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MG MGB Technical - Seized Control Arm Bushing Sleeves

I'm in the process of replacing my lower control arm bushings. The old ones were the all rubber stock ones and had worn all the way through, when I took them out they looked like half moons. The new ones are the v8 type, which are rubber with a steel sleeve, and lo and behold there are some old sleeves frozen in place so I can't get the new ones on! I've tried a big old pipe wrench, no luck, tried pouring boiling water on 'em, now trying a dremel with a cutoff wheel - those sleeves really, really want to stay where they are.

So - how to remove bushing sleeves that have seized in place? Your answers would be greatly appreciated.
Sam

If I remember correctly I also had stubborn sleaves. Ended up getting a hacksaw blade and carefully cutting off the remnants of the old by inserting the blade inside the hole.

Luigi
Luigi

I had the same problem. I borrowed the use of a friend's hydraulic press. Even then it took a pretty big load to break them loose.
Bill Boorse


Heat up the sleeve with a propane plumber's torch and apply some parrafin (candle) to the edge where they meet the arm proper ,it'll wick in and loosen them up PDQ

-Nate
Nate

I second the hacksaw blade method. If you do use heat do it outside - trust me.

I just disassembled a front end and the upper trunnion bolts were rusted in place. I had to cut the bolts in 2 and then use lots of heat to get the half-moon side out and the little bit of rubber that was left really stank up the house.
Mike MaGee

When you install the V8 items don't fully tighten the nuts until the weight of the car is fully on the suspension. This step was not required with the original bushes.
Paul Hunt

Hi,

If they are stuck that tightly, I would junk the lower control arms as they are most likely toast as well. Try to save the bottom support that the spring sits on, and get new arms and lower king pin kit = bushings, sleeves etc. FWIW Alyn
Alyn

I've been trying to rebuild the front suspension on my 72 mgb roadster.
Thanks to all the help here, I got her disassembled, cleaned up and ready to put back together.
I bought the V-8 upgrade bushings for the A-Arms.
Sounded easy enough to push them in, but found out it was more of a challenge than what I thought.
I initially got them nearly flush on one side by using my trolley jack and pushing against bottom of car frame.
That's as far as I could get. The urethane seemed to just want to bulge and couldn't get equal amounts on both sides of A-Arm.
I finally had to bring them into work and use an arbor press. Again, the urethane was bulging when I used a cyclinder of equal diameter to push them through with a cylinder backing up the A-Arm diameter.
I finally got success when I put some dish soap on the bushings and used a cylinder to push with that was slightly bigger than the metal part, but smaller than the OD of the urethane.
Luckily I have a decent shop at work or this would be a real pain without the arbor press and assortment of cylinders to work with.
Just a watchout for doing it yourself with few tools.

Sounds like another requirement stated above is to NOT tighten the A-Arm bolts against the V-8 style bushings until the entire weight of the car is resting on the suspension? What is the reason for this?
DT Toms

Its so that the bushings get torqued at the 'correct' state of rest. If you don't do as above, you might end up w/ squeeky uneven suspensions.

Luigi
Luigi

I use a grinding disc in the angle grinder to grind a flat on the lower prt of the bush - as you grind through the bush a brown line will appear - the rust that is bonding the two together - once this extends the length of the bush you can just split it of with a sharp chisel.
Chris at Octarine Services

Hi Folks:

Based on past experience with a 67 MGB roadster, do not use the V-8 bushings. I have found that they slide inside the control arms because they lack the buffing shoulder. Use the rubber originals with the shoulder or use the shouldered poly bushings. Moss sells 2 types of poly bushings, standard which resemble the original rubber bushings and the "red" bushings with the steel sleeve. The poly bushings make the car feel great!

Rich Boris
Rich Boris

Rich,
I am having a hard time understanding how the V-8 bushings could slide?
They are captured on either side by a fixed and non-fixed large washer and tightened with the nut.
I've read quit a bit in the archives and several people were recommending the V-8 bushings.
Obviously I've already bought the V-8 and am putting the car back together.
Now that I have the experience to take things apart, I guess if I have any trouble, I can replace them with the Moss parts you describe.
Which of the 2 Moss parts do you recommend? The red with steel inserts?
If my V-8 start to fail as you describe, what would be the symtoms?

Thanks a bunch,
Doug
DT Toms

The bushes can't move, they are trapped as you say but it's the complete arm assembly that can theoretically move as there are no bush flanges to locate them. In practice this does not seem to happen and the v8 rubber bushes make a significant difference to the steering response. It is however vital that the pivot nuts are not tightened and pinned until the full weight of the car is on the ground otherwise the bushes will remain under torsional stress and may well move.
Iain MacKintosh

Thanks for the clarity.
Yes, it seemed once I got them located properly balanced on each side of the bore, they bulged on each side keeping them solidly in place.
I will be sure to not tighten until weight of suspension is fully loaded.

Best regards,
Doug
DT Toms

The reason for not tightening the A-arm bolts with V8 bushes until the suspension is at its normal position, is because unlike the original bushes with V8 bushes all the up and down movement in the A-arms occurs within the flexing of the rubber. If the nuts are fully tightened with the wheels fully down, then when the weight is put on the suspension the bushes are put under quite a bit of torsional 'tearing' stress, and when the suspension is compressed i.e. over a bump this tearing force increases even more. Not only could this tear the rubber but if one bush does happen to turn in its A-arm under this force and not the other you will get uneven ride height side to side. Only tightening when the suspension is in its normal position ensures that up and down movements only apply a relatively small 'tearing' force either side of a central point where there are no such forces.
Paul Hunt

This thread was discussed between 29/10/2004 and 02/11/2004

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