The shop press came in handy, I can't imagine installing the bushings without it! For precision while installing the A-arm bushings and for the ease of installation, a press is a must have when it comes to rebuilding your front end at home. And with the great place called Harbor Freight, a shop press is affordable to just about anyone with the space to put it! The press I have is a 12-ton standing shop press that my dad bought for me at Harbor Freight for $130.00. It uses a bottle jack as the hydraulic applicator and it does a great job doing so.
Having the press on a three or four foot stand or table would have been much more comfortable though, as I was kneeling or crouched most of the time during all of the work at the press.
For suspension bushings I decided to go with Energy Suspension parts. They are affordable and offer great performance from what I have heard. I bought them at AutoZone since their price was cheaper than O'Reilly's, and it's the same part. The only part I ordered that was not correct were the sway bar bushings. I have a 15/16" bar on my car, and the only bushings available were 11/16" bushings, a bigger difference than some might think. I didn't think to measure my bar before ordering them.
End links for the sway bar are Duralast brand. They get the job done as well as any other, and a lifetime warranty. Can't complain to much. They weren't cheap though, for what they are. $25.00 each.
My new steering rack is an MBM built unit that I purchased from JPL Street Rods in Pennsylvania. I had them include a set of rubber rack bushings with it as well, but I will have to see if I can locate some urethane bushings like the Energy ones are. So far no complaints with the rubber ones though!
Well here are the photos I took with some captions the way I have been doing them. Numbers listed according to how they are displayed below, with descriptions of each photo.
Lets start with the upper control arms, more commonly known as the A-arms.
Changing the bushings on these requires fabrication of a spacer between the inside distance of the bushing shell locations. The spacer keeps the arm from flexing and warping during installation of the bushing shells. Extreme pressure is required to install the shells since they are press fit. Quite similar to installing wheel bearings but without anything to stop the bushing shell from being pressed in to far. Below are photos of the spacer my dad and I made. we took a section of 1 1/2" galvanized pipe and cut it in half using his metal cut off saw. It took some daring tactics of my dad's to figure out how to make his small 5" saw cut the length of a nearly 8" pipe in half. It involved removing all of the safety devices (clamp and shield). Daring, yes, effective? YES! I don't recommend doing this though, I was hesitant to touch the saw without the safety stuff on it. I did wear a full face mask and heavy clothing on the arms and legs just in case though.
Once the pipe is cut, it can be trimmed slighting using a bench grinder until it fits snug in the underside of the control arm, it should slide over the inner bushing shells, then rotate around to the top of them until it gets tight.
The pictures below are with the bushings removed, but it makes no difference when installing the spacer. Yes, always have the spacer in place when pressing anything into or out of the A-arm. The A-arms are fragile when abused as they are just stamped steel.