alrighty - i'm digging into unchartered territory for me (well actually I was when I took the caliper off the knuckle :P ) -- I now have my front upper and lower control arms removed from the car. My poly bushings are on backorder so I don't have them to look at.

I'm puzzled at what I need to do from here. On the lower control arm do I just use a propane torch to burn the bushings out??? and then snag the metal bolt sleeves from the smoldering reminants and put those into the poly when they show up?? That looks fairly straightforward - I assume I need to be careful with overheating the control arm itself tho.

The confusing part: The upper control arm and most importantly - the UCA shaft which the paddle nut and bolts go through. How do I remove this from the upper control arm????? I've got the UCA off the car, and the bolts off the end of it and obviously the paddle bolts/nuts are off - but how do I remove the shaft from the UCA assembly itself?

Maybe it'll be obvious when I see the new bearings...but I'd like to have everything ready as I *REALLY* am getting the bug to drive this this summer yet. Thus the new bigger credit limit which has been consumed to be paid off this fall :-) doh! hehe.

Thank you for your help in advance!!!

Matthew

If I remember correctly, the UCA shaft stays on the UCA. Refresh my memory. The UCA has the metal sleeves around the outside of the bushing and it's smaller diameter than the LCA?? The metal sleeves( mine were seafoam green in color) actually stay on the UCA and the poly bushings fit inside of the sleeves. I ended up using a very small drill bit and drilling the bushings and then pressing out the remainder on mine(keeping them burning is tough and creates quite a bit of smoke). If you go this route, be careful not to let the bit contact the metal as it will gouge the metal

I'll have to look next time I go to my fiero. I left my digital camera down in mexico on vacation (doh!) so ..... pictures are something I currently don't have. I hope I remember how everything goes together!!

The Fiero Store has the shaft and a pic of the shaft with the bushings but I can't see anything from them myself. Perhaps it'll be a reminder though??
http://www.secureleadercom....it=3&dept=339&page=2

I think there was a metal sleeve in the center of the UCA that the shaft goes through?? Not sure though, it was a long day at the car. Crazy how rusted nuts/bolts make everything take SOOOOO much longer...thank goodness for PB Blaster tho.

The LCA was definately a larger sized bushing than the UCA regardless. The problem I have is that the UCA shaft goes through the bushings in the UCA so I don't know that I feel comfortable trying to work in that confined space with a drill which is why I was wondering if there was some trick I was to know or if I was just supposed to burn/melt them out or what.

Anyways, thanks. I'll do a little more looking and see if I can describe it any better. Better yet, maybe a digital camera will fall from the sky and land in my passenger seat tomorrow. hey, it could happen!!!

the poly bushings will come with new seamless sleeves to go in the poly on the bolts. you only need to clean the rubber out of your sleeves in the upper and lower ca's. after you get one rubber out on the top, I believe the pin can slide out.
I did not burn mine out, I used a 3/8 threaded rod and some sockets and washers to pull the rubber out. I used just a nut and pulled the center sleeve out first, then a larger washer to pull out the rubber. some came out real easy, as the rubber had already seperated somewhat, others were harder.
if you heat the sleeve a little with a regular torch you will soften the outer part of the rubber and it should come out easier.

Hiya! It's preferred to use a hydraulic press to get bushings out, but with the shaft being stuck in there, the best thing to use is acetolyne, aka MAPP gas. It burns through the rubber MUCH quicker than propane, and therefore you don't have to hold the heat on the arm as long, thus helping to prevent damaging the arm.

If you have alot of mileage on the car, it wouldn't hurt to get a new shaft for the UCA. Better safe than sorry.

------------------
Petty Officer Michael C Casaceli
Aircraft Electronics Technician Second Class
AIMD Brunswick (2007-present)
Patrol Squadron Ten (2003-2007)
United States Navy

When I had mine done three weeks ago, it turned out that the bushings sleeves were all rotted out. Basically crumbly rust with pieces of metal. So be prepared to buy a new set of 84-87 rubber bushings, and then burn the rubber out of those to get the sleeves. You need to tack weld them in place because they aren't exact replacements for 88's. They do work though.

everyone talks about these sockets they use to pull stuff......do you have some obnoxiously large sockets just sitting around or something?? actually i am curious as i don't have any larger sockets than the axle nut so i'm a little short on the large cylinder objects that i can use to remove them with. i like the idea of using that instead of gas though.

were the poly bushings hard to install at all or slip in pretty easy with the lube?

Aren't you in luck...
88 Front Suspension Rebuild
Another 88 Front Suspension Rebuild

And some more info that might help:
https://www.fiero.nl/forum/A...050119-2-053328.html

[This message has been edited by Formula88 (edited 06-06-2007).]

YOU are the flippin man

I think burning them out is a missnomer. You don't have to get them into great balls of fire to get them to come out. I just heat the center metal tube with a propane torch untill it starts bubbling then push it out with something.

It does, no doubt stink, never the less.

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yellow 88 GT, not stock
white 88 notchie, 4 banger

quote Originally posted by Kaomkteek: everyone talks about these sockets they use to pull stuff......do you have some obnoxiously large sockets just sitting around or something?? actually i am curious as i don't have any larger sockets than the axle nut so i'm a little short on the large cylinder objects that i can use to remove them with. i like the idea of using that instead of gas though. were the poly bushings hard to install at all or slip in pretty easy with the lube?

Yes I have an obnoxiously large collection of obnoxiously large sockets. In lieu of those, you can small pieces of pipe at your local home centers, and end caps and such an make up all manner of nice usable pullers and such with just a hand drill, some threaded rods, hpipe and fittings, all for usually 10-15$, which is much less than some of thsoe !@#$%#@!!! sockets I have cost ...

[This message has been edited by tjm4fun (edited 07-07-2007).]