I bought some S4 lower control arms and they already had the bushings replaced with energy suspension bushings. I am trying to install them but it seems like the bushings are to thick. The control arm slides into position with no problem but the holes do not line up when trying to bolt up the rear bracket. They are about half a bolt off center.


If I do manage to get both bolts in then the long single bolt will not go through the the center of the other mounting point for the LCA. It just seems like it is binding up.


Anybody else experience these issue or have any idea? Should I just get new bushings?


Thanks in advance

 

It almost sounds like the rear bushing is the one likely to be causing the problems. Can you take a picture of the control arm with bushings installed? I don't remember having any such problems with my ES bushing install.

 

If its a miniscule difference , freeze the bushings to shrink them for installation

 

I have a feeling you put the rear bushings on backwards...

 

I will get some pics once I am at the house.

I didn't put the bushings on. They were already installed when I bought the control arms. However, they are installed correctly. The flat end of the bushing is on the outside of the LCA while the end that is flared/rounded is up against the lip that is on the LCA.

Thanks

 

Below is a big of the bushings installed

 

Reading back through my restoration thread jogged my memory a bit. The bolt has to start out a little crooked, but it should pull itself into the proper location once you start to torque it down.

 

Thanks for the info Jerry.

I can get them on if I install the back bracket bolts first. Then to get the front bolt through it takes some work/force as it doesn't quite line up fully on the front bolt holes.

So is this typical when going with these ES bushings since they are stiffer than OE? I just don't want to get them on just because I can but then have some kind of binding.

 

You and I seem to have both had the same issue, so either we both messed up or it is typical. My car hasn't seen the road yet, so I can't speak to any binding issues.

 

I finally got back around to working on this bushing issue.

It seems this issue is common so I am not as concerned at this point. However, I bought these LCAs with these bushings already installed. I pressed out the front bushings today to find there was NO grease at all on the bushings.

So now my question is how can I remove the larger rear bushing without damaging it? I am sure there is no grease in that bushing either.

 

Can you twist the bushing on the arm at all?? See if you can work some lubricant between the arm and bushing. You might be able to use a puller... But I doubt it.

 

I 2nd that.

Mine went in fine with the normal wrestling of suspension parts.

 

Yeah, I can twist the bushing but you can feel that there is no grease between the bushing and the LCA metal. There doesn't seem to be any gaps or spaces to try and work the grease down into it.

The FSM says to use a certain SST tool to remove the large rear bushing. I looked up the SST number and it is just a bearing seperator/puller type tool.


I posted a picture above of the LCA's. I did not install the bushings but they are not backwards. Here is the pic again.

 

The factory bushing was a pain to remove because of the metal shell inside of it. The ES one should be able to come out with a little struggle. I would regrease it all and try different angles and positions, and thread in all the bolts before tightening anything. If it still does not want to go in, I would look for bent arms or crossmember. Good luck

For the front bolt hole to line up, I like using a tapered punch.

Also, I am not sure if the es bushings swell with the wrong type of grease or lube, another thing to consider.

 

Get one of those little straw nozzle things on the lubricant can and stick it in the bushing and spray the hell out of it.Then use a crowbar or big *** flathead on the inside,between the bushing and A arm.(where that Big lip of the bushing and Big lip of the arm is)
It looks like it might work.

 

I was able to remove the large bushings from the LCAs today. There was, of course, zero grease on them. Not sure what someone was thinking when installing these.

In case anybody else wants another option on removing the bushings I used a large bearing separator that I got from Harbor Freight (pic below). Once that was tightened down on the bushing I used my harbor freight press to push the LCA out of the bushing. Now I can re-install them all with grease and things should work a lot smoother.



Thanks for the help

 

Great news!

 

lol, I wonder if he sold the arms because he couldn't fit it himself. es gives you the grease when you buy it new.