The topic says it, I wonder if anyone has a better way to get the A-arm and steering stem bushings out without boogering them up.
I'm trying to get the steering stem ones out to pc a stem and don't want to hurt them. I thought for a minute they were the same as the a-arm ones, but checked and they're slightly different. Same design, may be a harder plastic. Anyhow, I usually try to drive a chisel betweem the lip and the metal part and work around them, but I usually end up scraping them up. Once they're finally out a little I'm usually frustrated and grab the channel locks to turn them as I pull and get them the rest of the way out. Somewhere along the way, the BFH usually ends up in my hand. Yeah, it's ugly...
Anybody got a better way?
Need a bushing removal trick
Well, there out. I killed the first one using the wedge under the lip technique. Doesn't work very well on the A-arms and even less on the steering stem. So don't waste time and a bushing on that one. The best I could come up with using a piece of round stock about 5/16" od, take a hammer and mushroom the head nicely, then put the lip of the mushroomed head between the 2 bushings in the stem, and tap your way around driving one out. This did curl up a little plastic inside the first one, but an E-xacto cleaned that out. It's a little boogered, but will still work just fine given there really isn't a huge rotating load on it. The remaining bushing was tapped out with a socket. So, since i actually had 2 stems, i ended up with 4 like new bushings and 3 slightly damaged. If I'd only have had one set of bushings, this technique would've allowed re-use of all 4 bushings.
I think the biggest problem getting them out is that Aren's penetrated a bit too much when welding and left the distorted metal in the hole. The bushings had to have been installed with a clamp or vise- there's no way they could've been pushed in by hand.
Between this method and prying between the lip are the 2 ways I go about getting the a-arm bushings out. Sometimes they'll slip on out with a little wedging action, usually not. The a-arm bushings come out a little easier than stem bushings, though.
I think the biggest problem getting them out is that Aren's penetrated a bit too much when welding and left the distorted metal in the hole. The bushings had to have been installed with a clamp or vise- there's no way they could've been pushed in by hand.
Between this method and prying between the lip are the 2 ways I go about getting the a-arm bushings out. Sometimes they'll slip on out with a little wedging action, usually not. The a-arm bushings come out a little easier than stem bushings, though.