old Pug 205 D limping on at 133K J reg
I've got to get the bushes changed on the front control arms, they're the shape of two rubber mushrooms pushed together. I've checked at the garage the family use and it's about £100 to £150 (including O/S track end too).
I'd like to do it myself (i've got ball joint splitter for the track rod) but I don't think I've got a suitable set of tools to break the bolts on the chassis ect.
Am I being to concerned about this and is it easy (for me, mind!)
Otherwise does anyone know a good 'more economical garage' in Wrexham money is really to tight.
Thanks stu
Control-arm bushes
Moderator: RichardW
Get yourself a 'breaker bar' if you don't have one (a long bar with a half-inch drive on the end) to undo bolts.
It should be a straightforward job, but getting old bushes out and pressing new ones in can be a pig if you've not done it before.
It's not much more expensive to buy new control arms from GSF complete with the new bushes already fitted.
When I did mine, one of the control arm bushes had rusted onto the anti-roll bar. If you come up against this, drill through the rubber of the bush so you can remove the control arm, and then tackle the steel sleeve which gets left behind on the anti-roll bar.
I got it off after an hour of heating with a blow torch, lots of WD-40, and drilling/angle grinding.
The instructions in Haynes saw me through.
If you need to replace any bolts, make sure they're of the same tensile strength - crucial with suspension components. Good luck
It should be a straightforward job, but getting old bushes out and pressing new ones in can be a pig if you've not done it before.
It's not much more expensive to buy new control arms from GSF complete with the new bushes already fitted.
When I did mine, one of the control arm bushes had rusted onto the anti-roll bar. If you come up against this, drill through the rubber of the bush so you can remove the control arm, and then tackle the steel sleeve which gets left behind on the anti-roll bar.
I got it off after an hour of heating with a blow torch, lots of WD-40, and drilling/angle grinding.
The instructions in Haynes saw me through.
If you need to replace any bolts, make sure they're of the same tensile strength - crucial with suspension components. Good luck
I agree with raplh, changing bushes is to much bother.
Save yourself the aggro, and damaging/weakening the wishbone in the process, and change the complete wishbone (about 45 quid each, when I did them over a year ago).
The complete wishbone will also include the rear p-bushes which will probably be shot aswell.
Make sure you put the wheels back on the correct side.
Also after doing mines, I had tracking problems (steering pull), even after getting tracking adjusted on 4 wheel rig. Caused due to shape of tyres with old worn bushes, not sitting true with the new wishbones. Finally solved problem after replacing with new tyres!
Save yourself the aggro, and damaging/weakening the wishbone in the process, and change the complete wishbone (about 45 quid each, when I did them over a year ago).
The complete wishbone will also include the rear p-bushes which will probably be shot aswell.
Make sure you put the wheels back on the correct side.
Also after doing mines, I had tracking problems (steering pull), even after getting tracking adjusted on 4 wheel rig. Caused due to shape of tyres with old worn bushes, not sitting true with the new wishbones. Finally solved problem after replacing with new tyres!