[Taco]

I'm having a heck of a time trying to figure out how to remove the bushings from the upper control arms of my '73 145. Any advice/ideas appreciated. Thanks!

 

[142 Guy]

Here you go!

https://youtu.be/anbCINJyvlk

In the absence of a 10 ton press some people have used those big truck / 4WD ball joint remover tools (looks like a C clamp on steroids)

Should you feel the urge, Amazon Cars also has a video for the lower A arm bushes plus a bunch of other useful repair videos.

 

[Taco]

I've watched a ton of the Amazon Cars videos. Super helpful stuff! Can't believe I forgot to go there before searching the whole entire rest of the internet. Thanks!

I have a standard-sized ball joint press but it's useless for this one situation. Guess it's time to go big (unless I can find a press). The washer and bar tricks are good ones. Been scratching my head over how to do this job without deforming the arm. What a crazy configuration this one is!

 

[142 Guy]

I should add that some people on other forums have 'claimed' to use the big truck ball joint remover tools. You would have to find one with jaws that are large enough to fit across the A arm and none of the on-line tools that I have seen provide that dimension. None of them looked large enough to fit across the A arm. I do have a couple of burly 3/4" 'pipe clamps' that I have fudged into use for these types of pressing activities. Lots of jaw capacity and depending on how stuck the bushings are they may be able to generate enough force for removal.

Full disclosure. When my A arms were out I took them to an alignment shop to do the pressing.

 

[Taco]

Yeah, one of my neighbors has a hydraulic press, so I may give that a try (al a Amazon Cars). I took mine to a local shop earlier and they took an air hammer to 'em.

 

[142 Guy]

Yeah, one of my neighbors has a hydraulic press, so I may give that a try (al a Amazon Cars). I took mine to a local shop earlier and they took an air hammer to 'em.

After an encounter with the 'when all else fails, use a bigger hammer' people, doing it yourself seems like a much more viable option.

If you find a suitable removal tool, do report back. Even though my A arm bushes are only 6 or so years old, I have developed a 'groink' in the right front end when going over big bumps. Nothing is loose in the suspension and I can see no obvious problems with the actual suspension parts leaving me with the possibility that the bushes may have deteriorated. Six years seems short; but, I recently discovered that my idler arm bush is pretty much history and it was the same age and brand (MTC) as the upper and lower bushes. I have one of those brass idler bushes on order and if that doesn't fix the noise I may be doing the deep dive to replace the upper and lower bushes with some poly bushes.

 

[Taco]

I ended up dropping them off with a local (PNW) specialist who has the right tool for the job. I'll check with him, but I bet you could sent them in and he could turn them around pretty quick. If had the time I'd fab up a tool and share it out (might still do), but the SO wants her parking spot back and I'd like to get back on the road for what's left of the summer.

Six years does seem short. I'm pretty sure that some of the bushings on may car were 47 years old and I'm surprised at how well the internal rubber has held up. I'm doing rubber bushings this go-around, but I'm lowering the car a bit so I didn't want to compromise ride quality too much. I may do poly next time. We'll see how these ride and hold up.

 

[Taco]

Update: I dropped my UCAs off with Matt of X-Ray Auto in Seattle. He specializes in pre-240 Volvos and is properly equipped to do this job. He checked the the geometry of my parts, replaced my UCA bushings & ball-joints, and turned the job around right-quick. Great work.

FYI: I asked if he's open to working on shipped-in parts and he is. If y'all want/need to avoid the headache of this job, I would definitely recommend sending your parts his way