Control arm bushings

I already regret asking this but has anyone had any luck changing the front control arm bushings with a vice or another method? I’m having a hard time finding a shop that will press them for me and the few that would do it wanted me to drop the control arms off for a few days and quoted me prices that I could just go buy a press myself. I’d hate to buy one since I’d use it this once then it’d just collect dust.

Use it once, but put it up on any market place for rental when you're done. You'll probably end up making money on it

I cant remember if I employed this method when i did the front control arm bushings but my method was to cut the core out with a holesaw, trim/score the outer shell and hammer it out. That was getting them out, even having a press at my disposal. Pressing them in, I did use a press, but I will remind you, a press is just one part of the equation, I used a whole bunch short lengths of steel tubing, round stock, etc to get the setup just right so i could actually use the press, so the price of a press is just one thing. Its the star of the show, but i doubt a press alone could get it done. Also consider the setup required for the front bushing. Your press needs to be of sufficient size to house the whole control arm.

 

Anyway, this should be an easy job for a competent shop, so maybe call around some more, ask your locals. I dont know what the going rate is but the cost of a the cheaper HF presses sounds about right for all 4 front bushings.

A ton Of local machine shops shut down for good from the whole covid nonsense and a lot of the local repair shops around here that do it don’t even like the idea that I’m bringing them control arms out of a vehicle and won’t touch it. I thought about the method of removing the rubber and cutting the race out but at that point, the time might just be worth buying a dust collecting press. Even when I had a press, it only got used for the occasional wheel bearing on a collision repair

I know the feeling about the press, mine sits unused now after I bought it for one job.

 

Rockauto has AC Delco arms without ball joints for $63, and you can get subaru ball joints for around $35 I think (rockauto even has them. odd/interesting to me that they sell oem parts if you plug a part number into the search box). So $200 and the for two new arms with brand new bushings and new ball joints, and just having to slap new arms on doesn't sound too bad to me, but obviously not as good as just bushings.

 

I figure you've considered that but thought I'd throw it out there anyway.

I did, I want to try some whiteline bushings I got a while back

Don't use a vice, I ruined a perfectly good vice years ago pressing in bushings...

When I pressed my whiteline bushings into my aluminum control arm, I think there was considerable force required on the front control arm bushings. I'm certain my large arbor press couldnt have done it, and i doubt my medium sized vises could do it. Maybe with some heat, but that seems a little scary to me.

I’ve gone from spoiled to a low, ended up using a holesaw, chisel and hack saw to get the old bushings out, pressed in the new large bushings using a bottle jack under the rv (wish I would have thought of that before using the holesaw on the other bushings). It’s been a day.

Hah, great innovation, nice work! I use my truck frame as a fulcrum when breaking the bead on my motorcycle tires.

 

I still think the holesaw + sawzall is a great option to remove. It negates the need to have a pocket to press the already installed bushing into. This helps especially with thin walled steel bushing housings. A good number of aftermarket poly bushings dont need a press to be installed either so it makes this a home job in those cases.

I also had a hard time getting the Whiteline bushings installed in my FLCAs. I had to try four shops. The first three acted like they were afraid to hurt the arms themselves; the last one acted like the whole thing was no big deal. You may just have to keep calling around until you find a place that'll do it.

I read all of the similar stories and decided that it was the best use of my time/money to buy the Mevotech aluminum LCAs from Rockauto. I replaced their balljoints with the ProForged ones as I had previously picked up based on reviews. So far so good and install was smooth.

I had my local napa do it