[JBert]

It's time: to remove the old bushings in my front A-arms (also known as front lower control arms) and replace them with some good poly bushings. I need to do the ball joints too so will be doing it all at once.

I have seen various threads about the bushing removal, on this and other forums over the years, and the general consensus seems to be that it is a major PITA. The "best" technique seems to be to remove the a-arm, put it in a vice, drain the oil from the bushing, heat the metal around the bushing with a torch while twisting the bushing, and eventually it will come out. Vorschlag said this is a two man job, but I am only one man.

I would gladly pay for a set of a-arms with the bushings and ball joints already installed, but the only ones I can find are Steeda with extended ball joints (which I do not want); BMR which are lightweight and over $600 for the pair, and the GT500 ones which supposedly have "slightly harder rubber bushings" but I am told they really aren't any different.

Suggestions please! thanks in advance

 

[squekster]

 

[bl817]

I recently did this job, stock metal arms with new prothane bushing kit. I previously purchased a 12 ton shop press from HF on sale with coupon for 99$. set aside a good day and start early morning. I didn't use heat for anything. the video that says you can use an arbor and press to get the big busing of is FOS. I used a 4 1/2" grinder with cutting wheel. I first cut the bracket welds to get the bracket off, then cut the casing in half length wise. be careful because its under pressure and will pop just a bit once cut thru. if you go to deep into the fluid bushing, the fluid will leak out so be prepared to dump over trash can and you will need to drain the fluid to get the rubber off. once you have the outer casing off. I used a gear puller, press and deep impact sockets as right size press attachments. get the gear puller as tight as you can to the inner sleeve and press the rubber off. once that is off, use the grinder again to cut the inner metal sleeve off the control arm. once that is done, time for the forward bushing. I cut the shoulder off the metal casing then used a hammer and chisel to kinda force it away from the control arm. place the arm in the press long side down and find a socket that just barely fits inside the forward mounting point . TBH, replacing the ball joints was a bigger PITA than the bushings. I did all at once and even rented a ball joint kit with many adaptors but still had the "C" clamp type press. if your ball joints are still good then pass on doing them. maybe pull the boots off and regrease. if you do opt for new ball joints, take the boots off before pressing them in. to get the front control arm bolts out, I just undid the tie rod ends and turned the wheel all the way to the other side, a lil persuasion and pushing up the steering boot, I was able to get them out without messing with the rack at all. its a most the day job but if you get the first one done, you can do the other in half the time. I did the rear axle upper bushing the day before, that was fun to. you only need a 1 1/2" hole saw (so don't get the whole kit if you don't need it) and longer the better (HA) and a small wire brush you use in a drill. the poly bushing slides in the bushing casing for the rear so don't go banging on it trying to remove the whole thing, you will bend up the casing and the bushing wont seat all the way. I undid the shocks, sway bar, upper and lower control arms and lowered the rear as far as I felt comfortable. good luck

 

[JBert]

Squekster, thanks for the youtube search and links . . . unfortunately those are earlier year front a-arms so probably a bit easier that my 2010 with the oil filled beer-can bushings.


bl817, thanks for the detailed tips. You are making me wish more than ever that I could just buy the a-arms with the busings and ball joints already installed! My ball joints are shot so there is no avoiding that part of the job. I don't have a press, and don't really have room for one, but I do have some big c-clamps, a vice, and a torch . . . thanks for the good luck wishes, sounds like I am going to need it.


And yeah I need to do the upper rear differential bushing too.

 

[bl817]

the ball joints really aren't that big of deal honestly, it just came down to not having the right size spacers in the kit I rented. I ended up mixing and matching different parts of the kit to get them in and I did finally get them in. I do think the ball joints are a lot easier to do if the arms are out of the car but then youll need a solid vise to hold them. the HF press isn't as big as you think, I have mine turned sideways beside the water-heater in the garage with my bench grinder table kinda fished between the legs so not a big footprint. the thing that got me going on the project was I found the prothane kits as a bundle on CL for 50$. the bundle came with 2 rear axle side upper bushings, 1 rear upper body side bushing, 1 set of bushings for both rear lower control arms, 2 front lower control arm rear bushings (the big ones) and a set of forward front lower control arm bushings. all together if bought new would have been 185$ or thereabout. out of that bundle I used 1 rear upper axle bushing and the front control arm bushing set. so I paid 50$ for all that, 99$ for the press and 1 day of time. I then sold the rear upper and lower sets for 75$ on CL :wink:. oh yeah also threw on some new GT500 strut mounts as well while I had the front end apart.

 

[Blazin72]

I just did the bushing swap on my 2011. However, I did not change the smaller forward bushings. I found a few posts on another forum where people that changed the front bushings were experiencing high wear rates on them so I left them alone and only replaced the large rear bushing.

 

[JBert]

I just did the bushing swap on my 2011. However, I did not change the smaller forward bushings. I found a few posts on another forum where people that changed the front bushings were experiencing high wear rates on them so I left them alone and only replaced the large rear bushing.

How hard was it to get them out; and any tips on how to do it, if you had it to do over again?

 

[Blazin72]

They were a bit of a pain in the butt- and I usually like a good challenge. I don't know if there's anything I'd do different if I were to start over and I'm not really sure if I have any tips. I did use heat to remove the outer shell then just started cutting away at the rubber and the plastic inside the rubber. The knurling needs to be filed down before the bushing will fit on the arm.

 

[Bullitt95]

Here are the installation instructions for the Energy Suspension bushings:

http://www.energysuspensionparts.com/installation_instructions/energy_suspension/17509.pdf

 

[JBert]

Thanks both. Those instructions are about the most straightforward that I have seen. Guess I need to just dig in and do it.

 

[bl817]

Its going to come down to what company you buy your poly bushings from. if you by Prothane, the kit comes with metal sleeves. I see the energy suspension has you reuse the stock sleeves, a PITA removing the stock rubber from those. the rear bushings from prothane need to have the sleeve removed from the control arm (knurled part), that is the stock sleeve for the oil can stock bushing as the ES unit looks to use that. it would have been nice if the Prothane instructions said to drain the fluid first. I liked the prothane kit that had the new sleeves personally. getting started is the hard part. I installed these https://lmr.com/item/PT-6220BL/Must...g-Prothane-Black-Front-Control-Arm-Bushings-Replaces-Rear-Mounted-Hydra-Bushing and these https://lmr.com/item/PT-6218BL/Must...ustang-Prothane-Black-Front-Control-Arm-Bushings-Replaces-Front-Mounted-Bushing up front and this in the rear https://lmr.com/item/PT-6315BL/Mustang-Prothane-Rear-Differential-Bushing-Kit

 

[Bullitt95]

I see the energy suspension has you reuse the stock sleeves, a PITA removing the stock rubber from those.

A blow torch makes short work of that job.

 

[JBert]

thanks for the links bl8, I was thinking Energy Suspension but it looks like the Prothane might make the job a little easier . . . . and I hope a regular propane torch is good enough!