How to (and how not to) rebuild lower control arms or LCAs with pics

[bull]

I got my new PST suspension kit the other day so I pressed the new bushings into the LCAs and then pressed one shaft into the passenger side LCA. Well you have to stick something up inside the hole where the torsion bar sits as a base so that the center of the bushing doesn't rip and press out when you press in the shaft, right? What I found to do that with was a big bolt that fit perfectly but what I didn't realize at the time was that the end of most bolts are curved instead of perfectly flat (as it is with this one) so the inner part of the bushing mushroomed out when I pressed the shaft in. Not a big issue because it's stil functional but when it mushroomed out it made it so the shaft came in contact with the end of the big bolt before it completely seated itself into the bushing. Now I have about a 1/16" gap between the shoulder of the shaft and the inner metal lip of the bushing. I know it's supposed to be completely seated in there but my question is will there be any problems if I leave it or do I need to tear the bushing out, buy another one and start over? BTW, I'm not talking about the large shoulder shown in this example pic below, I'm talking about the small shoulder that's about 3/4"-1" further down toward the LCA itself.



Second, one of the previous owners apparently dinged the drivers side shaft up with a hammer on both sides of the portion that mounts inside the K-frame. I think I can file it down (the dings aren't real bad) but should I get another shaft that isn't dinged up or am I worrying about nothing?

If none of this makes sense I'll post some pictures later but I don't have access to my camera at the moment.

[bull]

Maybe this swiped pic will help explain.

1. is the area where the shaft is supposed to seat against the bushing but you can't see the exact spot in this pic.
2. is the part of the shaft that got dinged up.

[b5blue]

I'd finish pressing them on all the way but not worry about the dings and just file them down. You will be glad later during alignment.

[bull]

I'd finish pressing them on all the way but not worry about the dings and just file them down. You will be glad later during alignment.

That's the problem though, I can't press it in any further because with the inner part of the bushing mushroomed out and allowed the shaft to bottom out on the bolt I'm using as a stop.

I'll try to get the pics up later.

[FLG]

Cant you just cut the bolt a little? 

[TylerCharger69]

That shaft needs to be pressed in completely...That's what that "raise" in the shaft is for...

[bull]

That shaft needs to be pressed in completely...That's what that "raise" in the shaft is for...

Right. So you don't think 1/16" away is close enough? You don't think there's any way it might right itself under a load with strut rod corrections and what not?

[TylerCharger69]

well....1/16 may seem very minute..(meinoot?....mynoot?)   anyway....i would imagine that damage could occur throughout time.  When the shaft is pressed in all the way,  it basically  "squares" the shaft with the LCA.  So...it may slowly ream an eggshape into that piece....someone else may chime in who had a similar problem

[bull]

I'll tear it apart if I have to but I'm just hoping it's not that big of a deal. Maybe I'll call Firm Feel and see what they have to say about it.

[bull]

Just called Dick at Firm Feel. He said it could go either way but since the LCA is out of the car already he recommends I make it right. Also he said by leaving that space in there I'm taking away caster and one thing these things need more of is caster. Plus I might see some undue wear on the bushing early on in it's life, he said.

Sounds like they have a good way of removing the outer portion of the bushing too (cutting threads in it, installing a bolt and then pressing it out ) so I'm going to let them fix my first attempt at this. Too bad I didn't consider the taper on the end of that bolt the first time because it worked great when I cut it off flat and pressed the second shaft in. Oh well. Live and learn.

1. the goofed up one (you can see how the shoulder of the shaft isn't in far enough).
2. the correct one.

[bull]

I feel like I'm talking to myself here but that's ok. I need a place to document this stuff for other people who have questions. Anyway, Dick at Firm Feel also told me they press the bushings differently than I did it. There's no right or wrong way (as long as it works) but they press the shaft into the bushing first and then press that assembly into the LCA. The only problem with the average Joe doing it that way is that you can't just press it all in by the end of the shaft because it will rip the inner part of the bushing out (the path of least resistance). You have to use tooling that allows the ram to press on the outer part of the bushing itself (A) while avoiding contact with the shaft (B) see pic below. Apparently Firm Feel has a specialized press tool for this, most likely a tube shaped tool that's the same diameter as the outer part of the bushing yet larger ID and longer than the shaft so that the only pressure being applied is on the outer bushing lip. I'll know more when I see it.

[b5blue]

Looks nice Bull! I see your doing the golden cosmoline look. 

[TylerCharger69]

I think that may be what's wrong with mine....(see "is it possible") in this topic.  I have a wheel that sits a bit too far forward, and it may be due to the bushing not being pressed in all the way

[khodne]

Bull,  I'm glad your getting it fixed now rather than have it not be right and having to redo it when your cars done.  Thanks for the information on how PST presses the bushing in, I'm going to try it that way when I get around to doing the GTX.

[bull]

Thanks khodne.

I shot a few more pics today to detail this a little better, including a visit to Firm Feel to get my goof fixed.

Pics 1, 2: This shows you how I screwed up the bushing assembly. Basically the tapered end of the stop bolt I was using caused the inner bushing sleeve to mash out so that the shaft hit the end of the bolt before it could seat itself all the way.

Pic 3: This is my second/successful attempt after I cut the bolt off so there was no taper to it. You can see the inner bushing sleeve still mashed out somewhat but not very much. Definitely not enough to cause problems.

Pic 4: This is the tool Firm Feel uses to install bushings into lower control arms after the shaft has been pressed into the inner bushing sleeve. You can see that it's a tube as I speculated (what else?) and that it is the exact same diameter as the outer bushing lip. The wall thickness of this tool is about 1/4" and it's roughy 7 3/4" deep to accomodate the shaft clearance. They first place the bushing on the flat table beneath the press ram, press the shaft into the inner part of the bushing and then use the pictured tube tool to press the bushing in by the outer lip. Also seen here is the old outer bushing sleeve (after being tapped) and the bolt they used to press it out with.

The best thing about this visit (and probably this thread) is being able to share the method Firm Feel came up with to remove the outer bushing sleeve from the LCA housing. Seriously, this is awesome! First, they place the LCA face up in a bench vice so that the torsion bar socket end is facing down and the bushing is facing up. Then they take a large tap (tried to read the size on it but couldn't decifer it) and cut threads into the outer sleeve about an inch down. Then they install the correct bolt into the threaded bushing sleeve as far as it will go, flip the LCA over and use a pin to press the bolt and outer bushing sleeve out together. No screwing around for hours with chisels and punches and hammers putting dings in your LCA and taking years off your life. The whole process took them about 10 minutes and 8 of that was spent cutting the threads. Unfortunately I could not see the size of the tap he used but I can tell you it was fine threaded.