Reply to "Should new A-Arm Bushings be lubed when installing?"

I ALWAYS have to do things three (3) times to get it right! I ALWAYS learn the hard way, so I'll just share my experiences so, hopefully, the next guy can learn from my mistakes.

I hung my front A-arms this evening and doggone if they didn't squeek! Of course, THEN, I open this folded 'tag' which says A-arms on the ouside from inside the bag these bushings came in. AFTER I got one lower front A-arm in. It squeeked, so I was looking for clues. It said, it's very important to 'grease' these bushings before installing them. Great. So, Mr. Detective, I watch and notice the rear part of the front bottom A-arm bushing is rotating at the sleeve/bushing surface and not squeeking, but the front front bottom A-arm bushing is rotating at the bushing/A-arm contact point. So I tighten these dudes up some more, still squeeking. So I pull them off after all the 1.5 hours it took me to get them in and hit them with Armoral. (There's some good news later, and I'm not complaining, but I just wish I was born with experience, so I don't have to keep learning the hard way, FOREVER!)

[Armoral may have worked fine, but the directions said grease and Armoral wasn't greasy enough for me, and the anti-seize stuff said corrosion inhibitor, so it was gonna be the silver stuff after-all.]

So, TO CUT CORNERS, I pulled the lower front front A-arm off and left it dangling by the rear bushing of the front A-arm, since that was the hardest to get in and wasn't squeeking anyways. The front half of the front bushing got Armoral, since the back half was not rotating and not squeeking. Got it back together in 45 minutes (that's good news, can always do the second one TWICE AS FAST!) Guess what? The back half of the lower front bushing on the front A-arm (lower A-arm) starts tuning in it's socket and starts SQUEEKING!

So then I pulled the same A-arm off again (3rd time) (not gonna do anything else 'til I get this right or sell it on the Jack Stands at a heavy loss!!) and I decided to try the anti-seize 'grease' you know the stuff that won't wash out and I don't wanna get on my hands. So back together again for the third (3rd) time. Finally, no squeeks. More good news: it went in this time in about 25 minutes!

I mentioned there was some good news, and I wasn't complaining, didn't I? Well, I got a used Snap-On Tools compressor and a set of air drive wrenches and accessories at Lowes hardware store today. Man, it's nice to have these things that mechanics have. Really cool! Made the whole experience a lot more fun. (I even cleaned out my garage with this little air gun thing. Scared the s**t out of the spiders as they blew across the street with their entire cob web assembly attached to them. Just like water, only I can wash the walls with this baby!)

So, I went on to the other side lower front A-arm installation and got it down to about 20 minutes. The top front A-arms took about 20 minutes for the first one and 10 minutes for the second one. Much easier.

AND NOW: SOME TIPS > SO YOU CAN DO THIS EASIER THAN ME!

1) Read the instructions 1st.
2) The narrower bushing goes on the inside and the thicker one goes on the outside. They are paired this way, and it's for front and rear axles, consistent. These bushings are a little wider than the original bushings.
3) The upper front A-arms are easier than the lower A-arm bushings. I did the lowers 1st. Tip 1: Grease these bushings with Anti-seize compound. Slip them in the A-arm sockets (and go wash your hands or the beautiful paint job you finished last week is gonna get dirty). Tip 2: go to your socket set and get a couple of tiny (1/4" drive) deep sockets, 8mm and 7mm (these are smaller and very close to the diameter of the bolt, respectively). When you get the A-arms close to the hole with the sleeve, where the bolt is gonna go through, like you've pried it close with a phillips screwdriver, then slip the 7mm socket in the OUTSIDE hole. Work the A-arm around (I used a very small block of wood under the back of the rear top A-arm to get it closer, prying with a claw hammer on the 7mm socket pushed in like a bolt, then, when things start to get close, push the 8mm in and get the 7mm out. I used another 8mm 1/4" deep socket to align the opposite side and get my bolt hole pretty close to perfect. Then pull the INSIDE deep 8mm socket out and push the bolt in. I had to use my air ratchet to screw the bolt through once it was started in the sleeve. Tip 3: which should be tip 2, do the lower front A-arm bolt procedure first, 'cause it is easier and sets up the A-arm for the rear front lower bushing procedure in tip 2 above. Tip 4: Have all your screwdrivers ready to help pry the sleeve into alignment, so you can get a socket or the bolt in there. Tip 5: Close the garage door, so ladies walking their dogs by on the sidewalk don't hear your colorful language, & Tip 6: have a lot of rags ready to wipe your hands on, wipe the sweat from your forehead with, and clean your A-arms and bushings with after they are in. Oh yeah, Tip 7. Use the Anti-seize silver stuff on the inside of the A-arm holes and the inside of the A-arm mounting supports attached to the fender well of the car as well as on the outside of the sleeve, the inside of the bushing, the outside of the bushing and both ends of the bushing. Basically, everwhere but the fender well itself. And keep a lot of rags handy, I repeat.