Will this kill me?

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This weekend I am planning on doing upper and lower ball joints. My question is if I have to take the spring off or not when the spindle comes off. I figure that the sway bar end links and shock should hold it in place, but i'd love to hear from the experienced as I currently enjoy having all my teeth and like the way my face looks . Otherwise i'll have to dig up those spring compressors wherever they are...
 

kennythewelder

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Yea, the spring will need to be compressed. I do mine with a floor jack. Use the jack to hold pressure on the spring, until the ball joint is loose, then let the jack down to get the control arm out. Only issue is, you have to re align the spring into the lower control are. It has a notch for the spring to fit in. You have to remove the shock to replace the control are anyway.
 
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Thanks for the help! I see its pretty involved, but I needed to get at it anyway. Its time to replace those suckers so I can go in for a proper alignment and new tires. inspections running out soon
 

kennythewelder

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If your doing ball joints, you really need to do the bushings too. They will have the same amount of ware on them. You can rent a tool to press out the old bushings, and install the new ones. Or you can do it the real easy way, and just replace the whole control arm. I have done it both ways. It cost a little more to replace it, but its a lot easier.
 

Aarong23

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If your doing ball joints, you really need to do the bushings too. They will have the same amount of ware on them. You can rent a tool to press out the old bushings, and install the new ones. Or you can do it the real easy way, and just replace the whole control arm. I have done it both ways. It cost a little more to replace it, but its a lot easier.
I agree with Kenny. Just replace the whole arm. It's easier than fooling around with the bushing alone. Also, you'd be lucky if all it did was knock your teeth out. A compressed spring can cave your chest in. Lol
 

blacksport

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If your doing ball joints, you really need to do the bushings too. They will have the same amount of ware on them. You can rent a tool to press out the old bushings, and install the new ones. Or you can do it the real easy way, and just replace the whole control arm. I have done it both ways. It cost a little more to replace it, but its a lot easier.
i totally agree do everything at once i actually did them separately so i double worked it. there is also alignment knock outs in the frame i didn't do i was able to align it without knock en them out
none of the job is actually easy but you will save big $$$ if you can do it yourself.
i burned my bushings out it was a PIA, so i would recommend not going with cheap parts because ya don't want to do it twice.
i didn't replace the whole arm because most are made in china and have crap bushings and joints i used moog parts.
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sewlow

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I bought some good used upper & lower control arms. $50.00 for all 4 from the wreckers.
Installed new bushings, (urethane) new ball-joints & painted them up all nice & purdy before we even started any of the front end lowering.
Installing those bushings was a bit of a bear of a job. T-i-g-h-t fit!
Had to use a mondo-large press. Took 'a while'!
I pay for hoist itme, but I get to do the work. If we had had the truck in the air waiting for the bushings to be installed, the job would of cost a whole lot more!
 

Schurkey

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I bought some good used upper & lower control arms. $50.00 for all 4 from the wreckers.
Good plan.

Installed new bushings, (urethane) new ball-joints & painted them up all nice & purdy before we even started any of the front end lowering.
Installing those bushings was a bit of a bear of a job. T-i-g-h-t fit!
Had to use a mondo-large press. Took 'a while'!
Did you put the Poly bushings into the original shells, or did you replace the shells? I leave the original shells in place, clean-up the old rubber bits from the inside of the original shell, grease the Polyurethane inserts, and slide the Poly bushings into the original shells by hand. No press needed for the bushings.

EDIT: For Fukk Sakes, DO NOT follow the advice given in that Clown Video!
1. The bonehead uses the torch, but he doesn't heat the shell evenly. IF he'd move the torch around the shell, it'd heat evenly, the bushing would practically push itself out, and there'd be less smoke and flames from the burning rubber. He heats the shell in one place, burns the rubber near the torch instead of melting the outer layer all the way around. Some control arms don't allow you heat all the way around the shell, but do what you can to heat them evenly.
2. If you nick the control arm with the saw, the control arm is likely to crack where you've created the stress-riser.
3. The control arm needs to be braced with "special tools" when pressing the new bushing shell into place. Failure to brace the control arm leads to distortion of the control arm, and the distortion increases the amount of force needed--which distorts the control arm even more. If you were pressing the old shell out, you'd also need to brace the control arm during that process, too. The "braces" are just pieces of tubing cut in half that fit along side the bushing shell so that the flange of the control arm can't collapse. Easy enough to make at home.

NOT having to press the shell out of the arm is the leading advantage of Polyurethane bushing inserts. There are other advantages as well--such as NOT having to have the suspension at normal ride height when torquing the bolt that goes through the middle of the bushing holding the control arm to the frame.
 
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sewlow

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Original shells.
If the bushings went in by hand, there'll be too much play in the assembies when installed in the truck. Kinda defeats the purpose of new bushings.
The bushings do not move within the control arm. They're supposed to be static inside the arm. The bushing moves in conjunction with the control arm as it goes through it's motions. It's the I.D. of the bushing that rotates on the shaft.
As far as using a press, it's common practice when installing urethane control arm bushings.
Energy Susupension's instructions actually gives directions on how to brace the control arm in order to prevent bending it when installing the bushings. That right there is an indication that they are not going to be going in...by hand.

https://www.energysuspensionparts.com/installation_instructions/energy_suspension/17019.pdf
 
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Schurkey

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Original shells.
If the bushings went in by hand, there'll be too much play in the assembies when installed in the truck. Kinda defeats the purpose of new bushings.
Of course not.

The bushings do not move within the control arm. They're supposed to be static inside the arm. The bushing moves in conjunction with the control arm as it goes through it's motions. It's the I.D. of the bushing that rotates on the shaft.
Generally true. There'd be more friction on the OD of the bushing than the ID, so most movement is with the ID. HOWEVER, there's nothing "holding" the OD except the friction of a greased Poly insert against a smooth steel shell, so it can move if the friction at the ID increases (lack of grease, for example.)

As far as using a press, it's common practice when installing urethane control arm bushings.
Energy Susupension's instructions actually gives directions on how to brace the control arm in order to prevent bending it when installing the bushings. That right there is an indication that they are not going to be going in...by hand.

https://www.energysuspensionparts.com/installation_instructions/energy_suspension/17019.pdf
THANK YOU for the link. It proves what I'm saying.
Read the instructions in your link again. The only time you use a press and the control arm support tooling is when you're removing or installing the outer (new or used) shell.

If you're re-using the original shells, which never come out of the control arm, the Polyurethane bushing inserts will slide into the cleaned-up shells BY HAND.

I generally start the greased Poly bushing insert into the greased shell, and the greased inner sleeve into the free end of the greased bushing insert--then push the sleeve into the bushing insert as the bushing insert is going into the shell, all in one motion. With my fingers.
 
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