DIY - ES bushes install - in RED!

[tinkerbell]

WARNING: working on cars is dangerous, do not attempt any of the following proceedures if you are unexperienced, do not have the correct tools or are under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

WARNING: changing parts of your suspension components involves removal/modification of some very important steering and braking components - ensure that all parts are refitted correctly and any nuts or bolts are fastened to the correct tension, do not over tighten either!

ClubITR and tinkerbell take no responsibility for any person who attempts any of the following proceedures at all. do so at your own risk.


loosen wheel nuts a little bit, then raise car adn support on jack stands.



remove cotter pin and loosen upper balljoint castle nut.



using a ball joint separator carefully break the ball joint loose, trying not to damage the nut or the thread.



remove the circlip holding on the old rubber ball joint cover with a small screw driver, and leave the grease

[tinkerbell]

install the new bush, and reinstall the 17mm castlenut



make sure you reinstall the cotter pin (AKA "split pin") too.



remove cotter pin, loosen the 17mm castle nut



and break the ball joint loose



have your assistant lift teh brake disk so you can slip the new bush under the ball joint to install and repalce the castlenut and reinstall the cotter pint



for the sway bar end-links, remove the lower 12mm nut

[tinkerbell]

using a 5mm or 6mm hex key, hold the centre still whilst you undo the 12mm end-link nut (WD40 might help a bit here)



once it is removed, you will see which OEM parts to reuse and which ES parts to NOT use (we re-use the old washers as they fit better - you might need to use a screwdriver to pry the washers off the old OEM bushes if they have gone hard)



and reinstall the 12mm nuts



for the sway bar bush, grease up the inside of the sway bar bush with the supplied ES grease



remove the 12mm nut and 12mm bolt that hold the sway bar onto the chassis (i found a 20cm extension bar helped here) and place the new bush over teh bar - BE CAREFUL TO FOLLOW THE SUPPLIED PICTURE FOR CORRECT ALIGNMENT OF THE BUSH - IT ONLY GOES ONE WAY

[tinkerbell]

then reinstall teh 12mm bolt and 12mm nut, tightening each one a little bit, then teh otehr one a little bit at a time. ALSO - if the bar is hard to mate to the chassis, use another jack to push the lower control arm upwards to get the sway bar closer to the chassis...



really hard to take pics of this, but from under where teh battery is, find the power steerign rack holder and remove the part in this picture, then put the new ES bush in and reinstall - it is two 14mm bolts



notice how stiff the ES bush is?

[tinkerbell]

the OEM one is very soft...



down here is where the smaller PS rack bushes go, again - it was very hard to take pics, but once you are under teh car, you will see where we mean. they are



from the top side - there was extreme difficulty in doing this one, just not enough space!



this is the bottom one, which is much easier!

[supernatural]

wow...

whos car is tat??

[Elwood]

and what type of cai?

very detailed!

[tinkerbell]

speelign will be correkted tomorow, may be...

[e240]

Great Stuff Tink..Brings back memories when I installed mine...
Started at 7pm and finished at 7am...+ Brushed knuckles and the walls melting from profanities being yelled when pressing out the control arm bushes.

p.s. No point hiding your face when I'm going to post this..
**Nah, I'll be nice to you**

LOL.

[MrThanh]

great work dave
so felix just stood back and took pics while you did the hard yards aye?

[felixR]

i tried helping thanh! >_<

[tinkerbell]

there is no denying that felix tried to help, but his greatest help was by taking photos

[K.C.]

you are the man!!

btw, is it possible without ball joint seperater? iirc, mechanics just knock them out with some brass hammer?

[tinkerbell]

you are the man!!

btw, is it possible without ball joint seperater? iirc, mechanics just knock them out with some brass hammer?

nah, best to use one like mine or a different type like a chisel...

the hammer trick only works SOMETIMES for me...

see ebay for options:


http://cgi.ebay.com.au/universal-bal...QQcmdZViewItem



http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ball-joint-ti...QQcmdZViewItem



http://cgi.ebay.com.au/GRIP-Ball-Joi...QQcmdZViewItem

[Page]

I have never managed the hammer trick either but it can be done. Those fork type ball joint seperators a a last resort as they tend to mash your ball joint rubber. One thing to look out for when buying the fork type is to make sure they are "drop forged". The first one i brought (it looks similar to that ebay one) wasnt "drop forged" an the head broke off it very quickly