How to: Remove the front suspension arms in 2 minutes
 

Hello all,

I recently had the pleasure of needing new front suspension bushings for my 2006 MCS. After some ridiculous trial and error, I found a simple way to remove the front suspension arm in 2 minutes.

And I have a video to prove it.


Here are the steps I followed:

1. Remove the wheels. (I removed the brakes because I was replacing those too.)

2. Remove the ball joint nuts - inner and outer

3. Use a large hammer, hit the side of the suspension arm directly next to the outer ball joint. Do NOT hit the ball joint itself.

4. Use a screwdriver to lift the inner ball joint seal and slide the pickle fork under it. Hammer that until it comes apart.

5. Twist the suspension arm down so it's pointed at the ground. NOTE: On the drivers side, you must REMOVE the little plastic arm first! Then use a 42" wrecking bar to push against the flange on the arm and the body, and pry it out.

Here are additional steps that can save you a ton of time doing the bushings.

6. Use the KTC tools bushing removal tool. (I tried a cheaper one from eBay, but it bent and stripped the threads out. This was not worth the "savings" on price.) I can't imagine using a home-made tool either. Alignment is critical. This shouldn't take you more than 5 minutes to complete.

7. Use a general grease and coat the new bushing and inside of the bushing mount.

8. Use the bushing tool again and insert the new bushing, paying special attention to direction if using an aftermarket bushing.

9. For this part, I needed a friend - have a friend hold the suspension arm against the opening, and use 16" arc joint pliers to slide the arm into the bushing. This should not take you more than 5 seconds. Then either push the arm in, or adjust and use the arc pliers again to slide it in.

10. Reassemble the ball joints. I placed my floor jack under the suspension arm and jacked it up a TINY bit to put pressure on the joints to allow me to tighten the nuts without the joints spinning.

11. Reassemble everything else.

12. Admit that it took me 3 weekends to do the passenger side. :lol:

Here are links to the special tools I used:

KTC Bushing tool:


Wrecking bar:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/DEWALT-42...5132/202985493

16" Arc pliers:

http://www.sears.com/craftsman-16-in...1&blockType=G1

Great video and info, but that jack stand looking like the Leaning Tower Of Pisa distracted me throughout the entire video. :eek:

Was that just an optical illusion?

Thanks, it only took me 3 weekends to figure this out.

But yeah - optical illusion. I had a wide-angle lense on my camera, and it really skewed that jack stand! If you look at the ground in the back, you'll see it also appears to be going up, but I was on the flat.

I had the camera on a tripod, but on it's side, laying on the ground, pointing up. It sure wasn't that crooked in real life!

FWIW, the rear tires were blocked, and you probably saw the tire was also under the car just in case. :)

I did the same project after I bought my r53 and it took me 3 weekends too, but I dropped the subframe and replaced the brackets. Just picked up an r52 for the wife and wasn't going to drop the subframe again, so I bought the bushing press you linked. LOL to me (that's a fake LOL BTW). Looks like it will be another adventure. Everything on the r53 went back together swimmingly, so it was worth the learning experience.

I am so glad to hear I was not the only 3-weekender mechanic! :lol:

Nice,

Very easy when you have the LCAB bushing tool. Otherwise you have to drop the back of the front subframe which then you should just do all the bushings at once DIY.

I'm not sure what tool you're referring to, since your link shows a few different ones but they don't all have photos.

However, the tool I linked is probably similar in design and did the job without having to lower the subframe.

I was also able to remove the inner ball joints without dropping the subframe by using a max access shallow socket wrench (set here: http://www.sears.com/craftsman-85pc-...1&blockType=G1) combined with a 2' breaker bar to loosen them, and then a high-torque 3/8" air wrench to remove and reinstall the bolts.

Yea, the press tool does not have pics currently. " Control Arm Bushing Tool Kit " .

Having the right tools make the jobs much easier with a MINI :)

Yeah, I never would have guessed I would need a 4' pry bar to work on my car! I've been working on cars for 30 years and that was a first! :lol:

If the bushing press doesn't break, I should be fine. I had never worked on cars before doing the bushings, other than oil changes. Wife freaked out seeing the car apart. She helped out though.

You can never have enough tools :wink:

Wife support = win. :)

Attachment 118982

Wife support. !

Sent from my iPhone using NAMotoring

Good thread. But 3 weekends is hardly fast. I have done this job 3 times now and still find dropping the subframe to be the fastest. I can do this whole job in under 4 hrs, including replacing the ball joints. Last time I used a floorjack and the bottom of my jeeps frame as the press to push the bushing into the bracket.

Is this it?


https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...57f8722324.jpg

[QUOTE=cristo;4155462]Is this it?

I don't think that is the one that is referred to. Jessie James linked to the bushing press tool that presses the bushings into the bracket (carrier). Jessie used a crowbar, instead of your pictured tool, to remove the controller arm from the bushing. I'm assuming his bushing replacements were polyurethane, so he didn't need the special tool to press the controller arms back into the bushings. I highly doubt the controller arm will go in an OEM rubber bushing without a press.

@gpwpat - 4 hours leaves me speechless. It takes me an hour, just to clean up. I probably spent 4 hours searching for the named parts to remove on the car. Some of the pics in the Bentley manual and guides were zoomed in, and I couldn't tell where the part was at. LOL! I was no hurry to finish and wanted to learn how things worked. I took my time and learned a lot. Never knew what a ball joint was or did, or a controller arm. I've since changed thermostat & housing, motor mount, pulley, intake, rear sway bar and wheel hub.

Nice video, but those came apart really easy. I've done literally hundreds of sets of bushings and still find dropping the subframe the easiest way. Often the ball joints are rusted in place and don't just knock right out like that. Or the ball joint gets damaged with a fork. But the bigger issue when pulling the arms first like that is still getting the metal sleeves out of the brackets on the car.

If this way works for you great, but want to warn others that may try this way that it will likely be harder than it looks.

:thumbsup:

I must be missing something. The LCA bushings (for the first time I did it) was an hour a side (if you don't count the seized outer balljoint removal). Granted, I had the LCA removal/installation tool, and the barrel based LCA bushing removal/installation tool, and the two ball joint tools - and yes they were very expensive, but I have a few cars and our club members use the tools now. No subframe removal needed. Agreed; the special tools make the job so much easier

Oh, and the sawzall is the answer for weakening the bushing, then using the extractor

You're not missing anything. Last weekend, I used the 2 tools and it took me about 2.5 hours. 1.5 hours for the first side, and around 45 minutes for the second side once I knew what I was doing. The hardest parts were, separating the inner ball joints and ALL the wrench turning. And definitely need to get an inner ball joint tool. I thought I was going to puncture a boot with the pickle fork. If that happens, might as well have dropped the subframe.

Thanks for the warning about the bushing press tool failing. I noticed that mine from ebay didn't have any grease on the threads, so I greased mine before using. I made sure the control arm press was well greased too.

The sawzall looks like it would be a last resort for me. After watching the Mod MINI video, it looked like it was going to take a while, just like ratcheting a wrench.

Definitely worth $265 for both tools combined since I have 2 1st gens and I have a couple of friends with 1st gens

I just did another... the bushing is no big deal, but what a massive pain this outer balljoint was:

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