Does anyone have some previous experience with replacing the front lower bushings? (not the compliance bushing) I could use some tips here.

I seem to have hit a snag with finding a place to support the arm in the press for removing the old bushing. The problem seems to be that there is a flange that covers all the contact area around the bushing:


The opposite side has plenty of exposed metal around the bushing for support when installing:


Am I stuck with having to cut/grind this flange off of the old bushing or is there some better way?

 

Unless you have the perfect die/cups to press them out, you can use a chisel and bend those flanges upright. I did it this way when replacing all my bushings (it was painful) with Powerflex ones.

What are you replacing them with? (I'm assuming you don't need to reuse the inner sleeve)

 

On the street car I will be going back with a mugen set (pictured) and on the track car it will be getting the black powerflex. I figured while I was at it might as well do both of cars. They both require removal of the original outer shells.

Looks like I need to acquire a real chisel set. Thank you for the suggestion.

 

Chisel worked like a champ.



Also just FYIthis Harbor Freight ball joint tool has the exact right size cups for this job. (compliance as well)

 

great to hear!

 

good job. for anyone who searches this topic, i recently replaced all my lower arm bushings (front and rear) with Mugen bushings and purchased a HF 20T press and a Press Pull sleeve kit on eBay (example picture below). i was worried about the Harbor Freight press quality but it worked great. Also worried about the Press Pull sleeve kit because i picked up one of the cheaper kits at $160 (yes that's one of the cheap ones!) but it worked flawlessly.



This combination of tools not only made the bushings a breeze since it had all the correct sizes, but it allows me to do bushings while they're still on the car as well. For the rear lower damper bushing, because of it's location, i could not get it into the press where i could have a receiver tube underneath it. Luckily the sleeve kit allowed me to remove the bushing while the arm was still on the car and i was a happy camper.

 

I will be adding one of those kits to the wishlist. It would be nice to be portable at times.

The HF 20 ton unit is the only one worth buying IMO. I had the 12 ton unit first but over time it racked itself and got sloppy. The 20 ton is so understressed with simple Honda jobs that it is just a breeze to use.

 

I used a air hammer with chisel. Took 5 minutes to get out. When you do the rear lower it will take forever. Those are lips on both sides and the inner sleeve is pressed into each other.

It does leave a some marks on the arms but I just sand those out

 

Sounds like a made a good choice going with the insert style poly bushings in the rear on the track car.

 

If you opt to buy the lower control arms from honda, is it safe to say you still have to buy all the bushings separate?