Control arm bushings ??

[Tynee]

I'm just curious if anybody has every installed new control arm Bushings, then when you get them in, you can't get Grease into the brand new Grease fitting, is this a problem with the fitting, or is the bushing installed to tight? I don't think I've ever seen a brand new grease fitting that a 1000 lb gorrilla couldn't squeeze grease into.

[mac]

I replaced all 8 and greased 'em up before I screwed everything together. As I got it all assembled I tried to give each another shot for good measure. Only 2 would take any grease and not much at that. I took the truck to get an alignment after and asked the front end guy what gives. He said the caps will only take so much. If they won't let you give 'em any they're full. Stop trying. They won't give any squeeze out like ball joints and tie rod ends. I've been happy ever since. No squeeks or problems.

_________________

Mac
'67 Shaved and dropped

[Gee_Emm]

Sounds like you guys didnt center the shafts. If you put the cap on one end first and tightened the cap all the way it would contact the shaft. Try putting both caps on at the same time, thus centering the shaft between the two caps.

[Vince M]

There is also a dimension that must be maintained for correct alignment. I got my dimensions from the service manual. Could be what Gee_Emm said, maybe they are bottomed out.

[Tynee]

After I replaced them, I took it to a good shop to have an alignment done. they didn't mention anything about the bushings. Is adjusting these part of a normal alignment?

[COBALT]

No. Alignment involves doing acouple of things:

1. Changing the length of the tierods
2. Adjusting the number of shims behind the upper control arms

This changes wheel alignment with respect to the other wheel (making them both parallel to each other) and tilt perpendicular to the road.

It's pretty important to get the bars centered in the control arm. Otherwise your spindles aren't oriented correctly, and can add wear to the ball joints over time you normally wouldn't have to worry about. it can also cause significant wear to the joint between the control arm and the bar.

When I rebuilt my suspension I had no problems getting grease into the bushings. What would prevent grease from getting in there may be:

1. Uncentered bars.
2. Incorrectly installed rubber boots for the bushings.
3. Grease fittings that weren't installed correctly (thread sealer gumming up the fitting, etc.)

Each bushing has a bell-shaped rubber boot that goes on the bar first before the bar is slipped into the ears of the control arm, and the bushings are screwed in. These sit against the inside ears of the control arm, and hold grease in there.

Later I had a grease fitting on an upper control arm bushing break off while I was greasing it. I had to take the tension off of the upper control arm, remove the bushing and replace it with a new identical one with the new grease fitting. Turned out to be not too hard to fix, but I was worried for a while.

If anyone's confused about how to get these pieces together or confused about centering let me know and I'll walk you through it (or someone else who's done this can). We all have our tricks on how to do things that are a pain, so I'd be willing to help.

[rustyold72]

Cobalt, have you thought about doing a step by step for the FAQ section, I'll be doing the front of my 72 soon, and I'd like to get it right the first time, lol

[COBALT]

Sure, I could do that, but it would be ONE HELL of a long post. lol

Depends on how "deep" on the rebuild you'd want to go. Plus, I'd want to include all of the torque specs in the instructions as well - both for 1/2 ton and 3/4 ton.

There's also the difference between disk and drum brakes, and 2wd versus 4wd to consider...