-upper control arm bushings
-swaybar bushings and endlinks
-idler arms
-new tires
-shocks
The idler arms, shocks, and sway bar parts are pretty straight forward and have been covered before.. but i was surprised to finfd little info on the bushings for the control arms, and even more surprised to find that in all of the swaps Bill has done he had never done them!! I figured I would give some pointers for anyone that wants to try to do them on thier own and save 400 - 500 dollars labor. It is pretty straightforward, but NOT easy! And keep in mind that you will need to go get an alignment afterward.
1. Jack up the front and then lower it down on jackstands under the lower control arms so the van sits approx. like it would sitting on the tires.
2. Remove the front wheels, separate the ball joints. (Now is a good time to change them if you need to!!) If you are stock and your ball joints are ok, I would just pop them out of the spindle. If you are lifted and have flipped them to the bottom of the control arm, all you have to do is remove the four bolts in the control arm.
3. Remove the two bolts holding the control arm to the frame and remove the control arm.
Easy part is done!!
4. You now must remove the bushings from the control arms.. This is NOT an easy task without the right tools.. A press would be good.. You MIGHT be able to use a giant socket and push them out in a vise also, similar to the "previously easiest way to remove u joints".. I did not have a big enough socket to try, but be ready to seriously wrestle your vise! The first arm I did I removed them with a procedure I will outline below.. the second arm was FAR easier. My buddy showed up with a ball joint press kit. It is basically a big c clamp with a bunch of fittings that are basically big giant cups. Then you use the impact wrench to tighten it down and pop them out, then the reverse to pop the new ones in. Now, any mechanic will probably tell you that you should NEVER use impact on bushings.. at least that is what they told me.. They are rubber.. I dont know. They made it through just fine, and it took me 10 minutes to remove both bushings and install both new ones, unlike the 40 minutes it took me to remove the two using the procedure below.. its up to you!
4a. How to remove the bushings if you have no press or air tools:
Here is a pic of a bushing out of the control arm and intact:
and here is an "exploded view" of one I removed manually:
You will notice the end caps on there. I squeezed the end cap into the vise, and wrestled the control arm until I managed to wiggle the end cap off. Repeat for the end cap on the other side of the bushing. Next you will need to use two sockets to push the metal sleeve out of the center of the rubber bushing.. came out fairly easily. Then you need to cut a slit in the rubber. If you look close at the pic you can see the slit. I used an air saw and it was not too bad, just smoked a lot and stank real bad... Once it is cut you can pretty easily pry the rubber out with a flat head. My flat head says right on it "NOT for use as a pry bar", so I knew it was perfect for the job!
Once the rubber is out I took the air saw and cut a slit in the metal housing, just be careful not to cut the control arm!! Once that was slit, a few whacks with the hammer and it popped right out with little effort.
(I know.. doesnt sound bad.. between both sides of the van there are 4 bushings.. It gets old quick!)
5.To put the new bushings in I used the ball joint press kit my buddy brought over.. VERY easy to put em in.. If you dont have access to that, well.. the only way I can see doing it would be to lightly grease em up, grab a big socket and press em in on the vise.. The problem is that it has to be just the right socket.. there is i fine line between "too small to fit arount the bushing" and "too big to si on the control arm".. but I am sure it can be done!
My recommendatin would be to get that press kit. It is cheaper than the labor for someone else to do it, and worth every penny in the time it will save you. I just went to get my tires mounted by my buddy, and he had is silverado on the lift doing upper and lower arm bushings.. Took him all day to do them as i described above! And he does it for a living! You should have seen his face when I told him about the ball joint press.. He had one there at the shop and never thought to try it! If not then worst case, a big socket is the cheapest way..
Good luck!
98 Safari RWD. Stock.
