Bill Ball

I think I can rig up a gear puller to push it in.

Rehan

I guess that you are replacing you bushings with poly bushings from 928 motorsport. My car had steel bushings in the arm that I need to remove before I could press in the new ones. The steel bushings are removed by using a hacksaw.

The right arm was easy to remove from above after that I removed the air pump valve.

Bill Ball

Well, here's how it went. Anonymous and StevenB came over and we started right on it. I will disappoint you upfront by saying we ultimately did not replace the bushings. We couldn't generate any real movement in the bushing, which on close inspection looked brand new. That's the way all the rubber is on my car. However, we did find the wheel bearing was loose. This is after the alignment guy found the same thing initially, snugged it, then finding continued movement, attributed it to the bushings and showed me what looked like bushing movement at that time. The bearing definitely needed more snugging, and the movement in the wheel went away.

We did observe that Jim Bailey's tip works very well for accessing the right side A-arm bolts. Once the AC compressor is out of the way, here's what you see. Clear shot to both nuts with loads of room. You need the room to swing the wrenches enough to break the torque.

The front responded to my newly learned skill of linking and open and a CLOSED end wrench together. The nuts are 22mm by the way, as Garth said. Carl's directions say 21 mm.


The rear nut is sheltered by the crossmember bracket and was best approached with socket (offset box end would have worked). Because of the close proximity of the exhaust headers, nothing more than a 3/8ths set would fit.


We used a pipe extension and were worried the wimpy 3/8 tool might snap as the torque seemed very high, but the nut gave way first.


So loosening the A-arm nuts on the right side takes no time at all.

As Bill Swift said, the left side is another story. We stared at the obstacles but didn't tackle them or see a good approach. Dropping the alternator might help access the front nut, but the oil lines to the oil cooler were in the way.

With all the other stuff you need to remove to get the A-arms out once you get the retaining nuts off, the best time to do this would be when changing shocks. I plan to do that in a few weeks and will go ahead with the bushings then.

As to doing the bushings without removing the A-arms....I dunno. If you really have to disassemble the arms to cut the metal sleeves off, then it won't work. If the old sleeves will slip off the ends, as they should, once the bushing is removed or destroyed, then it is possible. There is not a lot of room to get a device in there to press the seals in, but, in theory it looks doable. With the poor access to the nuts holding the A-arm to the body on the left side, this is probably something I will try soon.

gruffalo

I did the drivers side ones after removing the oil filter, pressure sensor and cooler lines. No biggie if you plan on changing the oil anyway.

Peter F

Hi Bill,

I would say there is no way to replace the ruber bushings without taking the arm out of the car.
The reason is that you will need to drive out one of the bolts holding the a-arm to the body in order to remove and replace the bushings.
After that you can remove the shaft that goes trough the bushings and have free access to press old ones out and new ones in.
I also lubed the new bushings before pressing them in which made it easier.

/Peter

Bill Ball

MM: Good point. Schedule the job to coincide with an oil and shock change.

Peter: Yes, there is probably an obstacle like that in the procedure that I don't appreciate yet.

Shane

By the way for those who don't always have a chunk of pipe laying around to use as an extention, you can do the same linking of a box end wrench over the end of the ratchet for some extra leverage!

Bill Ball

Shane: You seem to have nailed down interlocking wrenches and other tools. I'm just learning.

Vilhuer

For tight spots which require socket there is small adapters available which allow wrench to be used to turn socket.



Takes little less space than normal ratchet or breaker bar. Some sockets also have hexagonal portion on outside making them very useful in this kind of jobs.

dr bob

Doing the MM's on Rob Edwards' car, I demonstrated how that box end wrench is used to extend the leverage on the Allen wrench for the starter bolts. We also rigged a small press with two sockets and a C-clamp to press the rack mounting bushings out. A few carefully-placed tinks with the hammer and a small chisel, and the steel sleeves were out too.

Control arm bushings are generally tougher to move, to the point where a regular C-clamp isn't enough. BUT-- You can do the same thing without the clamp, using 1/2" drive sockets and a section of threaded rod or a long enough bolt (or two...). Big socket on one side, opening large enough for the bushing to pass inside. Smaller socket on the other side, just small enough to pass inside the hole in the control arm. Bolt down through them. Tighten bolt, and the small socket pushes the bushing out through the arm and into the big socket. Installation is the reverse, remembering to use LOTS of detergent on the bushing and the arm to lubricate the process. Reapply detergent as necessary as you draw the new bushing in. Use good bolts and it's OK to use the impact wrench to squeeze, provided you go slow. Make sure the bushing doesn't mushroom and tear as it enters the control arm hole.

BC

Bill - I got the driver's side off with this little issue - I wanted to remove the cam cover, and that have me the extra room to remove the nuts from the top with more then enough room.

dr bob

Bill-

I just re-read your post, and this time focused on the wheel bearing symptoms. In my limited experience with such things, your statement that you adjusted the bearings once, drove the car, and theye were loose again scares me. Reminds me thet this is a 100% indication that you need new bearings, and that the old ones were snugged up too tight. I know you're in a hurry to get over to the race, but just as important is that you survive the drive there as well as the commute. Bearings are too cheap to leave to chance, IMHO. Easy to change at home, a chore along the side of the road in blowing sand. If nothing else, pack a set with grease and stuff them into a ziplock in your toolbox with some extra grease. A couple pairs of gloves and a roll of paper towels, the allen key for the adjusting nut, a hammer and a set of channel-locks, the wrench for removing the caliper.... It really is a LOT easier to do this at home!

Bill Ball

Dr. Bob:

These bearings are fairly new. My adjustment technique is suspect, and so is the shop tech's.

I pulled the bearings a couple of weeks ago, examined them, repacked them and put them back. The bearings have no indication of wear, nor do the races, which I replaced with the bearings maybe 2 years ago.

Last night, one of my helpers, anonymousagain, had a lot of experience with bearings and trying to get the 928 ones just right. He picked up bearing looseness. I agreed. We pulled the bearings and looked them over, repacked them again and then went through the snugging process. I had been using Wally's hand tight method: oversnug a little to set them, release and then snug by hand. Doing that we still found a slight click-click. Anonymousagain said he found the same thing with bearings, even new ones, on his 928. Just a couple of degrees beyond hand snug, or maybe just a little burlier hand effort, the movement went away. We could still move the washer, and the wheel spun just as freely as before. So, we decided things were good and buttoned things up. If the bearings are wearing or we have set some preload, it is pretty minimal, but I will continue to check. It seemed to us there are some subtleties to setting the bearings just right that saying "hand tight" may not quite cover.

anonymousagain

Bill, were you able to complete the alignment?

Bill Ball

Alignment is scheduled for tomorrow am. The car actually drove better today with no noticeable wandering sensation. If just that slight play in the bearings was responsible, that would be interesting.