Well:
So, I took the upper ball joints out of the control arms a few days ago. That went fine.
Than, today, I decided it was time to replace the upper control arm bushings. Well, my dumb self put it in a press with the upper control arm pivot bolt being what I was pressing on. And, well, it bent the control arm a good inch or so. Oh, sure, it got one of the bushing out! (Granted, the metal part of the bushing is still rusted onto the pivot bolt)
And, since the ball joint was out, the circle it threaded into is more like an oval.

So- now that I learned how *not* to replace the bushings, what is the correct way to replace them? Because I'd rather not have to replace two control arms.


...The more I try to do to this truck, the more I want to just junk it. But than I look at the time and money I've put into it, and convince myself, "Well, I've went this far!"...
On a positive note, I finally got one of the lower control arms off the truck. Had a heck of a time getting it off the torsion bar. And pressed the lower ball joint out of it with no problems.


*EDIT* So, I see the Trailmaster 4-inch suspension lift comes with new upper arms. I was wanting to get a lift eventually anyways, so I just need to keep the truck out of comission long enough to save up the money. I think I'll get this!
I still would like to know the proper way to get those bushing out!

 

Lol! I just went through those bushings 2 days ago. Still got to get the truck Alined.

This may not be the correct way, but it is the way I did it maybe you can help. Okay well the first one went perfect. Easy press out and in. Then the passenger gave me hell. Pressing out took a while. Similar to what you ran into. Then got them off and pressing in was the problem. The control arm was bending in wards. So I welded a support bar to keep the control arm in place and started to bend the bar. So I got out my small hydraulic jack to open it back up and to had that hold the control arm up while I press in the bushings. I took a while and was a lot more pressure then the other side but finally got it all together. One thing you can do is freeze the bushing over night to shrink them. You also could get a torch and heat up the control arm to try to expand it. So did you get them off or not yet? If not yet burn out the rubber or gut the rubber out then the housing should be alot easier to get off.

I guess we are replacing everything pretty much together. Last 2 weeks I replaced all ball joints tie rod ends pitman and Idler arms and top control arm bushings.

I think the proper way is to get the bushing remover kit that dodge has. Part number C–3962. I did a quick search I couldn't find it anywhere.

 

The freeze tip is excellent, I used to do that when rebuilding motorcycles. To get the old bushing out I would take a hacksaw blade and cut thru the bushing then press it out in some cases I would peel it up a bit and with add WD40 then press it out.

 

i did mine the good ole fashioned way with a hammer to get then out and believe it or not used a spring compressor to put them in, i know it is very getto but it worked. it was one of the ones you can rent at advance with the large threaded rod and the clamps on one end and nut for the impact on the other, i just unscrewed the little clamp things and put the rod trough the new bushing and snugged them up and hit them with the impact, but i put a peice of metal pipe in between the 2 sides so it did not collapse then i squeezed them in. used plenty of the goo that came with my polygraphite kit too. i am sure you are reading this and saying WTF is he talking about, i guess you would have to see it to believe it, but it worked good! hopefully you can get them done though, good luck!

 

Well, I worked on it a little bit today.
On the bent control arm I removed one of the bushings. I also seperated the pivot bolt from the arm. But now the outter metal part of the bushing is stuck inside the control arm (where it's pressed in), and the inner metal part is stuck on the pivot bolt (where, again, it presses on).
I'm still pretty scared to do the other upper control arm bushings -the thought of screwing up the other sides control arm too - because I'm not *set* on getting that lift kit. It's quite the price for a truck whose parts are becoming harder to find. Can't even get new lower control arm bushings.

I just need to remember to reinstall the old ball joint on the good control arm before attempting to press out those bushings. I'm sure the 2-1/8" hole didn't help with the control arm bending.

 

The small shaft on the blot has a slit in the down the middle of it. You can just take a screw driver and a hammer and split it open. Get a nice steel brush and clean up all the rust or dirt that is binding it. Now the one on the control arm I would suggest getting a dremel and grind away the inside until you can bend the bushing housing and get it out of there.

 

Why I never think of these simple things when I'm in the garage I will never be able to figure out...
It's also bad because I'm working on like 3 projects at the same time. (The truck, redoing a room in the house, and reinsulating the crawl space). None of the projects are coming along how I want.
And to get the other projects done, I need the truck done so I can get supplies. But I'm just too lazy most of the time. Been sitting in the garage 2 months, got maybe 3-4 days of work done on it.