Does it help to cool/freeze the bushings before putting them in?

The last time I did an RTA I used a lot of PB Blaster and just went extremely slow.

 

It seems like a good idea. I've heard about putting bushing in the freezer overnight prior to installing.



Does anyone know if the orientation of the control arm bushings matter? Bushings have center metal sleeve that bolt goes through and also two half cylinder sleeves molded into the rubber. I wonder if the orientation center cut-line of these 2 sleeves matters during the installation.

 

The HR bushings do not have half cylinder sleeves. It's a single metal sleeve around the outside of the rubber.

I have one of my rear LCA bushings in the freezer now, and I tried to get it into my stock LCA but it still wouldn't go. I'm going to remove the other original bushings and then try heating the LCA in the oven and dropping the frozen bushing into it. I'm thinking 300-400 degrees on the LCA, and of course the bushing is around zero (it's been sitting in the freezer for several weeks, just haven't gotten around to doing anything with it).

 

How did you try to get it in? Do you have a press?
I have 12T harbor freight press and I couldn't press the old ones out of the rear LCA, I had to burn them out and cut the outer sleeves. I hope I will be able to press new ones in without a problem. My press is not very rigid, so keeping the bushing straight may be an issue.
Are you lubricating bushing's sleeve? I read many people lubricate it to help install, but some say that keeping sleeves dry will maintain interference fit better. I don't really see how can bushing, fitting so tightly, move at all after installation due to lubrication.

 

I had them pressed in at a shop on a >$2,000 shop press. Would have liked to DIY but didn't have the space for a HF press in my garage, and one big enough to do this job would have cost more than what I paid the shop to do it (I know the owner, he does all my alignments).

I'm going to try to DIY my stock rear LCA bushings by throwing the LCA's in the oven and freezing the bushings... when I get around to it. Have a new baby at home so who knows when that will happen.

 

My old RTA bushings came out easy, I used a hammer.

The sleeve that the bushing sits in has a slight taper to it, if you try to press the bushing out by pressing inwards, you'll struggle like mad. Mine literally came out with some taps of a hammer (outwards). Pressing the new bushing in (inwards) is easy due to the inside of the RTA sleeve. I have a 20T Harbor Freight press.

I used some ball joint press items and a bearing separator like so:



bearing splitter (Harbor Frieght)


ball joint press:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPTDzrxqoOo

removing the bushing starts around 1:55. I wasn't able to install the bushing using the hammer method but removing it this way was easy.

 

I'm looking into LCA bushing install now, but RTA bushing is another problem. I'm more concerned with rotating that bushing correctly prior to install to compensate for lowered vehicle.

So what do you guys think about lubricating bushing to help install?

 

*Runs out to the garage to try on a spare trailing arm*

Wow, I've probably done this a dozen times over the years but neve once just tried to tap them out with a hammer.

 

I just finished one rear LCA bushings, they went it fine without freezing or lubricating. All three were difficult to keep straight while pressing in at first, but after slight press position adjustemt went it just fine.

 

I'm almost done, except for trailing arm.

Now the problem I ran into is that compensator / toe arm hardrace bushings won't fit.

Has anyone had the same issue?

 

To bring this thread back up. I was thinking about ordering the full set of bushings soon but I wanted to get some feedback on how they have been going for some of you that have been driving on them. Do they still feel solid? Anyone experiencing any kind of sloppiness from the bushings after driving on them for a little while? I'm trying to decide if it would just be better for me to just replace the important bushings with OEM ones and call it good as opposed to 'up grading' to these hard race ones instead.

Also, for the rear lower control arms that hard race sells, I was thinking about purchasing the aluminum ones instead because on my EK, my lca's don't have sway bar provisions and I'm planning on adding one shortly, so I figured I would just get the lca hard race offers with the bushings pre installed and the sway bar hole. Any input on this unit? I think I read that the sway bar hole is in the incorrect place with these lca's. Would this still be the case with adjustable end links? Thanks.

