Replacing A-arm bushings. How hard is it?
 

So, my significant other got a hold of my Pelican Parts wish list, and bought me some stuff on it. Among those things was a front a-arm bushing kit. It is called "Front Suspension A-arm Bushing Kit Set of 4, Poly-Graphite, 911/911 Turbo/912E 1974-89" in the PP catalog. It comes with 4 poly graphite a-arm bushings. How hard are these things to replace? I am getting ready to replace the tie rods, so I'll have the front wheels off, but I never really researched this job when I added them to my list. I'm kind of obligated to replace them now, so I'm wondering what I've gotten myself into!

You should do a search.

They are easy to replace . . . if you do it improperly. But they usually don't work well, and start squeeking.

To do it properly, you need to put the new bushings in their retainers, and then have it milled on a machine, to be perfectly round, nice fit on the a-arms. Also not a bad idea to cut some grease grooves in them. Done properly, they can give you a long time of quiet service.

Since most don't have access to an industrial lathe, they use imprecise ways of "making it fit." Usually leads to squeeking/binding right away, or shortly thereafter.

I think factory style rubber replacements, along with a tool and instructions, are now available. Don't know the price, though. I know for a street car, my preference would be stock style rubber bushings. They work fine for the street, no maintenance and if they last even 1/2 as long as the factory ones, you won't have to think about them again for a decade or more.

Front Suspension
 

First off, I am not a professional mechanic and I am definitely not the smartest guy on this board. However, I did it and it was easy. I sent my front control arms to Elephant Racing. They removed the old bushings and powder coated the A-arms (refurbished). I then bought the Polybronze Bushings (PB) and installed them myself. Re-assembly was easy as well. With the PB you must spend a little more time to make sure the components are properly aligned or they will bind. Get the PB you won't regret it.

However, tread cautiously, you are entering the slippery slope of suspension trickery. I can not tell you how much money I spent on my suspension. I am affraid my wife might see this post and I cannot afford an attorney with the economy so slow.

polygraphite DOES NOT EQUAL PolyBronze.

PolyBronze are far superior. Polygraphite must be lathed to fit perfectly round or they will squeak. You must also cut grease grooves to lubricate them. The PolyBronze have zirks already. Polygraphite don't give as smooth a bearing motion as the PolyBronze. OEM rubber (which Elephant Racing will also install if you send the control arms) are basically maintainace free but are less sporty and derform in hard cornering.

OEM are not "basically" maintenance free, they are 100% maintenance free.

An alternative is to install rubber bushings. Follow the link.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/266716-rubber-arm-bushing-question.html

regards,
al

any way you look at it, to replace the front a-arm bushings, the a-arms need to be removed. While the bushings, at first glance, are inexpensive the time to do the r&r and the resulting alignment and corner balance can push the price up there. If you intend to lower while you're at it, then do the rear bushings as well and only pay for 1 alignment and corner balance.
It certainly can be a DIY project, but not one to be taken too lightly and one that requires a bit of research before you start taking bits off.
I would also recommend either a straight replacement of the a-arm with Elephant Racing for the rubber bushings or the ER polybronze if you plan to do it yourself.

and you'll likely need to do the ball joints 'while you have the a-arms off'.

They won't deform in hard cornering, but they do deform naturally as the control arm travels through its arc of motion. That's what they're designed to do, in the same way that the rear spring plate bushings twist (deform) as the spring plates swing about the torsion bar axis.

You can also get the OEM rubber bushing replacement kit that Pelican sells, and do it yourself quite easily using the instructions and the video that ER provides. The kit is inexpensive and the results will be far better than polygraphite bushings.

i bought the poly graphite ones, big mistake, i sanded, honed, lubed, cut in the grease groove and added a zirc, still popped and sqeeked, do youself a favor and dont use em, get the poly bronz, they are great.

This is a very easy install. The adapters that Chuck supplies with the bushings make it a cake walk.

I just installed the "Other" ones from the other post and it was much simpler than I expected.

"to replace the front a-arm bushings, the a-arms need to be removed."

you could leave them attached at the ball joints

whether that is a good idea or not is another question

mine have been in since pre ER days

install went great after some fitting.

80k miles/no problems and no wear that I can find.

no noise except on extreme suspension travel

Yep, just bought the rubber ones( should receive them Monday) and I'll be installing them Monday. For the price you can't beat them($31).

Kevin

For me the largest cost was the alignment and corner balance after.

Thus, do all the suspension work you want to do all at once.

I just heated up the end of the arms with a torch and turned the stock ones over. Pice of cake and worked great and I now have more rubber isolating the weight than with replacement bushings.

On my 85 there was evidence of the stock torsion bars starting to make metal to metal contact. I think with age rubber just flows away from the point of pressure.