i bought bushings, took my control arms off (upper and lower) and i have been trying to get the bushings replaced by a shop but nobody can do them so is there a way i can do them at home. or can a gm dealer replace them for me.

 

Nobody can push out your upper and lower bushings for you? I'm not saying you're lying at all, but that seems hard to believe. Make a few phone calls and check around. I think you're just finding shops that don't want to take the time to do it as they can't charge you $1000 to take out and reinstall the arms.

If you still can't find one, you need a good press to remove and install them. Perhaps others can chime in here as to some "homemade" methods.

 

Look on one of the first few pages of my build thread on how I did mine. It might get you an idea of what yo can do yourself. Sorry I can't give a direct link. I can't see pics at work.

 

Im not suprised some shops dont want to touch it...A lot of places dont have a clue about this old stuff anymore and would just as well not have the headache if something goes wrong.

I use one of those "C" clamp style heavy duty ball joint presses...works great

 

Works great for me as well. It's just pure BS that a shop doesn't want to touch such a simple job. Replacing control arm bushings is not exactly rocket science. In times passed I've managed to install them in using a piece of 2X4 wedged in place to keep from bending the control arm and nothing to drive them in but a large socket and a 3 lb. sledge hammer.

 

The hard part of this job is getting the old bushings out. The time-honored low-buck method is to burn out the rubber with a torch (propane works). This is a messy, smelly job. Once the rubber is gone, simply crush the shell with a hammer and punch and the bushing falls out. The new-tech way is to route out the rubber with a roto-zip, then crush the shell.

 

i am rebuilding a 70 442 chassis and the cheapest i could find to have someone press them out was $150. i then decided to do it myself. it can be very difficult to do but i used a air hammer to crush the sleeve with the rubber in. it is a pain no mater how you do it but you can do alot of damage to the control arms if you are not careful, especially if you use a hydraulic press.

 

thanks guys, ill be trying it this weekend

 

My local NAPA did the bushings for my 72 Corvette.

 

FWIW--you can "rent" the ball joint/bushing press tool at O'Reilly's, AutoZone, etc for free. They hit your credit card for the full price of the tool and then give you a complete credit back on the card when you return it. Be careful though, a lot of times the deal is if you don't have it back within 48 hours then you own it and no refund.

It's still best to find someone that has done this successfully already to help because, as already mentioned by another poster above, you can also screw stuff up pretty quickly with one of these presses...they generate a lot of force.

I just restored a set of upper and lower A Arms for an A-body car/owner and even with the "proper" tools you can't rush it. If you did this stuff every day it might get easier/quicker but that's not the case here.

Another method for removing the lower bushings is to DRILL out the rubber with a regular drill and bit...no fancy tools required. But...you need to go slow or you'll just break the drill bit off in the rubber. Basically, you keep drilling holes in the rubber to remove it and also you can let the bit catch on the rubber and walk itself around the outside of the rubber...thus freeing it up from the bushing shell. Eventually you should be able to push what's left of the rubber out of the shell. Then deal with collapsing the shell to get it out. Use a VARIABLE SPEED DRILL ..you don't want to crank the drill bit speed up very high.

Upper bushings can sometimes be driven out with an air hammer/chisel but it's also easy to have the chisel slip or jump and gouge the metal on the arm itself.

If anything, A LOT of patience is required. Some extra homemade "tools" also help like spacers to keep the arms from collapsing when you press in the lower bushings, etc.

 

I use a big 'C' clamp press also, it does ball joints as well...for a spacer I used a 2 inch plastic plumbing connector, sliced off the end so it would fit the space in the arm and then cut about an inch and a half out of the side so it would slip over the bushing...works great..

 

i had a small time shop (oldtimer) did my ball joints upper lower control arm bushings for
$65.

 

thanks everybody i replaced all the bushing at home this weekend, thanks to everybodys advise

 

Mission accomplished

 

go buy a press at harbor freight.
it is easy with the right tools