home made A arm press

[peglegs]

am i on the right track?
This is for a 74 fr. end not a 67 a few answered concerning a 67, was my fault till i added this

have to remove the shafts from the A arms in the next week and others have stated a machine shop charges 25 - 50 ea arm? whoa! This is a rough draft & still needs refining but are there any machine shop guys out there that would crytique this for me? Will this accomplish the task? Open to any and all suggestions if ya'll think this will work ill post more updated details and a "how to" if its a keeper......guess im just cheap lol where the bottle jack protrudes through the 4x will need a "shield" or something to stabilze to prevent a blow up or blow out? left it out to view detail. this should cost under $20 to build if it will work correctly.

[71meangreenc10]

If your doing 67-72's you dont need a press for that, just need a press for ball joints (Or the C-Arm press), the shafts for the A-Arms come right out.

Smitty

[Ram-Man]

I believe the a arm shafts are threaded in the a arm. The large hex looking nut is threaded into the a arm and the shaft is threaded into the nut. This is so you can adjust the caster.

[peglegs]

so sorry gentilemen i looked @ my post here & didnt refer to the year of fr. end i was rebuilding .............its a 74 to replace my 67 am i still on the right track

[peglegs]

from justin76

Out of the all places I called, one place offered to do the bushings for $50 PER bushing. That's $200 for both control arms. Another place would do it for $20 labor each, but then I'd have to buy their brand of bushings to put in. A 3rd place said they'd machine the bushing threads off and tack weld it in.

[Tx Firefighter]

Your drawing isn't clear on this aspect, but you have to put a spacer of some kind between the web of the control arm on each bushing when you press them in. Otherwise, the arm will collapse. It's a pain in the butt to do them and I have a good press in my shop.

[mr48chev]

Originally Posted by Tx Firefighter

Your drawing isn't clear on this aspect, but you have to put a spacer of some kind between the web of the control arm on each bushing when you press them in. Otherwise, the arm will collapse. It's a pain in the butt to do them and I have a good press in my shop.

Really good and headache preventing advice there.

For me getting the first bushing out was always the issue on the lower A arms Once it is out you can slip the shaft out and set the other side on a piece of pipe just big enough to readily slip over the busing and drive the bushing out with a BFH.

Going back in I usually use a piece of pipe or old socket that fits tightly over the rubber of the bushing and pushes against the metal collar. A piece of pipe chucked in a vise will work to back up the arm while you drive the first bushing in. Put the shaft in and flip it over and drive the second bushing in. Use the spacers between the sides of the A arm to keep it in shape as Texasfirefighter suggested to save trouble. Those can be wood or what ever as long as they keep the channel section from collapsing.
They will last little longer and have less chances of squeaks if you wait until all the weight of the truck is on the suspension before you finish tightening the nuts so the bushings won't be forced into a bind from the start.

[OhOneWS6]

I applaud you for thinking outside the box. If that is wood 4X4 you are talking about using to build this I just don't see it working.

[peglegs]

thanks a bunch folks this is some great info i realize this is a difficult job & your hints made it easier for me to understand & accomplish it

[jorgensensc]

Maybe I'm wrong, but I could have sworn we just burned out the bushings alast time we did the arms. Kind of like we do for tge trAil arm bushings. Am I misremembering again?
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[4LUG39]

They should be press in bushings. I use a good vise and a BFH. Has worked for years. My grandfather and dad showed me this.