Hello:

There probably is a way to do this, however, I would come at it from a different angle. Although, I had everything off of my car to do the complete rebuild, I beleive you can remove the bearing backet by itself in order to press out the old bushing and press in the new bushing. I recall reading in this forum from someone who haed done it this way. You would need to unscrew the track rod at the ball joint connection which could be tedious, but quite possible. I would likely first unbolt the bearing bracket assembly and support it with a block or jack stand, so as not to stress the mounting bushings at the lower control arm end of the track rod. Reassembly may require pushing the lower control arm and spindle forward to achieve proper alignment between the bushings and mounting seat on the frame.

Upon inspection, I would consider replacement of both front and rear bushings as well as the track rod mount ball joint, as long as the bearing bracket is off of the car and everything is readily accessible. The track rod (or guide rod) mount (ball joint) is a critcal item and one that I have heard is more porne to failure than the rubber bushings (and can give you a clunking sensation if in failure mode).

By the way, I experienced a problem with an aftermarket bearing bracket bushing when reassembling on my car. I can't recall off the top of my head whether this was with the front or rear position bushing (I think it was the rear). The replacement bushing was manufactured with a black plastic (ABS?) insert. When tightening to the specified torque the insert crushed under pressure. I purchased new bushings from mercedes which had the metal insert and everything went fine. Fortunately, I was able to return the damaged bushings to the supplier for a full refund (it pays to do business with a reputable supplier). In any case, I would not recommend use of any bushing with the plastic insert - send them back and get ones with metal inserts.

I hope this helps.

Jon