Replaced front end bushings - whew!

[krazy86t]

this must be old news to many of you on this board. recently replaced the the front end bushings, springs, and shocks on 86t. wow, that job is a hard day of work.

had to go medieval on the A-arms to get the old bushings out; cut sections out of the bushing with sawzall, then pounded out shells with punch. this was slow, but worked ok until we hit the lower A-arm on pass side that had hardened metal inner sleeves (maybe someone wrecked the original A-arm?). those sleeves mocked the sawzall blades until we got out the abrasive grinding wheel.

the steering and handling is soooo much better! amazing difference. can't wait to do the rear end and body bushings.

 

[NCC1701]

Congratulations.........

I just did my front springs last weekend and noticed my lower a-arm bushings are gonna need changing. I was just gonna have a shop do them when I had the arms off for the springs, but they wanted over $200 to do all 4.
Not sure if thats alot or not for the job, but I know I can do it with the rent a tool from Autozone and our press at work. So I greased the old ones up real good, and put it back together and as we speak , the problem solver bushings are on order.
Not looking forward to fighting with the front springs again, but that's all part of the fun of owning a 24 year old performance car right.....................right

 

[krazy86t]

we used a c-clamp press set to install new lower ball joints and new A-arm bushings. it had a 7/8 hardened hex head for the impact driver. unfortunately (because it would have been much easier), this tool could not remove the old bushings. PB Blaster, a little heat, and the shock force of the hammer and punch were what worked for us. a hydraulic press could work if properly set-up with necessary inserts and clearance for the A-arm gaps.

good luck!