How long does it take

[Jamez 2147483647]

Ive got the urethane bushings and a big vice to press them in (i think its sufficient)

so how long does it take to change both the front control arm bushings?

as i don't want to start then find its gonna take ages as ive got exams soon and don't want to over commit on the car haha

cheers

[CamB 48]

Between 1 hour and 1 day... depends whether or not the existing bush comes out easily and your access to a press, plus on whether or not the control arms themselves come off easily (ie any ball joint issues).

My recommendation would be to remove them and take to someone with a press and pay some $$$ to have them swap the bushes over. Way less stress.

[Jamez 2147483647]

Between 1 hour and 1 day... depends whether or not the existing bush comes out easily and your access to a press, plus on whether or not the control arms themselves come off easily (ie any ball joint issues).

My recommendation would be to remove them and take to someone with a press and pay some $$$ to have them swap the bushes over. Way less stress.

oh ok i'll wait till after school exams till i tackle that job then

[JiB 0]

oh ok i'll wait till after school exams till i tackle that job then

I took my control arms (after CamB had done battle with them) to Ernst at Bavarian Motors (Glenfield, North Shore) and Rob pressed them in for me. Takes 30secs for them, compared to dicking around without a big press.

[bravo 34]

I pressed mine in myself in about 5 mins using a vice and some pipe the right diameter I had lying around.

But the old ones came out easily, otherwise I would have needed a press. Get the lollipops off and then decide. You shouldn't have to remove the control arms - why would you do that?

[CamB 48]

The Noltec ones were never going on the CA without a press (metal sleeve in the middle), and you would have needed a big-ass strong vice to put the bushing into the CA.

[bravo 34]

OK, Powerflex ones go in very easily. They have a bevelled flange (sharks tooth) at each end which makes them go in easily, but very hard to get out - thus don't need friction caused by a very tight fit to hold them in place. They are 2-piece bushes with supplied grease and the inner part rotates within the outer.

So I guess it depends on the bushes.

[westy 614]

I pressed mine in myself in about 5 mins using a vice and some pipe the right diameter I had lying around.

But the old ones came out easily, otherwise I would have needed a press. Get the lollipops off and then decide. You shouldn't have to remove the control arms - why would you do that?

As did I.

You can hacksaw 90% of the way through the old ones then use a punch or similar to tear all the way through. Be bloody carefull not to damage the lollipop!!!

[tibbs.james 1]

ok sorry to revive an older topic.

Tonight i cut the old rubber bushing with a coping saw, removed the lollipop easily enough.

With the rest of the rubber bush stills tick to the control arm i very carefully used a grinder to only just cut through the metal sleeve.

( note this did not contact the actual contrl arm as there is another layer of rubber to protect it )

I cut the inside metal sleeve of the old bushing of the lollipop in 2 places 90% of the way through

( once again not cutting all the way to make sure to not damage the lollipop housing )

I pressed in the new bushing with a big vice a socket and a metal place on the back to make sure the pressere was even, this worked very well.

I am also fairly certain i can press the new bush & lollipop onto the control arm while the control arm is mounted on the car, by using 2 lengths of threaded rod and a steel plate through one of the holes on the control arm and another steel plate on the bush & just tighten them up as required.

I will report how this goes tomorrow morning, everything up untill this stage for one side has taken around 90 minutes with plenty of tools and a nice concrete floor handy.

I hope this is helpful to some people, I am using OEM BMW m3 offset bushings.

[320guy 0]

I am also fairly certain i can press the new bush & lollipop onto the control arm while the control arm is mounted on the car, by using 2 lengths of threaded rod and a steel plate through one of the holes on the control arm and another steel plate on the bush & just tighten them up as required.

Yep, I made a similar tool to the same thing, it takes awhile to tighten it up and pull the lollipop on, but it is 500 times easier then trying to muscle it on (like some people told me you could do).

Also, to cut the old one off I cut through the rubber with some stainless steel wire (cuts very quickly once it gets hot).

[Forrest 35]

Did mine easy as , just removed old ones, then used (I will admit, large record vice) lightly sanded the inside of the lollipop then greased it up heaps inside and on the new bush, then put a piece of steel on one side of the vice, then the bush and lollipop in middle, then two small sockets on the opposing sides of the lollipop then winded them in, took about 20 min.

Hope that helps

Edit: Just read post again, take them off the car, it makes it so much easier

Edited December 19, 2008 by Forrest

[tibbs.james 1]

Fitting the bushings up with the control arms fitted to the car went very well, very easy to do .

I have removed the control arms before and for me it takes longer to remove the control arms than it does to just change the bushings under the car.

And then you don't need a ball joint remover either.

If you have a large Vice, Hacksaw, small coping saw, grinder and usual tools you will be sweet to do it this way.