joint. Handy tool to have 

[Stinky]

rockauto usually sells a new control arm w/new bushings and ball-joints.

[matrophy]

The RockAuto UCAs with ball joints and bushings are for 4WD and I assume they're different than my 2WD

[krggg]

Did you end up replacing the bushings?  Did you find a new control arm?  I am also replacing lower ball joints and thinking about doing the same.

[matrophy]

I replaced the lowers but the uppers looked to be in good shape so I didn't do them. I did have to jack the cab up a few inches to get the upper control arms to come out and in hindsight, I probably should have replaced the upper bushings while I had the control arms out. I got them out and the bushings looked good still so I put them back on.

 

I wasn't looking for a new control arm.

 

The lowers are the hardest job I've ever done on a vehicle. I did a writeup in this forum about how to do the lowers with hand tools. There are also pretty good writeups for how to do ball joints, tie-rode ends, etc. Here are the links:

 

https://720nissantrucks.weebly.com/

 

 

Edited April 24, 2022 by matrophy