Suspension bushings ... burn 'em out!!

Not don't let Al Gore find out what you're planning

 

That's really the only way to do it without damaging the sleeves that hold the bushings...

(Veteran of 1000 Alfa trailing arm bushings...)

 

A bench vise and two deep-well sockets of appropriate size work very nicely.

 

I did the bushings just before birdman came up with the great idea.It takes a fair amount of brute force, sweat and fiddling with sockets, washers, bolts and all of that to "press" in the new metal sleeve with the new bushing.
Not only that but you have to get out the dremmel or die grinder to cut through the factory welds so you can "press" out the old sleeves.
Once that is done, it is strongly recommended that you spot weld the new sleeve to the a arm.

The torch method may sound crude and nasty but i think it beats the "old way".

taking this one step further, i actually broke my 6 inch vise doing the koni rubber bushings - what a pig of a job without a press. Then after reinstalling the shocks, both leaked. Torching a shock bushing is probably a very bad idea and i have not yet heard any one recommend it.

best of luck.
chris

 

Several of us have now successfully used a press or large vise to remove the old rubber, and it generally comes out very clean w/no damage to the bushing sleeve.

I'll concede that if you don't have access to a press, then burning the rubber out is about the only other alternative, altho a hole saw just might do the job.

Note that this is probably a 1-time shortcut as the poly bushings will rotate inside the sleeve & eventually wear it oversize. So plan on cutting the sleeve out & tacking a new one in the 2nd time you replace bushings(of course it may be far enough out that it'll be some other owner's problem).

 

I have just gone through the whole exercise myself.
I pondered the ES burn out bushing way but decided on the hard bushings from Superformance.
My wishbones were well in need of a tidy up as well, so they were stripped, sandblasted, primed and two packed.
32 years had them looking quite tired.
Now they all look great and hopefully I won't have to do them again.
The dremel to the spot welds doesn't take too long, equally they were pushed out in the vice and the new ones went back in the same way.
If you have to heat them up that much to get the rubber out, I can't think that it does much good to the paint on your wishbones.
I would also wonder if the heat may weaken or soften the wishbones somehow. They certainly flex enough as it is.

Steve.

 

You don't need to spray POR15, so don't need to thin it. Just brush it on out of the can, it self levels beautifully.

 

I'm glad you guys are finding my procedure helpful. I sure was happy to discover that the old outer bushings could be re-used.

My personal opinion though is that a $79 press from harbor freight is faster and easier, and does less damage to the A arms. It will come in handy many many many times down the road so it's worth buying. It's a wonderful and in expensive tool too own. You are saving so much money working on the car, it just seems like a very good excuse to get another tool. Get the right sized socket, pop it in the press and the inner bushing rubber will push right out, no mess, no fuss, no smoke, fire or damage to the A arm paint from heat. Just my $.02.

Birdman

 

I would love to see some pics.

 

As much as I would like to take credit for it, someone else threw it out as an idea in a thread way back when I was redoing the suspension on my 308 (the old way....with new bushings and welding them in). When I bought the Mondial I decided to try it. So I can really only be credited with testing the procedure, not thinking it up!! (I forget who suggested trying it).

Birdman

 

Suprisingly, a lot of people from FChat seem to be able to afford a (more or less) $30Thou+ car but yet are too stingy enough to have them serviced professionally. It's one thing to tinker and another to be a total "Scrooge" atleast buy some decent tools for Pete's sake! Just "MY" .$02!

 

According to POR15 you just need to get all loose/easily removable rust off, & get all oil & grease off. My camper's frame was starting to rust pretty badly in places, so I took a wire wheel & got off as much as I could. Then cleaned with a parts cleaner followed by Marine clean, Metal Ready, 2 or 3 coats of POR15 & a coat of chassis black for UV protection. It's been a couple of years & no sign of rust reappearing. Did the same with my 308's pinch welds, except primed & resprayed red. They're holding up quite well.

IMHO it's always best to get as much rust off as possible so the metal ready (or whatever phosphate conversion etch you're using) has the best chance of penetrating all the way thru the remaining etch.

BTW, POR15 doesn't stick very well to a really smooth surface, so when blasting, use something more aggressive than bead media. I usually use a product called 'Black Beauty' which I understand is recycled slag from waste incinerators. POR15 adheres quite well to surfaces preped with it.

Powder coating also adheres best to a somewhat roughened surface, so I give it the same treatment.

Also, it's very important to thoroughly rinse the phosphate conversion etch off, otherwise the acid residue can actually start corrosion or interfere with protective finishes.

 

It was suggested by: theunissenguido post #62 in this thread:
308 Rear Suspension Rebuild with Pics
http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10688

Unfortunately the pics didn't survive the Fchat hard drive crash.

 

It was a statement that wasn't meant to offend anyone. So sorry if it did newbiedude! Wont happen again. Besides, I too "wrench" my cars myself and the statement made wasn't to imply that one can or cannot afford to upkeep any car for that matter. But I do apologise again my friend. To anyone else that I might have offended as well.

 

I have read my post again and it did seem a bit insulting. I guess I could've been more cautious with my wordings. For that I apologise to newbydude again and to the rest of the FChatters. I have no excuse for the actions I have done and again I apologise. Sorry newbydude!