I finally rented vstech's spring compressor and got started on my lower control arm rebuild tonight. I have all the parts off the car and apart. I was not able to get the spring all the way out and didn't want to start banging it so I left it compressed and just sort of hanging up there. The only two things I can't get disassembled right now are the lower control arm bushing and the ball joint from the spindle. I threaded in the new guide rod mount and put in the new bushings that connect the guide rod to the LCA.
3 questions for the experts on here.
- What's the easiest way to get the lower control arm bushings out of the end that is closest to the engine?
- For those of you who have gotten the ball joints out of the spindle yourself, what tool did you use? I rented a set of tools from Advanced but haven't figured out how to get it out so far.
- I think I may have damaged the threads on the UCA ball joint when popping it loose from the spindle(?). Did I just buy a new UCA or is there some way to fix that?
Thanks!