The lateral control rod bushings turned out fine with the new press even if I didn’t need the sleeve kit. Figured it was time to put the press to the test and do the rear upper and lower control arm bushings. I’d watched Timmy’s videos more than once and read a ton of posts on T4R.org. I had the new sleeve kit and a couple fresh bottles of propane. I even bought a new heavy duty 2″ ratchet strap for finessing the axle. I was expecting to work Sunday as well as Saturday so I cleared my schedule. I was prepared. What could go wrong?
I started with the left lower control arm. It came out pretty easily with the help of the ratchet strap.
I was surprised to see all rubber instead of the metal sleeve that I was expecting to give me all the trouble. But this is the style they used in 1996. The metal sleeve shown below came later.
Turns out I only needed a press sleeve for receiving the bushings again. A 27mm impact socket was the perfect size for pressing them out this time.
(this was the left upper control arm)
Pretty hard and dry after 25 years and 250,000 miles.
(do people clean their spare tires?)
The new bushings pressed in with ease. All greased up and ready to be reinstalled.
What went wrong? Nothing. I ended up having to use the Toyota jack to push the rears of the lower arms back in place. The ratchet strap needed to pull forward on the lowers and to the rear on the uppers. With prep and cleanup it took me six hours for both sides. Not bad for a Web Developer.
Next time I’ll use a shorter ratchet strap and take more photos.
Lateral Control Rod (Panhard bar) Bushings
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