Unexpected trouble removing front Lower Control Arm Bushings.
 

so is it worth the effort to repair LCA's or should one just purchase them?

i usually just burn the bushings out with a homemade propane torch or a oxy cetlen torch, much faster. It smells but it gets the job done quickly:)

they are still useable.

This is my first time changing them. Also I was OK with threading the inside and putting the bolt in and beating it out from the opossite side as I the Tap is part of my tool collection and the bolt was left over from anothe project so I did not have to buy them.
From what I have read on the this Forum it is not normal for there to be that much trouble removing them. I believe mine has an unusual amout of rust inside (the car came from the East coast some where).

I am not saying it is not worth the effort and you should just buy a new ones.
Others on this Forum have not had so much trouble getting the bushings out. I think that in my case they are extremely rusted and there has to be metal missing from the bore that that turned into the rust that I removed.

You should pull the arms off; pull the bushings out and decide from there if you need new ones.

I always buy arms with bushings. I'd recommend the same when you get back from your trip, etc.

I will be reusing the arms. Ounce they are installed as long as they are working OK I will leave them there. No sense to pull them if they are working.
I bought a complete front suspension kit thinking that I would have worn ball joints and ect. But they are all tight. I think I will leave the old one on there also.
I will pull the upper control arms off today; but if they are good I will also re-use them.
I am begining to think the the prior owner had some suspension parts replaced but did not change the Control Arm Bushings; maybe because they were afraid to mess with the adjustment on the bolt.

Mine had a slight coating of rust in them too. I cleaned them up and hit them with a zinc spray to prevent future rust.

More heavy rust found on tip of Sway Bar.
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/f.../zMVC-336F.jpg

On the Upper Control Arm the Ball Joint is tight and the rubber is OK so I will reuse it.

At 11:43 AM here in Californa we had a pretty decent Earthquake that lasted a longer then they normal. At least my car stayed on the Jack Stand.

Wow, I never thought of the peril of being in an earthquake under a car!!!

Glad it stayed upright. I hope you are putting together a series of these pics for a pictorial after you finish.

:)

Except for the excessive rust in those 2 areas (and marking the aligment adjustment on the Lower Control Arm Bolt before taking this off in hopes it will be ok when you are done) everything I am doing is straight forward and there are several threads already so I did not plan to take pictures.

The only problem I have had is I am using a generic spring compressor (has hooks that hook from the outside). When the spring was compressed I decided to grab on of the compressors any yank the spring out.
This was a bad idea (I should have known better). It pulled the comressor 45 degrees from where it was supposed to be and the spring tension bent the threaded rod on the compressor.
I decided that I would just buy a new set but 2 Harbor Freight stores were out of stock. So I replaced the threaded rod on both compressors. I will be using it by the end of the day but will be more careful.

I just did these procedures and am working on a pictorial. All the info is already on this board, but it would be nice to have it all in one spot.

Yikes. I recommend the correct type, it worked like a charm.

Yes, it is nice to have the correct tools to do a job. The gernic compressor would have worked fine If I had not pulled on it.
With my fixed generic spring compressor I have the one side done except for connecting the tie rod.
Tomarrow will finish up on that side and start on the other.

Picture's worth 1000 words

Not my pictures

I've bent the autozone tool many times when i had to do that job in a pinch.

I looked at the one at the local Autozone and the threaded shafts were about 1/2 inchers and I did not like the hooks/retainers that were on it.
The thread rod on mine are 5/8 rods.

I replaced the threaded rods with American made 5/8 rod with nuts and used it today with no problems.
What I would like is to have a set with only 1 hook on each end. The end with the double hooks on it makes it harder to fit and also to use.

More rust trouble. The Lower Control Arm blot is rust in so tight that beating on it as best I could with a 3 pound hammer will not budge it. I am also worried that beating too hard on it will distort the sheet metal that it attatches to.
Tried heating the blot, spraying with penatrant oil, followed by so beating with the hammer. No luck so far.
If I have to I could cut through the bolt but I will let it soak in oil till tomarrow while I think up some other ideas.

I continued with my Control Arm removal job. Nothing was working and I tried David4's idea of picking out the rubber and getting a Vice Grips on the Busning Collar and turning the bolt to break it loose from the bolt (except that I burned the rubber with a Propane Torch to help with picking out the rubber) only to find out the my Vice Grips would not open up enough to get a good grip.
Went back to beating with zero results except that I started thinking. I was a Mechanic for 18 years and I have beat a lot of things loose; there had to be something else keeping it from coming out.
I decided that that part of the force of the blows must be going into the Guide Rod; I had removed the bolt but the Eye of the Guide rod still made contact with the arm.
I removed the whole assembly that attaches to the Guide Rod. Three good blows and the bolt came loose 90% of the way. The last 10% required me to heat the bolt but I got it out.
If I had thought about the Guide Rod sooner I could have saved myself a lot of work.

I never finished this thread.
In this thread I had to use the Lower Control Arms with oversized Bushing Bores becasue I had to get My Car on the Road to get Myself and My Wife to work.

Several Months later I bought set of Used Lower Control Arms on eBay and I had to do the Job over agin.
Before Starting the Job I made My own Spring Compressor so I would not have to use the Hooked type Harbor Freight ones. The Spring Compressor pulled the Spring up into the Spring Pearch and the Spring Stays there compressed until you are ready to lower it.

It is a strong Tool but incontinent to used and you could only fix one side at a time. Also when the Spring is compressed the Rod is stuck up high enough that you could not close the Hood.