Dr.Fowler
02-05-2007, 08:21 AM
I got a set of Whiteline bushings for Christmas, but couldn't find a real good writeup on how to put them on, so here's my feeble attempt. I'll be putting up pictures shortly...
Whiteline Caster Improvement bushing install:
Tools needed:
-17mm socket
-22mm socket
-14mm socket
-breaker bar
-impact wrench if you have one
-big pry bar
-something to whack it with
-A lift if you can!
This write up is just to give you an idea of how this will go. I didn’t take pictures as I did the work, but I’ll be putting some up here to give you an idea of what you should see.
Getting to the old bushing is the easy part. Once you jack up the car and look at the back of the lower control arm, you’ll see a plate with two bolts and a castle nut in it. You only need to take off the two regular 17mm bolts from this. The larger castle nut doesn’t need to be taken out. Once you undo these, the plate will drop away. Don’t let it hit you in the face! There’s a ton of rust, dirt, and general crap being held in place by this plate, so wear some glasses and preserve your eyes. Once this plate is away, you’ll be seeing the bottom of the rubber bushing.
Next, undo the sway bar bracket and endlink on both sides. It helped me a lot to be able to free the back end of the control arm from the sway. It’s just easier to not fight with it, and it’s only 2 bolts and a nut on both sides. Just make sure you look at the orientation of the bushings and washers where the endlink connects to the control arm.
Once that’s free, undo and remove the large 22mm bolt from the front of the lower control arm. You’re gonna need something big to pry with on the passenger side, as the block and oil pan kept me from getting my impact wrench in there. The impact has plenty of room on the driver’s side. Be careful once you undo this bolt, as the control arm will only be connected at that point by the ball joint and it can swing down freely. Once this is loose, bring it down and free the control arm from the sway bar. I then put the control arm back up and just ran the bolt back through the front pivot of the control arm.
At this point, we realized that the bushings weren’t going to come out without a fight, so we sprayed a bunch of PB Blaster (I swear by the stuff) in there and let it sit for a while.
Since the control arm is pretty mobile at this point, you will definitely benefit from a second pair of hands to help hold it still. I used a ginormous pair of channel locks to grab onto the bushing and twist it. I kept putting PB Blaster on it as I twisted. It gradually started moving off. Then, once it was mobile, I held a flat ended bar on the end of the bushing while my assistant whacked it with the deadblow hammer. (Seriously, make sure you trust your assistant!!) The bushing gradually worked its way off. This is tough because there is a small amount of space available, and, if you’re like me, you’re on your back working. Just be ready to be patient. If you have access to a lift, use it.
It seems like everyone’s results on this vary, yours may be easier or harder to remove. In any case, be prepared for the worse. Some people have said that they were only able to remove the old bushing once they cut it in half, drilled holes through the metal reinforcement to be able to put PB into the inside of the bushing, etc. It’s just going to depend on your car.
There is a second way of doing this (that I didn’t want to try) which is to remove the whole control arm from the car, put the bushing in a vise and then twist and pull on the control arm itself. I personally didn’t have the equipment necessary to pop the ball joint, although there is another way of removing ball joints outlined here. (http://www.sr20forum.com/showpost.php?p=1293084&postcount=13) I haven’t tried it, but may have if I knew about it at the time. It would depend on your car and the fight that the old bushings put up.
Once the bushings are off, clean up the blunt end of the control arm, get all the old gunk and grease off there, and make sure it’s more or less smooth. We found a metal bur on one of them, and used a dremel to smooth it up. You don’t want something sharp tearing up your nice new bushing.
With the control arm end clean, wrap Teflon tape as smoothly as possible in a couple of layers. This will help with prevention of squeaking and/or binding. Don’t put too much on, or it will bunch up and you’ll be redoing it. Once its coated, give it a good layer of a waterproof grease. I used a Lucas heavy grease, but there are others like Mobil or Redline, just make sure it’s waterproof.
Now slide the bushing on. The hole goes to the outside. You’ll be hating life and tearing it back apart if you do it backwards! Take a good look and make sure the Teflon tape didn’t bunch up. You’re ready to put everything back together. The new bushing is quite a bit taller than the old one, so you’ll have some work compressing it into the recess, but it will go in. Then put everything back together and get an alignment as soon as possible.
