So I had nothing better to do today, I decided to take a shot at removing the front control arms on my Evo to install the Front lower arm bushings and Front Pillowball bushings. They are harder compound, from Ralliart Grp N rally specs.

The arm removal is not too bad of a job. You need to remove both front tires to get easy access to them. Each arm is supported by 2 big bolts, and 1 bolt/nut combo. The 2 big bolts connect the control arm to the frame, and the bolt/nut combo connects it to the brake/suspension part. The sway bar endlink also connects to the control arm.
To remove the control arm, unbolt the 2 big bolts and bolt/nut combo, using quite some force. These things seem to be torqued at around 90-100.
Then simply remove the sway bar endlink to separate the arm from the rest of the car, and release the arm from where it sits.
There you have it, a BEAUTIFUL control arm piece, all aluminum, weighs nothing, with 2 bushings to be removed (the bushings probably weigh more than the arm itself).

UNFORTUNATELY, this requires a bushing press. I was learning as I went along, so I didn't know this until I had the arm in my hand. The bushings are on extremely tight. And of course, being that I am doing the work on saturday mid-day, all the shops that would normally do this (machine shops) are closed for the weekend. It always happens doesn't it. SO frustrating.

So now I have an evo on stands w/out the 2 front control arms, and nowhere to go. Until monday.

Luckily, I have my ///M to drive around until then

Will post progress early next week, stay tuned.

In the meantime, check out my registry for bushing pics. They are a work of art. Pics will be up very shortly.

 

Got the control arms back with the uprated bushings, and fitted them in last night. I had a machine shop replace the bushings for me, no big deal.

Lining each arm for the bolts to fit is the biggest ***** in the world. Arm yourself with a hammer, a screwdriver (to line up as much as u can) and start pounding until they fit. Luckily, the bolts are huge, so they can take some beating.

In the process, I also replaced my rear shock mount bushings to the Grp N ones. To remove the shock absorbers, you need to drop the trailing arm to release the bottom end of the absorber. Again, fitting it back is a ***** to line the bolts up properly.

Anyways, driving to work this morning, the car felt a little tighter on bumps, and cornering. Not a huge difference, but definitely noticeable. And besides, I still have lots of bushings to replace still. The rear multi-link suspension has about 5-6 to replace alone !!! Now THAT's going to be another ***** in itself.

Going to the track early next week, so I am glad I got some bushings fitted !!

 

HEheheh.... i ran into the same problem in not having a hydrolic press, but i came up w/ a genius plan.... I used the jack from my car placed it under my mothers heavy ML... boom i had a nice hydraulic press. Worked nicely... just had to be creative in which times u used to only push down the bushing into the slot.... I ended up using a quarter, and my whole array of sockets... But it worked beautifully, but becareful if you dunno wa u are doing.

 

Only had my 5 for about 8 months so I am learning.

Do the bushes wear out fast.

My car has about 26k on the clock and the front end is getting very nervous. It seems that either a bush or a ball joint has gone. As its cold and wet and my garage is not big enough to work in easily I could do with some suggestions of were to look before I start ripping the front struts out.

Ta.