I fought the passenger side UCA off my brother's 74 Duster today. The LCA bushing was so worn out that it slipped out easily by poking it with me finger. The UCA bushings are another matter. It looks like there is a metal disc on each side of the bushing or some REALLY stiff dried out mushroomed bushing material. The mushroomed portions looks like it will block any attempt to try to remove the old bushings.

How do you guys get the UCA bushings out?

I try to keep my fingers from getting pinched in the shop press, while Ceej works the press and laughs at the fact the rust is stronger than the press!

All truth be told, Ceej has some pipe peices and square tubing cut just right for the bushings...to come out they have to be pressed from the inside out. to do this, the bushing has to rest on the press shelf, and a
"die" to push on the control arm itself will need to be used...once you've done it once...you'll forget it until you do it again...

Worst case scenario is you take it to an older established machine shop and have them do the work for a couple $.

-D.Idiot

Reed,

You can make a home made press out of a few plumbing fittings, some threaded rod, and nutz & washers.

For your viewing pleasure:







With these few "bits" one can press out the old & press in the new bushings without busting or bending anything.

_________________
67' Dart GT Convertible; the old Chrysler Corp.
82' LeBaron Convertible; the new Chrysler Corp
07' 300 C AWD; Now by Fiat, the old new Chrysler LLC

Cool, thanks! That visual was exactly what I needed! It is off to Home Despot tomorrow to raid the plumbing aisle. This should be a sticky!

ITSASTICKY!

CJ

_________________
Part of Tyrde-Browne Racing

Sticky subject:

Parts List

Me quoting me, posted on Sun Sep 14, 2008: Helpfull hint department:

Up grade to 3/8th inch grade 8 washers, the mild steel washers just deform into a mangled mess after a use few hard cycles.

_________________
67' Dart GT Convertible; the old Chrysler Corp.
82' LeBaron Convertible; the new Chrysler Corp
07' 300 C AWD; Now by Fiat, the old new Chrysler LLC

Back again with more questions.

I got the rubber bushings out, after I learned that you have to remove the inner tube first. You know, that inner bushing shell that is pressed into the bushing tube. I got those removed and the old bushings zipped out easy-peasy with my home-made plumbing-parts press. I used grade 8 washers and nuts and it all came out easy using my air hammer.

Now, how do I get the old outer bushing shell out of the control arms? Should I just remove the outer shell from the new bushings and stuff the new bushing into the old outer shell?

Thanks!

Wouldn't it have been easier to just take the stuff down to the local machine shop and paid them the $35 to remove and reinstall the bushings?

That's what I ended up doing. I went to five machine shops before I found one that would do the job. I even went down to Tacoma Dodge. The place I found to do it charged me $117 (:shock:) to remove and reinstall all the bushings. Yeah, it's expensive, but it is still cheaper than buying the tools to do it myself. I don't know where you guys are finding machine shops that will press out bushings, but there is only one in Tacoma I know of, and he isn't cheap. Tacoma Dodge said they could do it, but it would cost $330. I even had the control arms and bushings in a box that I brought in with me.

I tried removing the uppers with the threaded rod, washers, and nits trick, but I just ended up bending the threaded rod. Believe me, if I could have found a cheaper alternative, I would have done it.

Damn, Ship them to me. I'll do them all day long and ship them back for less then that.

_________________
Charrlie_S
65 Valiant 100 2dr post 170 turbo
66 Valiant Signet 170 nitrous
64 Valiant Signet
64 Valiant 4dr 170
64 Valiant 4dr 225

Thanks Charlie. If I ever have to do another A-body front end, I'll take you up on that offer. Unfortunately, I think this is the only one I am going to rebuild.

I know it's too late now, but you don't have to remove the center tubes. The bushing shell protrudes through the holes in the arms and is easily pressed out using the above described press. $117 is highway robbery; it's less than 1/2 hour work for both.

_________________
David Kight
'62 Valiant Signet, White
'98 Dodge Dakota
'06 Jeep Liberty

Growing older is unavoidable but growing up is strictly optional.

Yeah, I feel pretty ripped off, but I just needed to get it done and didn't want to spend the dough on the tools to do it right. I suppose I would have had better luck with the home-made press if I had spent a little more time with it, but I still wouldn't have been able to press the LCA bushing back in and especially press the LCA stud back into the bushings without an arbor press. So, I'll count this a lesson learned.

A 12 ton arbor press is less than $100.00 at Harbor Freight.

_________________
David Kight
'62 Valiant Signet, White
'98 Dodge Dakota
'06 Jeep Liberty

Growing older is unavoidable but growing up is strictly optional.

True, but once I use it to press the bushings, what do I do with it? I don't have need for a press often enough to justify purchasing one and having take up space in my garage. Others may be in a different situation.