Upper control arm bushings??

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kcramp858

Upper control arm bushings??

Post by kcramp858 »

In the middle of replacing my upper control arm bushings --

I was able to get the two bushings out with the ball joint press kit via kragen rental. They made a loud POP noise and popped out, very easy. I went to put in the new bushing, and it made a loud POP and popped right in. Per direction from other forum posts, I did not press it in shoulder arm, only up to the stops. I thought it was odd because it was really easy...

I also noticed that if I pushed really hard with my thumbs, I could pop both of them out? Not sure why... I have relatively new control arms, replaced in 2009. The holes did not seem enlarged or out of round at all... I figured eh i'll press it in a little further, just because it seemed too easy.

I went to install the control arm, and found that I pushed them in too far and I couldn't get the control arm in far enough to line up with the pivot bolt hole. I popped them out a little bit with my hands until I could get the control arm on. I got everything put back together, lowered the car down off the jack, and began awkwardly solo-torquing away with my torque wrench set to 65 ft-lbs. After a long time torquing, I never got the click, I got tired and looked up and realized that I was almost metal washer to metal bushing sleeve... It seemed like I was WAY too far compressed inwards. I never made it to 65 ft-lb, but I drove it and everything seems fine. I am very worried though. Does anyone have any insight?
DieselSpider
Posts: 2130
Joined: Wed Dec 24, 2014 10:21 pm
Your car is a: 1978 124 Spider with Isuzu Turbo Diesel

Re: Upper control arm bushings??

Post by DieselSpider »

kcramp858 wrote:In the middle of replacing my upper control arm bushings --

I was able to get the two bushings out with the ball joint press kit via kragen rental. They made a loud POP noise and popped out, very easy. I went to put in the new bushing, and it made a loud POP and popped right in. Per direction from other forum posts, I did not press it in shoulder arm, only up to the stops. I thought it was odd because it was really easy...

I also noticed that if I pushed really hard with my thumbs, I could pop both of them out? Not sure why... I have relatively new control arms, replaced in 2009. The holes did not seem enlarged or out of round at all... I figured eh i'll press it in a little further, just because it seemed too easy.

I went to install the control arm, and found that I pushed them in too far and I couldn't get the control arm in far enough to line up with the pivot bolt hole. I popped them out a little bit with my hands until I could get the control arm on. I got everything put back together, lowered the car down off the jack, and began awkwardly solo-torquing away with my torque wrench set to 65 ft-lbs. After a long time torquing, I never got the click, I got tired and looked up and realized that I was almost metal washer to metal bushing sleeve... It seemed like I was WAY too far compressed inwards. I never made it to 65 ft-lb, but I drove it and everything seems fine. I am very worried though. Does anyone have any insight?
I had to swap torque wrenches when I did mine as it was not clicking. I found that the clicker was not working at 65 lb ft and the torque wrench was not accurate at settings over 25 lb ft. I went back to my old reliable torque wrench with the long needle indicator and found I had quite a bit of loosening to do.

Still as noted in the other bushing thread you may just have the wrong bushings as was the case there.
kmoses
Posts: 366
Joined: Thu Sep 11, 2014 10:28 pm
Your car is a: 1979 Spider 2000

Re: Upper control arm bushings??

Post by kmoses »

This was my experience with upper control arm bushings (see photos).
http://www.fiatspider.com/f08/viewtopic ... 14&t=30401
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