Hey guys im currently installing the energy suspension rx7 master set onto my 1986 turbo II i currently have the subframe out of the car and on the ground and im doing the rear control arm bushings.

Here's the problem.. i dont have a bushing press, neither autozone nor advanced has one for rent etc.. i've adapted a piece of all-thread thru the two sides with nuts and washers as an improvised press and its working for the most part.. but one side refuses go go on. always leaving a little lip stuck outside the housing and i cant seem to get it to suck in... any tips would be greatly appreciated!

 

When i pushed my bushings in I used an arbor press. I lubed both side of the bushings and centered it on the arm. I pressed the bushing in slowly and let it suck into the hole while putting slow increasing pressure on the bushing.

Another thing that helps is using a large flat washer to distribute the pressure on the bushing. That seemed to help me when I put in my differential bushings. I also made a custom flat spacer to push the old ones out. I will be doing the rest of the suspension in the winter coming up.

 

ive tried all of that.. i tried slow, i tried fast ive tried everything. now i've got both the bushings IN for the most part, but i cant get them to sit flush so that i can bolt it back down. each side has round a 1/4" or less that still needs to go in. when i try an press it in, it just comes back out when i relieve the pressure....

 

Video

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=4035381367879

 

the 2 lips on the control arm need to come out, the stock bushing is a 2 piece bushing that has metal sleeves on the outside, those metal lips are part of the stock bushing... if that makes sense.

if you take the 2 bushing halfs out you should see where the 2 metal sleeves meet in the middle...

sorry if that didn't make any sense.

 

the old bushings are out and yes the metal sleeves inside were seperate (2) but on the energy kit its a solid sleeve. (1 piece through the whole unit)

 

There is in inner sleeve (the one I think you're talking about) that goes around the bolt, and an outer metal sleeve on the stock bushing also.

This is what I'm talking about:

 

wow you gotta be shittin me.. these are on the inside (on top of the bushings)?! >.> holy ****. so how do i extract these from the control arm without destroying them and the poly
bushings???

How do i get my poly bushings back out without destroying those....? i dont wanna burn them...

On another note i got a set of oem rubber ones for 16 bucks today because im so frustrated with having to half *** this, was thinking just puttng the orm rubber ones back in and selling the rest of the master set on here. the car only has 63k miles all the bushings are in EXCELLENT shape.

 

eage8 beat me to it. Leaving the stock bushing's metal sleeve on the control arm is a common mistake which is easily overlooked. You should be able to pop the poly bushings out without too much effort. Once they're out, you can use a hacksaw to score the sleeve and finish it off with a chisel.

See this video to get an idea of how it's done. The video is not the greatest but it was the best example I found with a quick youtube search.


Once you have the sleeves out, clean the control arm so the new bushings have a nice clean home. You dont want to have dirt or pieces of metal in there as that will prematurely wear out your new bushings. Lube the new poly bushings and press them in by hand. Install the bushings inner steel sleeve after the bushings are in the control arm. The sleeve will expand the bushing once it's pushed in. In your video you were trying to press the new bushing with the steel sleeve already in place. For the most part, these 2 piece poly bushings can be pushed in by hand. The sleeve can be pushed in by hand too but sometimes it needs a little bit of love from a dead blow hammer to get it all the way in there.

 

I couldnt comment on your Facebook video, guess we need to be friends on there or something, but have you tried installing the bushings without the new bushing's inner sleeve in place?

 

havnt gotten that far. i just learned this last night when ^^^^ mentioned it. i cant believe this is all the problem was.. i hope i didnt ruin my poly bushings by squishing them like i did in the video so many times....

 

If it makes you feel any better, I wouldn't put poly bushings there anyway. That pivot on the control arm pivots side to side as its moving through its arc. Poly bushings will make it not move as freely and possibly bind. Specially if you have aftermarket camber adjusters on the inner pivots.

most people either use stock rubber bushings or spherical bearings like mmr and awr make.

 

im gunna go ahead and just install the rubber ones here and burn out the poly ones. was a waste i guess but whatever.