mjsporsche

+1. Replace "might" with "definitely".

I am seeing a pattern where it makes sense to let the experts do it for you for a fair fee. Recent post about getting a proper set of plug wires from FD vs PITA DIY assembly. Now the bushings on the control arms. I suspect that there are more examples.

TMc993

Ryan,

Roughly 6 hours from the time I rolled the jack under the car to closing the tool boxes. For me, it wasn't a particularly difficult or technical job. You just have to put your head down and stay with it.

I thought about using Chris' exchange program, but after reading through the procedure a couple of times, it appeared to me that I would gain only a couple of hours max by using exchanges. I had that kind of time to spend, so I did it myself.

It is worth noting that I had none of the difficulties Quadcammer had with his bushings, but I had lined up a machine shop in advance to press the bushings out if it came to that.

Your results will vary...

T

Quadcammer

No, normally they would unbolt the strut from the control arm (which then stays attached to the hub). Then again, removing the LCAs is the easy and quick part. the swapping of the bushings is the tiresome bit.

quite frankly, yeah it wasn't fun.

I believe $75 to $100

Plus 1. Just swapping out the lcas is no big deal though.

indeed

Hmm, I'm wondering why the difference. Either way, as noted, there can be a big difference in how easily these come out.

e9stibi

Because the 993 is my hobby, time is a secondary factor and I am always keen to learn I did the removal of the bushings myself. The job took me about 10h total but:

a) I never worked on the suspension before
b) Took my time
c) Needed the first bushing to learn how to do it right

it was very rewarding when I accomplished the mission and I met the objective of learning. Chris charges about 200 USD for the exchange which is worth considering because you might need to buy special tools and "waste" a lot of time beside the risk of messing the LCAs up. After having it done once, the procedure would not take me more than 2 hours if I had the new LCAs readily available.

TMc993

I think that one thing I had in my favor was my old bushings were really trashed. I could actually twist the hats with a pair of pliers and it would open a fairly significant "crack" in the bushing itself.

When I heated the hats and removed them, a lot of the bushing came out with them. I think that gave me more room to collapse the remainder toward the center (Just a theory...I have no other experience to compare it to).

That said, I didn't mean to imply that it was easy...There was definitely some heavy duty cussin' a couple of different times, but overall, the job was fairly straightforward....Nasty dirty, but straightforward.

Terry

Paul902

Thanks for the tips, Terry. I've got the bushings on my living room floor awaiting completion of some other projects.

Quadcammer

okie dokie folks. Both sides in and the car is on the ground. Took 2 hours 20 min from out to the garage to wheels on the ground. 2nd arm went much easier than the first as i got my technique down.

Took it out for a test run. car feels nice and solid, steering is a touch lighter and more responsive but didn't get a good chance to really test it out.

That said, I have a slight pull to the right I didn't use to have, so I'll be getting an alignment.

Ed Hughes

This has to be a walk in the park compared to changing the rear swingplate bushings, rear torsion bars and trailing arm bushings on a 20 year old 911. I don't know where everyone's sense of adventure is.

I concur with e9stibi's logic on the project.

Quadcammer

well, a sense of adventure is great, but I don't enjoy pounding on $400 control arms with a chisel nor sawing at them.

If thats the kind of adventure you're into, you could do ok running an exchange service.

Ed Hughes

I guess that compared to deciding to rip into the engine myself on the '84 for a rebuild, this seems like a pretty safe endeavor.

I understand that some like to DIY, and some would rather have someone else do the work. It works fine both ways, as long as one gets to drive the car to get the results of the work.

ryano

I ended up ordering a core swap so I wouldn't have to deal with the full process. I'll report on changing them out next weekend.

techsis

Hey Patrick,

I should have listened to you when I had my turbo suspension upgraded at RUF in Dallas. I will need to get this done on both p-cars.

Cheers,

John

jhummel68

I don't think it took us that long, maybe 2 -2.5 hours. This was the third set I replace. The first two sets I replaced the bushings myself. First control arm took 4 hours because I didn't cut the bushing properly. The second, third and fourth control arms took about 30 minutes. There certainly is a time advantage when you get a rebuilt control arm. In every instance there was a marked difference in the before and after performance of the car.

Texas993

I am used to it, no one listens to me! I recommend the upgrade.

Sorry that I missed you a Cars and Bikes at RAC. I was peddling at the MS150.

techsis

I could not make it to the Cars and Bikes at RAC. I had conflicting schedule with the coaching of my son's soccer team.

Hope your peddling went well and dry at the MS150.