 

I have nearly a year and 15k miles on mine and everything still looks/feels good.

 

That's awesome to hear. What sorts of driving does your car see? Strictly a dd or occasional track abuse? Would you say the bushings are similar to stock as far as driveability goes or are they noticeably stiffer/harsher? I'm just trying to see where these really stand in current view points because most of the research that I've done has dated back a bit and mostly only first impressions, not extended use/abuse. Thanks.

 

It's my DD, a 95 GS-R, ITR shocks with ITR specific H&R sports. Varied driving, good amount on terrible city roads here in Richmond (VA). I think it feels fine, not overly stiff or unforgiving. I also drive a 98 ITR with GC's/Bilsteins and can't say I can tell a difference from the bushings. I wouldn't hesitate to use the bushings again.

 

I've had mine in since October with around 8k or so miles and 4 track weekends (HPDE) and they're great, very solid compared to my OEM bushings that were cracked to hell with 200k miles on them (read: not a good comparison, lol)

 

I have Hardrace RTA bushings, used the RTA extractor tool for it. Pretty straight forward.

I also bought Hardrace EK lca's, but didnt do the proper research on lengths and ended up swapping the bushings into my blox lcas which are a direct fit.

 

I have change all my bushing with Hardrace bushes on our eg3..just remember that if you are using front and rear chamber kit there will be a lot of unused bushes if you purchase their complete bushing kit.

 

anyone with a front lower outer bushing laying around? that could get me the total diameter pls?

 

Ive done two master kits, both on DA tegs, and used both a propane torch and MAPP gas to burn out the bushings. The MAPP gas torch seemed to work quite a bit faster. It's worth it over propane, IMO, especially if you're doing the whole master kit.

As for getting the metal sleeves out after burning out the rubber, I've used a hacksaw that I disassembled and reassembled after putting the blade into the hole. It's slow but it works... I've also tried a dremel. That was easier, but it was time consuming. The last time I did it, I had access to more tools, so I ended up using a rotozip with their $20(!) metal cutting bit on it. Even though the bit was expensive, it was worth it. If you're not familiar with them, a rotozip is basically a dremel on steroids.

After cutting through the sleeve, being careful not to hit the metal of the arm, i took a blunt-tipped punch and a hammer to the sleeves to pop them out. If you've cut completely across the sleeve it should pop right out. It also helps if you take a flathead and pry the sleeve inwards after you've cut it.

Using mapp gas and a rotozip made all the difference in the world w/ my install time. Just my .02...

 

When you replaced the bushings on you DA was there a noticable difference between the hard race and stock? What would be more comparable, the HR or ES bushings?

 

Just about anything you can put in a car that old will make a significant difference.

 

Hey people, I just replaced my 94 LS bushings with hardrace ones. I have a 20T HF press. One the first (front left) corner, I had to hack burn, and saw to get the sleeves of the old bushings out. After running around like crazy looking for nut(s) that would fit the old sleeves perfectly, I found a very quick and easy way to remove the old sleeves.

1.) you have to chisel or flat screw driver. Go around the outside sleeve (which attaches tightly to the control arms), chisel gently towards the center of the bushings. The idea is to have a small separations between the arm and sleeve; also this will create a larger surface area for your nut to fit on top for pressing. Do this all around the sleeve (all 360 degrees). I put some Kroil over the narrow opening and waited for 10 mins.

2.) find the appropriate size socket (30mm Craftsman for the middle bushings - where the coilovers sit) for mine. press down. easy peasy.

I say this b/c I found out that looking for the appropriate sockets took half of the working time. This way, if you have a slightly smaller socket and you flatten the sleeve a little bit, then it will work. I hope this helps.

 

I did a full Hardrace kit install on my 91 crx. Next time, I'm just gonna buy a whole new car... piiiitaaa

 

I paid someone to press the whole Hardrace kit for my '92 Civic ... it was easy. Taking all of the arms out and putting them back in was easy too.