Date: Tue, 2 Feb 2016 16:31:54 -0500
Reply-To: Richard Koller <brvkoller@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Richard Koller <brvkoller@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Lower control arm bushing r&r on 89 westy
In-Reply-To: <51824C58-BBEF-4045-ADB9-5780365C1218@gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
Hi Patrick,
I recently replaced all the front end bushings on my '90 syncro westy. It
is a difficult task to say the least IMO. I had to do it in the driveway,
not easy and I made several mistakes in learning how to do it. If you can
afford a shop to do it then I strongly recommend you take that route. There
are write ups in the archives from different folks which helped me but I
still learned several things the hard way. I did this without taking the
arm off but had to remove or loosen several of the other suspension parts
to be able to manipulate the arm. Anyway, I was able to push out the old
lower arm bushings with a ball joint removal tool I borrowed from a local
FLAPS ( an Advance Auto in my case ). I adapted the function of this tool
so that it pushed out the old bushing fairly easily and I installed T3
urethanes . The tricky part with installing the new bushing is getting the
new bolt to come out of the through subframe on a syncro. If the arm is
still attached to the steering knuckle and therefore the lower ball joint
there is still a good bit of tension from the suspension to deal with and
I had to pry and push and struggle to get that bolt through. Have a shop
check it out, take a look at your Bentley to see what you're faced with.
Maybe its easier on a 2WD vanagon. Other Listees can advise on that issue.
Good luck if you tackle this yourself, it was epic for me.
Rick Koller
On Tue, Feb 2, 2016 at 3:50 PM, Patrick Spragge <spraggepat@gmail.com>
wrote:
> I replaced my 14" rims and 185r tires with 16" and 215s and doing that
> revealed that I need new lower control arm bushings. I'm not sure I'm up
> for doing this myself because of the springs. Does anyone have any
> experience changing these out? Can they be done without removing the arm
> from the vehicle? How would a shop do this? I will probably replace them
> with the poly bushings from T3 since they would go in much easier than the
> 1 piece rubber ones.
>
> Patrick Spragge
>
> > On Feb 2, 2016, at 12:31 PM, BenT <syncro@GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> >
> > Let's not forget the value of labor.
> > Bostig, DIY. SC in question, turnkey.
> >
> > BenT
> > sent from my electronic leash
> >
> >> On Feb 2, 2016, at 10:58 AM, Mike Saint-Amour <
> mikesaintamour@HOTMAIL.COM> wrote:
> >>
> >> For that kind of money you could do two bostig conversions, or one new
> zetec motor with the turbo, know everything about your rig and have money
> to go travel. That's some serious cash.
>
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