I'm in the process of refurbishing my rear suspension in preparation for the V8. I have seen several different ways of removing conrol arm bushings. The way I did seems to be pretty quick and painless. Here it is.

First, drill a few holes around the inner sleeve while rocking the drill back and forth. Use a medium sized bit that is less prone to breakage. The drill bit will want to ride around the outer edge of the inner sleeve. Let it. You have to pull hard on the drill to get the bit back out. Try to tear up as much rubber material as possible.

Working the bit around the inner sleeve:

Once you have gotten the drill bit to go around that inner sleve a few times, you should be able to go ahead and tap out that inner sleeve. I used about a 4" bolt with a nut on the end a little bigger than the diameter of the sleeve. Once I tapped the sleeve out, I just removed the nut and pulled the bolt out.

Tapping out the sleeve:

Bushing with sleeve tapped out:

Continued...

[This message has been edited by 87GTSleeper (edited 04-04-2004).]

Next, you perform a similar task with the bushing toward the outer sleeve. Drill a few more holes in the bushing first to help loosen it up. Then drill close to the outer sleeve and the drill bit will want to hug the inner side of the outer sleeve. Let it but be careful here as you don't want to inflict too much damage on the outer sleeve because it will be reused if you are upgrading to polyurethane. Ream the inside of that sleeve about twice and pull out the bit.

Drilling the outer sleeve:

The bushing should work itself out a little during the drilling process:

Then you can just use a large screwdriver or a pointed punch to pry the rubber the rest of the way out.

Removed bushing:

I used a brake cylinder hone to smooth the nicks in the outer sleeve caused by the drill.

Honing the sleeve:

The finished product will look something like this:

It took me roughly 15 minutes per bushing...while taking pictures. Just be safe and use a sturdy medium-sized bit.

Bonus Pic:

[This message has been edited by 87GTSleeper (edited 04-04-2004).]

Great Write up. Say, how did you get the control arm painted so nice? Did you do it yourself? Also, did you get that lower bushing pressed in?

Thanks.

looks great, but burning them and having them fly out was pretty fun too

Good trick on getting them out, but I like using fire for anything. + for you!!

Kris

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[This message has been edited by shop_rat45 (edited 04-04-2004).]

Heh, I tried that method yesterday, and broke 3 drill bits off in the bushing. I ended up breaking out the propane torch... after a minute of blasting some heat through the bushing, the sleeve popped right out and I pushed the rest of the bushing out with a screwdriver. Took about two minutes per side... and it didn't mark up the outer sleeve. But, whatever works!

Brad

Elenor, I used a wire brush and a scrub pad to clean up the control arms then used some good industrial grade spray paint to finish them with. My poly bushings have not showed up yet but I plan to press them in myself using c-clamps. I heard if you put them in the freezer for a bit first they install a little easier.

B, sorry to hear about the drill bits. I broke one on my cradle bushing but it was way too small. My intent was to burn mine out as well but the smell from just drilling is bad enough for me. I'm not saying this way is the best way, just the way I got it done.

Thanks for the comments.

I read a post a yr ago or so about 'soaking' the rubber bushings in lacquer thinner overnite then they just 'pop' out......
so I tried it and they didn't. So I put the propane torch to them. WOW. They exploded out of the sleeve!!! It is a good thing it wasn't aimed anywhere near me; it would have killed me; it went straight up and banged hard against my (open) overhead door - that bushing would have gone 50" straight up if I had been outside, I am sure. (And come down who knows where???)
But it left the sleeve nice and clean and that was the whole removal job taken care of right there.
I think the lacquer thinner softened and semi-dissolved the rubber at the outside surface, leaving a 'greasy' feel to it, and also made it swell up a bit which made its 'exit' from the sleeve that much more dramatic.
Another option.