Big control arm bushings

[xavier]

Does anyone have some tricks to removing and reinstalling the bushes in the "lollipop " bracket that the rear of the control arm sits in?

[G-Bear]

Removing them:place the lollipop in a vice and use an old chisel or flat head screw driver to hammer them out. You have to cave the metal ring of the bush in on itself.

I would take the new bushes and empty lollipops to a garage with a press to push the new ones in. The place I took them to didn't charge for it, but if they did it should only be beer money.

For the removal I think there's a guide in the wiki pages.

[G-Bear]

http://www.e30zone.net/e30zonewiki/inde ... pop_Bushes

[Falamon]

Had the similar issue as you last week. (link below)

Getting them back in I used a vice up to a point, and then a thread puller set up, they take a good bit of effort to press them in!

You need a bearing race (such as the one on the wiki, from a land rover) or something of the right diameter, so that when you press the bush through, it can pop out the other side and you can make sure they're evenly pressed in.

Here's the thread I started last week, may help to answer any more questions.

http://e30zone.net/modules.php?name=For ... c&t=252921

[daimlerman]

Unbolt the bracket from the car frame,two 17mm bolts.
With the bracket hanging,set fire to the old bush with a blowlamp.
The bracket will then fall off,pick up with care,as it will be a bit warm,place in a vice and thread a hacksaw blade through the centre and carefully cut through the outer casing.

Using your vice,press the new(preferably M3 type!)bush into the bracket.

By this time,heat will have caused the old inner to expand off the control arm,clean the pin end up with emery paper,sandpaper or a file if you must,lubricate with Fairy Liquid or whatever your 'er indoors makes you use to wash the pots,and slide the bracket/bush assembly onto the control arm pin.
Bolt up to the car frame and make sure the car is back on it's wheels before the washing up liquid has dried out.

[G-Bear]

Whilst I typed my previous post in this thread my car was in for its MOT. It failed on knackered control arms. I have some M3 bushes to put in so I guess I'll be doing this job too (again).

Bolt up to the car frame and make sure the car is back on it's wheels before the washing up liquid has dried out.

Is this ^ what the story is all about with having the car on the ground within 15 minutes once the bushes have been pushed back onto the control arms? Basically letting it set into place before the lube dries out, taking the strain of twisting the bushes?

[daimlerman]

That's right,if you fail to let the bush settle correctly,the rubber will be tensioned in-correctly and it will fail more quickly.

[G-Bear]

I see thank you. Might see if I can find a lube that performs for longer

I thought fairy liquid was a no no for rubber for the salt content..

[daimlerman]

I would not suggest that you use it for a windscreen rubber,but against an alloy bush housing I cannot see any problems.

Depends on how you do the job,with the control arm on the car it's difficult to get your body wieght behind the bracket to slide it home.
With the arm off the car,you can steady it between your feet and push the bracket down onto it.

It's one of those 'whilst it's in bits' jobs,as to remove the arm usually means destroying the inner balljoint's rubber boot.So if the reason to remove the arm is due to a knackered outer b/j,then fitting a new bush will also be nesessary,unless you have the 'dealer' tool that will seperate it from the arm.

[G-Bear]

Last time changed the lollipop bushes, I took them off the car with the control arm whole. Then pulled the bush off the control arms with a gear puller. Cut and chiseled out the bush from the lollipop. Half pressed the new bushes in with a vice then took them to a mechanic to finish the off in a press.

Then made this to pull the bushes back onto the control arms..



I think I used copper grease as a lube last time.

[Brianmoooore]

I think I used copper grease as a lube last time.

If you used that to slide the bushes onto the control arm pins, you're likely to be changing them again soon.
It is essential that the lubricant used is a non permanent one that dries before the car is used, otherwise the bush will rotate on the pin in use, and wear rapidly, instead of twisting the rubber as intended.

[G-Bear]

I'll be more precious with the M3 bushes that are going on this time. Cheers Brian.

@ xavier, sorry to thread crash but I'm sure this is all useful information for you too.

[maxfield]

I generally use bodywork shampoo. Generally has rust inhibitors in and is fairly slippy.

[G-Bear]

I generally use bodywork shampoo. Generally has rust inhibitors in and is fairly slippy.

I like it. What about WD40? That would buy you loads of time but does dry out eventually?

It seems like 15-20 minutes to get two bushes pushed onto the control arms, put into place on the car, having all eight nuts/bolts wound and torqued, wheels on and back on the ground seems tight to me.

Or am I just being a bit too regimented about the time scale.

[Falamon]

NO - don't use a permanent lube, to avoid the problems as explained above, it'll wear them out quickly.

It needs to dry and the bush will bite onto the arm with friction once it's dried.

Washing up liquid and water does work, from my experience the bush moved further onto the control arm then when I also used copper grease, but quickly took it off

You can do one side then the other as far as I know, so you can take 20 mins per side which I think is doable.

Your homemade bush puller looks awesome, I need to make one of those!!

[xavier]

Thanks Guys. I cut the old bush out with a hacksaw and used the old metal rim of the bush to push the new bush in. I put the old bush rim against the new bush and pushed it into the lollypop. I put a block of wood at the other side. I put them all into the bench vice and pushed the new bush in. It worked a treat. Now back onto the arm with washing up liquid, water and swearing.

[Falamon]

The swearing helps I had plenty of that!

[G-Bear]

You can do one side then the other as far as I know, so you can take 20 mins per side which I think is doable.

This is a good point^^ I might even put a few scaff boards underneath, so the car stays more level whilst the other side is in the air and its not as far to drop it.

Took my old bushes out of the lollipops today and hope to get the new ones press in on Monday at a garage up the road.

One last question could I save torquing everything up after, once its on the ground?

[Brianmoooore]

One last question could I save torquing everything up after, once its on the ground?

That's the way it's done. I usually throw some hot water over the area to wash off excess washing up liquid, then find something else to do for a couple of hours (if the car's not on the four post ramp) until the rest has dried, before jacking up again to finish the job.

[G-Bear]

^Perfect, thanks Mr Moore...