ritzblitz

Im in the process of installing monoballs in my control arms. I was able to heat the metal parts and remove them, leaving the rubber. I burned the rubber away, and now I'm left with two metal sleeves which seem to be pressed in to the control arm from both sides. They are the same style sleeves that are in the trailing arms.

How do I remove these?

Funn944

Drive then out with a flat ended punch and a hammer.

ritzblitz

Ok, I was attempting driving them out with a screwdriver+hammer, I guess I'll get a bigger hammer.

hp18racer

I just did this last night! I put some heat in the trailing arm with a propane torch then beat on them with a sledge hammer, alternated b/t a chisel and a screw driver. The sleeves were stubborn.

mikemyers924s

Not sure if there's an attachment that would do the job, but a slide hammer sounds like it would be incredibly useful for this. Sorry if that's unhelpful. good luck!

mikemyers924s

OR B.F.H.

ritzblitz

I have a pretty nice BFH that I will try...

Thanks for the advice guys, I just wanted to be sure that this was actually possible before I started beating it into submission.

arthropraxis

I got a hacksaw blade and cut through the lip. That released the pressure enough to easily tap it out with a screwdriver and hammer.

kingston944

SAWZALL works fast.

ritzblitz

I ended up cutting them in half by removing the blade from the hacksaw and feeding it through the hole then reattaching blade and cutting.

I also removed the balljoints, man those clips were a pain in the ***!

JohnKoaWood

Any one else reading this, just jump to this method... it works, is easy, and takes about 5 minutes to remove the bushings! And you dont need to re-attach the blade to the handle of the hacksaw.. just use the blade to cut through the old bushing outer sleeve (pry the bushing out of the outer sleeve using a pry bar) once you cut the sleeve they will collapse to the inside and piratically fall out (or at least the ones I have done did)...

Press the new ones in with a C Clamp, or in the case of monoballs slide them in, and install the snap ring!

FWIW, I will be hosting a "how to" rebuild your late control arms clinic at my house in a week or so, as my 88 NA needs new ball joints, and I am currently waiting for a shipment of bushings...

arthropraxis

After doing theses I don't think you even need to replace the metal. It does not wear and it is pressed in. The rubber is what takes the wear.

ritzblitz

You need to remove the metal in order to fit spherical bearings. But I guess you wouldn't if you are replacing the rubber only.

+1 to JKW, the hacksaw way is really easy, it took me about 5 minutes to get the second control arm done, after messing with the first one for an hour or so.

I also managed to put a nice gash next to my eye by pulling the grease gun off the ball joint grease fitting and smashing it into my face haha.

JohnKoaWood

The metal sleeves are part of the bushings, so yes they have to be removed even when installing new rubber bushings (I will likely be doing this next weekend for my NA, and originally had to go through this on my 951 when I installed the Elephant racing monos... however I could be wrong as I do not yet have the replacement bushings on hand...)

OUCH... cant say I have ever done that with a grease gun!

arthropraxis

The bushing is made of three pieces. An outer metal sleeve that needs to be pressed in separately, a rubber bushing and an inner metal sleeve. If you are replacing stock bushing and the outer bushing is already in so tight it needs to be cut out, why replace it?
Of course I thought of this after cutting them out. If you freeze the bushings the inner rubber can easily be separated from the outer liner. Then you can send me one of your unused liners as I gimped one of mine putting it in.