Control Arm Bushings

[wayconvict]

Does anyone have any tips for installing control arm/ball joints with new bushings....

I attached mine to the sway bar first (never detached that side of the sway bar from the front---- don't know if that would have helped) but then I couldn't get the control arm attached to the chassis as the inner bolt hole was not lining up.... so

I attached the control arm to the chassis then put the control arm bushing on, but the new one wouldn't fit I had to use my old ones that are not in the best of shape and then put in the ball joint.... but now it seems different driving it?

Is there a certain method to do it? I would really like to install the new bushings would it be just a matter of disconnecting the sway bar from the front and pulling it though?

[Biff]

I made my bushings for my 92 Festiva out of old hockey pucks, used a bolt chucked it in the drill press with a rest for chisel and turned them to size. Seems to work just fine. used lots of antisieze and new larger washers..

[gomer]

Been there done that ... my 93 was MISSING the bushings on the right side when I bought it ,,, this caused a horrendous toe-in/toe-out shift in the alignment whenever you went from power-on to power-off .... my Ford dealer still had the bushing in stock and sold it to me at cost (about $13) as he wanted to get rid of all "old stock" ,,, just loosen or remove the bar mounts at the front of the car and take off the nuts at the backside of the control arm... you can easily change the rubber then... if you are replacing one side only you will want to compare the new bushing with the existing one, the old one will be compressed.. the frontside and backside are interchangeable... I would suggest using half of the new kit on each side ,, use a new bushing as either a new front or a new rear on each side... this will keep your alignment correct.