Whiteline Caster Improvement bushing install:
Tools needed:
-17mm socket
-22mm socket
-14mm socket
-breaker bar
-impact wrench if you have one
-big pry bar
-something to whack it with
-A lift if you can!
This write up is just to give you an idea of how this will go. I didn’t take pictures as I did the work, but I’ll be putting some up here to give you an idea of what you should see.
Getting to the old bushing is the easy part. Once you jack up the car and look at the back of the lower control arm, you’ll see a plate with two bolts and a castle nut in it. You only need to take off the two regular 17mm bolts from this. The larger castle nut doesn’t need to be taken out. Once you undo these, the plate will drop away. Don’t let it hit you in the face! There’s a ton of rust, dirt, and general crap being held in place by this plate, so wear some glasses and preserve your eyes. Once this plate is away, you’ll be seeing the bottom of the rubber bushing.
Next, undo the sway bar bracket and endlink on both sides. It helped me a lot to be able to free the back end of the control arm from the sway. It’s just easier to not fight with it, and it’s only 2 bolts and a nut on both sides. Just make sure you look at the orientation of the bushings and washers where the endlink connects to the control arm.
Once that’s free, undo and remove the large 22mm bolt from the front of the lower control arm. You’re gonna need something big to pry with on the passenger side, as the block and oil pan kept me from getting my impact wrench in there. The impact has plenty of room on the driver’s side. Be careful once you undo this bolt, as the control arm will only be connected at that point by the ball joint and it can swing down freely. Once this is loose, bring it down and free the control arm from the sway bar. I then put the control arm back up and just ran the bolt back through the front pivot of the control arm.
At this point, we realized that the bushings weren’t going to come out without a fight, so we sprayed a bunch of PB Blaster (I swear by the stuff) in there and let it sit for a while.
Since the control arm is pretty mobile at this point, you will definitely benefit from a second pair of hands to help hold it still. I used a ginormous pair of channel locks to grab onto the bushing and twist it. I kept putting PB Blaster on it as I twisted. It gradually started moving off. Then, once it was mobile, I held a flat ended bar on the end of the bushing while my assistant whacked it with the deadblow hammer. (Seriously, make sure you trust your assistant!!) The bushing gradually worked its way off. This is tough because there is a small amount of space available, and, if you’re like me, you’re on your back working. Just be ready to be patient. If you have access to a lift, use it.
It seems like everyone’s results on this vary, yours may be easier or harder to remove. In any case, be prepared for the worse. Some people have said that they were only able to remove the old bushing once they cut it in half, drilled holes through the metal reinforcement to be able to put PB into the inside of the bushing, etc. It’s just going to depend on your car.
There is a second way of doing this (that I didn’t want to try) which is to remove the whole control arm from the car, put the bushing in a vise and then twist and pull on the control arm itself. I personally didn’t have the equipment necessary to pop the ball joint, although there is another way of removing ball joints outlined here. (http://www.sr20forum.com/showpost.php?p=1293084&postcount=13) I haven’t tried it, but may have if I knew about it at the time. It would depend on your car and the fight that the old bushings put up.
Once the bushings are off, clean up the blunt end of the control arm, get all the old gunk and grease off there, and make sure it’s more or less smooth. We found a metal bur on one of them, and used a dremel to smooth it up. You don’t want something sharp tearing up your nice new bushing.
With the control arm end clean, wrap Teflon tape as smoothly as possible in a couple of layers. This will help with prevention of squeaking and/or binding. Don’t put too much on, or it will bunch up and you’ll be redoing it. Once its coated, give it a good layer of a waterproof grease. I used a Lucas heavy grease, but there are others like Mobil or Redline, just make sure it’s waterproof.
Now slide the bushing on. The hole goes to the outside. You’ll be hating life and tearing it back apart if you do it backwards! Take a good look and make sure the Teflon tape didn’t bunch up. You’re ready to put everything back together. The new bushing is quite a bit taller than the old one, so you’ll have some work compressing it into the recess, but it will go in. Then put everything back together and get an alignment as soon as possible.