LCA and poly bushing frustrations.

[Chargerguy74]

Well I ordered a bunch of firm feel parts, including the poly rebuild kit and greaseable lower control arm pins. I did no research prior as I figured this was straight forward. Apparently, it's common knowledge that when you use poly bushings, you keep the old bushing outer sleeves in the LCA (which are left behind when you pull the old rubber bushings out anyway) and then insert the new poly bushings into the old sleeves. Well I pulled these old sleeves when I stripped my control arms. I did some searches on the forum after and found that rubber is preferred here anyway. So I special ordered some Moog bushings for $40. No huge deal. Until I get them and realize my new pivot pins won't work with them. Getting sick and tired of all the new parts I've bought for this build that won't work without a lot of modification I said screw it, and cut out the inner sleeves on brand new bushings. I installed the outer sleeves, and was now back to where I was a few days ago with these LCAs, and $40 lighter. I pressed the poly bushings in, then the pins, and now I wish I would have tried harder to use the rubber. I'm not a fan of the poly bushing here. They seem like they could come apart easily and nothing really firmly holds the LCA on the pivot pin like the rubber would. I probably would have just used the rubbers if I could've easily got the old inner sleeves off the original pivot pins. That wasn't working too well for me, I spent a while on them. Got 1 off. That was as far as I went as I was getting behind. So I pressed the pivot pins into the poly. The poly compresses abit, I back off, it springs back, so I guess that's where the pivot pins sit? They kind of go in as far as the poly lets them and that's it I'm guessing. The whole time all I could think was how nice it would be to have some detailed instructions, or even vague instruction might have saved me $40.

Tomorrow should be fun. I was able to get my uppers apart by burning out the old rubber bushings. Not looking forward to removing the inner sleeves that were left behind to get the new bushings on, but I'll go straight for the chisel this time.

[Chargerguy74]

Why would you produce an aftermarket part, ex. Poly lower control arm bushing, that required a left behind piece of an old bushing in order to fit properly? I can't get over this. Why not make it the same OD as the factory bushing? Yes, I understand they're difficult to remove, but not that hard. It just doesn't seem like the right way to do things.

[ws23rt]

I feel your pain.  These parts are not easy to change without a press or fabricated tools.

Those like you that are trying to move forward without forewarning are common.  You have the parts and know where they go but the instructions are less than helpful.

I wish I had an a better answer but the sellers apparently don't care to add some advisories to go along with their products in this regard.

[polywideblock]

you can buy a" tool kit" to make all this way easier     http://www.ebay.com/itm/330347196378?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

  bit pricey but well made and will last for years   

[Chargerguy74]

I feel your pain.  These parts are not easy to change without a press or fabricated tools.

Those like you that are trying to move forward without forewarning are common.  You have the parts and know where they go but the instructions are less than helpful.

I wish I had an a better answer but the sellers apparently don't care to add some advisories to go along with their products in this regard.

Thanks. I needed to vent. I was getting to be less than enjoyable to be around in the shop today.

[Chargerguy74]

you can buy a" tool kit" to make all this way easier     http://www.ebay.com/itm/330347196378?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

 bit pricey but well made and will last for years    

I have the kit. I bought it from manciniracing. What a waste of money. The pipes are too small of a diameter for the lca outer bushings. The long one is slightly too short as well to pull the pivot pins. I have been using an old outer bearing race between the LCAs and the "tool". A couple of the tools are useful though.

[ws23rt]

you can buy a" tool kit" to make all this way easier     http://www.ebay.com/itm/330347196378?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

  bit pricey but well made and will last for years   

That actually looks like a good deal. I have spent many hours learning what works and making my own tools. If one were to have it done for them at a shop what would be the cost?
Their is good satisfaction value in doing it ones self and the tools can be loaned to others.

[Chargerguy74]

I bought this one:

http://chucker54.stores.yahoo.net/unfrsuprotok.html

The lower ball joint stud remover wouldn't fit and was of no use on the 74. The ball joint socket worked like a dream for the threaded 73 LCAs I used and reinforced for this build. The torsion bar tool I've used several times.

[polywideblock]

being in Australia if I want anything like this I've got to find it on the net /ebay , sort of luck of the draw  on the quality but these tools are pretty good   

[JamieZ]

You can also get a big 1-3/8" tap off eBay (I picked one up for $20).  Twist it in and then press it out.



I then had to cut it off the tap...but It'd rather risk damaging that instead of the LCA

[charger Downunder]

Stick the rubber ones in and save you the time of doing it all over again. I had the polly, eventually they wear and slide forward and back you will notice a noise when you drive along and hit the brakes and let the brake off a click or clunk.

[Nacho-RT74]

I had same problem with LCA polys HOWEVER I made a mistake keeping rubber strut rod bushings... SUPPOSELLY, using poly Strud rod bushings allong with LCA ones this problem should be saved

[Chargerguy74]

Stick the rubber ones in and save you the time of doing it all over again. I had the polly, eventually they wear and slide forward and back you will notice a noise when you drive along and hit the brakes and let the brake off a click or clunk.

Lol. Not what I wanted to hear! I'll pick up a set of Moog bushings and throw them on the shelf for when that starts to happen.

I've also become very efficient at disassembling upper control arms now. Mopar muscle magazine did a write up where they pulled the inner LCA bushing sleeves from the pivot pins by taking a chisel and making 4 longitudinal cuts 90 degrees apart on the sleeves, "releaving the press fit", and does it ever work like a charm. I tried it today with a zip disc on the UCA pins and could pull the sleeves off by hand after making 3 cuts roughly half way through and about 90% of the length of the sleeve. I wish I knew this yesterday before I started things lol. But I needed to strip another UCA today and it couldn't have been easier.

[Chargerguy74]

I had same problem with LCA polys HOWEVER I made a mistake keeping rubber strut rod bushings... SUPPOSELLY, using poly Strud rod bushings allong with LCA ones this problem should be saved

Yeah, I'll be using poly

That tap is also a good idea. It would've come in handy as the one sleeve was bottomed out in the LCA and tough to get the tool in behind to pull it out.

[shart70rt]

I bought a 20 ton press from Harbor Freight on sale for about $129, and added a few pieces of galvanized pipe to use as tools for pressing in and out. 1" and 1 1/8 inch sections of pipe helped a lot. I bought a 6",12" and 18" piece of each. To get the sleeve out, I used the trick posted previously of spot welding a washer on the shoulder. Pressed out from the other side in a matter of seconds. Pressed the new sleeve in with a washer sitting on top to distribute force evenly.

I used the poly bushings and greasable pivot shafts, no problems so far. Had to use some needle noise vise grips to grab the collar on the pivot shaft to torque the pivot shaft to proper setting.