Called a bunch of local shops asking if they'd press some suspension bushings out. First three declined, fouth agreed, so I dropped them off there.

Picked them up, paid, and as I'm on my way out the door they mention something about burning some out and using an air chisel. Um... What?

I didn't call a bunch of places asking if they could burn them out. If I wanted to burn them out I could've busted out the map torch and done that myself. And done it for damned less than the hour of labor they charged me for.

Concerns:
1) Have read that burning bushings out can compromise the integrity of some suspension components.

2) Having cleaned the burned rubber residue off these ******* things (in preparation for a fresh coat of rust-inhibiting paint) I see they were REALLY careless with that air chisel. There's multiple 1/8" deep scrapes down the inside of the bores but what I'm really concerned about is the gouges in the bores' lips. The largest is about 3/16" wide and deep and I'm concerned that even if I smooth it out it looks like it would still eat the bushing over time. Couldn't get a decent pic to show the detail of the damage, though.


Options:
1) There's nothing to get stressed out about. The heat won't have harmed them and you can just sand down the scrapes and gouges and all will be well.
2) The burning and/or gouges are unacceptable. Go down there and go Hustler* on them until you get a refund for the labor. Use it toward the cost of a harbor freight press, and prep your spare set of A-arms yourself.



*by 'go Hustler' I mean old-school violence-fire-and-death-ultimate-bad-***-Hustler. Not the puffy-faced-mascara-wearing-body-lotion-loving-prissy-Hustler that posted earlier today.

 

i say **** it and dont worry too much about it.

 

should have just done it your self,

but now,, id say forget about it

 

Completely agree.

I did three chassis-side bushings myself with the recommended harbor freight C-clamp style press kit, then got frustrated with it and gave up.

I should've just taken a break for the day and gone back to it when I had more patience. If you want something done right...

No question that I'll do the fronts myself.

Anyone else have input as to whether or not the A-arms are still good for track duty?

 

I would imagine they are fine. Can you imagine the type of heat that is used to cast or forge the A arms? I doubt that a little fire will harm them.

 

deliverator, I have access to an arbor press, if you need some help.

 

They're fine. A few years ago I was helping a guy build a locost using Miata components. He put the arms in a vise, and while hammering the old bushings out slipped and hit the arm. It bent the bores pretty badly, so it was visibly out of round. He then took an expanding mandrel to them, and hammered them back into shape.

He raced with them for over a year, with no problems. They didn't even flex enough to crack the paint on them.

 

dude, you remove the old bushings by burning them out. that's how it's done.

 

burning them out shouldn't get them hot enough to compromise the steel.

remove any sharp edges on the gouges and go with it. the bushings dont move relative to the arms anyway.

 

Depending on how hot they got it, it should be OK. If you put the control arm in the vice with the bushing on the bottom to hold it, and just heat the metal evenly around the bushing with a propane torch the bushing will pop out. No need to press it out or use a air chisel.

Propane doesn't get that hot, but if they use acetylene, it could have damaged the steel, but you would be able to see it. If they appear to still be true round, I wouldn't worry about it. Next time, do it yourself.

KMag