I'm re-installing my a-arms after changing bushings and ball joint.
Q1-should i apply a grease of some sort to robber bushing ends to make it slide in ears easier?? (what kind of grease )?
Q2- should i apply any grease to to a-arm bolts// inside bushing sleeve??
Q3- I read i cant torque the a-arm bolts until the suspension is loaded, will wheels sitting on ramps do??( so i crawl under to tighten) or does it have to be on the ground??( that seems nead impossible!!)
Thanks in advance for any thoughts, or advice !!!

 

Some silicone grease on the bushing ends will help.

I usually apply a thin coat of grease (such as chassis) to the bolt shanks. This is to help prevent the bolts from corroding. Makes it so much easier the next time they need to be removed.

Yes, needs to be at ride height before torquing the bushing bolts. Sitting on ramps is OK. What I do is to put the floor jack under the ball joint/A-arm and jack it up until it is just off the jack stand. If the grease fitting isn't in the ball joint yet (or you can remove it) the jack pad can go right under it.

RBob.

 

THANKS >>> That helped alot, exactly what i needed.I drivers side done last nite , pass today. Man that was a B*$#%. I tried attaching the ball joint stud first,then compressing the spring to the bottom of the aarm and then swinging the bushings into place...it worked but it took forever to get those bushings holes to line up.
today im going to try attaching the bushing bolts first then compress the spring and fold it up, then attach ball joint....anything has to be easier than what i went through yesterday...

 

Why?

 

The rubber bushings lock into place when the bolts are tightened. With the rubber bonded to both the inner and outer shells they act like a spring. If the suspension is drooping when the bolts are torqued the rubber is then under tension once back at ride height.

RBob.

 

Ok, so if the rubber can't move, and the outer shell is press fit into the A arm, then how does it pivot when the suspension moves? Or is it that it just "springs" on the bushing and the pivot movement isn't enough to where the bushing would need to rotate.
I'm just trying to understand how it works.
I may need to loosen and retorque mine... I'm not exactly sure when I tightened them.

 

The outer shell presses into the control arm; and the bracket on the car locks the center of the bushing in place by tightening down on its ends. So, the bushing doesn't "move", when the suspension does; rather, the rubber twists. If you tighten up the bolts with the suspension out of its more-or-less "normal" position, then the rubber is held in some kind of permanent tweek when the car is operating. You don't want that: you want the rubber to be approximately "at rest" with the car at its usual ride height.

Poly or Delrin or aluminum bushings, or rod ends, don't do that. Those all pivot freely, and so the bolts can be tightened up with the suspension anywhere and everything will just rotate freely no matter where it happens to start out from. But stock type rubber ones require this extra attention.

 

After my experience with removing these 20+ year-old-bolts, I'd suggest anti-seize.

JamesC

 

That's what I found too. I eventually mounted the a-arm to frame first, put the spring in, then compressed and bolted up the ball joint. It's a lot easier, especially if it's a shorter spring. Be careful because if you do it this way, the spring could shoot out at you !

 

Ok, then I am all set. I replaced mine with the PST polygraphite bushings.