While the control arm is secure in a vise, I use a chisel and LARGE
hammer to collapse the outer metal shield of the bushing. Been doing
that for years.

When reinstalling, heat the whole control arm up to 150-200° F and the
new bushings will practically "fall into" position. Same trick works
great for leaf spring bushing installations...

JT

(The only laws to abide by are those dealing with physics)




Elle wrote:
>
> http://www.hondaautomotiveparts.com/...RONT+LOWER+ARM
>
> The first two I want to try to replace are in the front
> lower control arms, items 8 and 11 in the drawing above.
>
> I thought the Mazda's "suspension arms" (as the author of
> the previous site called them at times) looked similar
> enough for my purposes.
>
> I first saw this approach suggested at rec.autos.tech. I
> threw it in my notes, then revisited it last night to see if
> others were using it and maybe a description existed. Voila.
> Others do talk about using it in the Usenet archives, but
> not the Honda newsgroups.
>
> Not sure if there's any chance of getting the much larger
> (rear) trailing arm bushings out using this
> sockets-bolts-nuts-washers approach. But I think I'm awhile
> away from trying to tackle those.
>
> I'm still considering the 12-ton A-frame press at Harbor
> Freight for $80, on sale through May. Another Mazda guy
> described using such a press at
> http://www.rx7club.com/archive/index.php/t-268904.html . I'm
> just not wild about having the press take up space in my
> garage (admittedly a big garage) when I use it so rarely.
> I'd be surprised if I could just rent one.
>
> Dunno about the torch. Seems a little tricky heating the
> control arm (around the bushing) with all the home-made
> "press gear" in place.
>
> I'm pretty settled on Kingmotorsports.com 's Mugen bushings.
> I read their site and see their claims that they are Honda
> specialized and the only dealer in North America for Mugen.
> Their front lower control arm bushing set is about ten
> dollars less than the usual online OEM parts places
> (slhonda, Majestic, Team Honda, etc.) I've pretty much
> talked myself out of polyurethane bushings because of the
> noise people report (including, IIRC, J. Beam's experiences)
> and the greater difficult (I suspect) of installing these.
> Also, the web site
> http://www.performanceforum.com/wesv...g/bushing.html
> suggests the rubber bushings now available are better than
> the original ones installed. Honda Co. made an explicit
> change to the material design, or so it seems.
>
> "'Curly Q. Links'" <motsco__@interbaun.com> wrote
> > Can you get us a link to an item number at
> > www.slhondaparts.com so we
> > can see which ones you're changing? It's an interesting
> > article, and
> > I've got some clunks on my CR-v but the parts don't seem
> > to be very
> > similar to the 1993 Mazda RX-7. I also wondered why he
> > didn't warm
> > anything up just a bit with a torch.