My C style press has big fat warnings all over the instructions against using pneumatic tools to drive the screw. Naturally, I tried it a couple times My experience has always been- you tighten that thing until you’re convinced it won’t budge another arc second and then all of a sudden BANG! the whole works is loose along with the ball joint. Can be startling sometimes.
The TrailVoy is notorious for eating lower ball joints. I’ve owned three TBs and replaced probably 6 sets. To head off the question- I only buy top of the line ball joints for this reason. Ironically, I have never had a top one fail.
I had to buy the master kit along with some separate cups and they still do not fit perfectly. This causes them to tilt if you’re not careful. One of the cups has a radiused cut out to clear the arm and I bent that hardened cup when it flared out under pressure.
Done enough of them to find a way to take as little apart as possible.
Haven’t yet replaced arm bushings although the last time I did the ball joints, the upper arms were not moving as freely as I would prefer. Next time
I have little to no experience w/that job, but couldn’t you drill some holes through the rubber part beforehand, to loosen the fit a little to lessen the force required to push it out?
I was referring to pressing out rubber bushings. When I’ve disconnected ball joints I’ve either used a ball-joint spreader tool, or a pickle fork. I tie up the connecting parts beforehand with ropes & chains, b/c they tend to have a lot of pent-up spring force…
Am I missing something here, aren’t the Envoy/TB front lower control arms a 2 piece deal, the control arm with ball joint and the control arm support with the bushings??
You could probably make the job of removing the old one easier w/some careful pre-drilling, but you still have the job of installing the new one, and you can’t use the drill for that .
You’re not missing anything. That’s how it goes. So, yeah the arm itself has no bushings (but does have the ball joint). And it separates from a mounting bracket (or whatever it’s called) that contains the bushings.
I’ll stand to be corrected, but the rubber doesn’t somehow bulge out and make them fit tighter. That wouldn’t be safe. It’s an outer metal bushing sleeve going into a metal hole on the arm…and years and years and years of the metal sleeve of the bushing “getting to know” the metal on the control arm. They’re tough to get in to begin with (one would hope - a loose fit here would be really bad…) Part of the two pieces getting to know each other also means rust - in varying amounts. For installation, I’ve often used the old trick of putting the new bushing (or whatever) into the freezer for a while and adding a little heat to whatever is being pressed into. IDK if that really helps or not, but it makes sense!
Yes it does help a lot… Carrier bearings went on pretty easy, axle also had the retaining sleave and took a bit longer, did not use a press at the time, I can hammer them on faster then setting up the press… I also put the bearings in the oven and heated them up a little…
After 27 years, my wife doesn’t even ask anymore…
You could use N2O gas (nitrous oxide)… some guys will use it for a quick cool down on torque converters and engines (especially if the block if hard filled) etc between rounds, at the track or other places when needed…
Just be careful around body parts… -127F will hurt…
On stubborn rusty nuts/bolts and like I’ve used an inverted can of compressed air after heating. Never tried that for press work, but then again I have a freezer in my garage where I’m usually doing the work. But for smaller things that it does a nice, rapid super-cool.
If you had a cylinder of rubber pressed tightly into a bore, it would be easier to push the rubber cylinder from the bore by first reducing the amount of rubber. The OP explains below the problem in their vehicle’s case isn’t pushing the rubber out of the hole, but getting the entire bushing ass’y out, b/c the metal parts are rusted together.
It’s not just rust George. The amount will vary. Those fits are crazy tight by design, and are hard to assemble/disassemble even if everything is new and shiny. Time makes it worse.
I was referring to a general idea to ease the job of stubborn bushing removal published in article in the current issues of “Car Mechanics”. But like any technical article, it doesn’t apply to every make/model/year. It’s pretty obvious that if the rubber isn’t making the fit tighter, removing some of the rubber won’t make the fit any looser.
Just looking at the picture without ever attempting this, it sure looks like the rubber is molded around the bushing. Using a bigger hammer or press might help. A press with the power to shear steel might be what the factory uses, whatever tonnage that is. Most shops dont have that though. So the point? Buy the assembly.
I bought a basic set of control arm bushing drivers many years ago. They work well for upper control arm bushings: two or three hammer strikes to drive the bushings in. The drivers fit the outer steel sleeve; the bushings can’t be driven in by pounding on the rubber.
My experience has always been- you tighten that thing until you’re convinced it won’t budge another arc second and then all of a sudden BANG! the whole works is loose along with the ball joint. Can be startling sometimes.
