help - pressing in front control arm sliding bushings
 

I'm plopping in a new set of shocks/springs, but I've got a little stuck on getting the front shock assemblies back in. I was wondering what's the best way to press those sliding metal bushings in? I've pressed on them really hard with a big pry bar, and I've tried what I think is the correct "socket+screwdriver+hammer" method of smashing them into place, but it doesn't seem to work. Can anyone help illustrate how to push these in?

Also, is there a method for using bolts and nuts that I don't know about?


I don't get it, because the last coilover installation I did went so smoothly.

Are you have a hard time getting the bottom of the strut to line up in the mount correctly? Does it seem teh bushing is to wide for it to fit in?

Yeah, that's what I'm talking about. Do you know if you can use the bolt/washer trick to press it in? Once you use that trick to press the bushing back in, will it stay pushed in?

That is the cause of your problem. I had the same problem when I installed coilovers and then switched back to a normal shock. The coilover shock is narrower in that spot so when you tightened everything up the aluminum control arm also bacame narrower there. I had to grind down some of the bushing on the shock in order for it to slip back in. Some say they were able to make it work w/o resorting to grinding/sanding down some material from the shock bushing.

The steel bushings in the lower a-arms will tap back in. No grinding necessary.

One of the bushings is fixed in the arm and one floats. I believe it's the rear one that floats. It will tap back easily with a hammer. My trick is to insert the bolt through the front bushing only and then thread the nut on. I then can hammer the bolt head and use it to drive the rear bushing back into the arm slightly to provide clearance. When you tighten the bolt after assembly the bushing will pinch tightly back into place.

FYI the rear toe links are exactly the same.

Everyone talks about hammering the bushings in, but I don't see how you could fit a hammer inside that little 2" space? Do you guys stick pry-bars or screwdrivers in there and then hammer on the end of the screwdriver?

Snub, reread Damon's post. He uses the bolt & nut as a punch.

Gotcha, just wasn't using my head. Ugh...back to work.

hmmmm...tried hammering it as hard as I could but it just won't budge. This is getting frustrating...

Shoot some PB around the insert's OD.

Yeah, already did that. I also tried the bolt/nut/hammer trick on both of the bushings just to make sure I wasn't barking up the wrong tree. Seems like it's one of those weeks where everything goes wrong...

I'm pulling my secondary injectors out, and once I finally pull the rat's nest and the coil packs and get the ACV off, surprise surprise, the screw heads that hold the injector caps on are stripped all to hell.

Oh well, off to the hardware store for a screw extractor. I guess I'll pick up a bigger mallet while I'm there.

you don't need a bigger mallet. Re-read Damon's post....it's just a simple tap and the it should move. Take a picture of what your hammering before you do some damage.

Hate to bring up an old thread but I'm having the same issue. The bearing is definitely stuck in there, no amount of hammering or pressing with a c-clamp is getting it out. I'm wondering if this is because I had tried to force the shocks in at an angle and now the bearing is no longer axially aligned with the hole?

Did anyone who had this problem eventually get that bearing pushed through?

I use a nut, bolt some large washers and a large socket to compress the pressed-in bushing. Pretty easy to do. There was a write-up about it somewhere. Maybe in the suspension section.

Hard to explain. I may be able to stop in some time and show you if you can't figure it out or can't find the other thread.