Had an interesting week. This was the time allotted to install new inner bushings, top and bottom on my GT. Removing the springs is always a grunt job and having done it before, but not that often, I decided to experiment with a couple different means. Looking at a bunch of past postings on techniques, spring sizes, etc, compared my experience with those archived posts. The fastest way I found to do this was to... remove the shock, put a jack just inside at the A-arm trunnion nut, remove the nut and lower the a-arm. I have done it by dropping the inner A-arm bolts first, but just getting to the heads of them on my car is pure agony. With the A-arms swung down, it's easier to remove them afterwards..
In my case, just before lowering the arm, had to use a spring compressor to shorten the spring so it would drop out. Why you ask? Just the other day there was some chatter about the Moog CC-655 springs and I was thinking of getting a set, but they were reported to be around 14"" standing height. Mine old springs, when removed were 17" and that was without the plastic insulators on each end. Being 17"+ is why they stick inside the spring pockets with the A-arms dropped and also why the use of a spring compressor was required. BTW, Autozone has a compressor that works great. You pay a $50 dollar fee to 'rent' it for ((((90)))) days.
So fearing a mess with having to realign it, etc, decided to put back what was there.. Everything went fine.. The bushings were from S.I. and although they do not have a definite step in the outer shell, I just cranked them in until there was a hair gap between the inner shell and the pin shoulder. There was a report about the circumference measurement of the bushings being slightly different than the original stock, however what I did notice was that the new bushings have six raised elongated areas around the circumference that is pushed into the A-Arm. These act to increase the interference and grip the ear of the a-arm. So no matter if the new bushings are a tad smaller in diameter, the raised areas take up the slack.
Another thing that was found was that a pair of the bushing cap washers had an issue. After 50 years who knows where these came from, but they've been on the car since it was delivered in 2000. When it was time to torque the cap bolts onto the bushings, found that on (only) one A-arm, tightening the bolt just kept squishing the rubber of the bushing almost until there was no gap. The torque wrench would not stop working the bolt in and the large washer was not contacting the inner shell. The large washer looked right, but it had to be removed and then a smaller flat washer had to be reduced in diameter to fit inside the protruding rubber and against the inner sleeve. Then the large washer reset and the cap bolt torqued to spec. This worked fine, but apparently the larger washer was not indented enough to do the deed....
For the bushing install, I used the tool recommended by 'showbizkid'. This is an OTS control arm bushing installation tool and after a little learning curve, they went in very nicely. No need for a large press or other specialty tools.
End of report
In my case, just before lowering the arm, had to use a spring compressor to shorten the spring so it would drop out. Why you ask? Just the other day there was some chatter about the Moog CC-655 springs and I was thinking of getting a set, but they were reported to be around 14"" standing height. Mine old springs, when removed were 17" and that was without the plastic insulators on each end. Being 17"+ is why they stick inside the spring pockets with the A-arms dropped and also why the use of a spring compressor was required. BTW, Autozone has a compressor that works great. You pay a $50 dollar fee to 'rent' it for ((((90)))) days.
So fearing a mess with having to realign it, etc, decided to put back what was there.. Everything went fine.. The bushings were from S.I. and although they do not have a definite step in the outer shell, I just cranked them in until there was a hair gap between the inner shell and the pin shoulder. There was a report about the circumference measurement of the bushings being slightly different than the original stock, however what I did notice was that the new bushings have six raised elongated areas around the circumference that is pushed into the A-Arm. These act to increase the interference and grip the ear of the a-arm. So no matter if the new bushings are a tad smaller in diameter, the raised areas take up the slack.
Another thing that was found was that a pair of the bushing cap washers had an issue. After 50 years who knows where these came from, but they've been on the car since it was delivered in 2000. When it was time to torque the cap bolts onto the bushings, found that on (only) one A-arm, tightening the bolt just kept squishing the rubber of the bushing almost until there was no gap. The torque wrench would not stop working the bolt in and the large washer was not contacting the inner shell. The large washer looked right, but it had to be removed and then a smaller flat washer had to be reduced in diameter to fit inside the protruding rubber and against the inner sleeve. Then the large washer reset and the cap bolt torqued to spec. This worked fine, but apparently the larger washer was not indented enough to do the deed....
For the bushing install, I used the tool recommended by 'showbizkid'. This is an OTS control arm bushing installation tool and after a little learning curve, they went in very nicely. No need for a large press or other specialty tools.
End of report
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