So. Today I start digging in on those damnable control arm bushings. I have to go back to the shed to get a couple parts I need. I have a 2-1/2" pipe spacer that I use at the lead for pressing the bushings out. Worked good on the uppers last time. I have some galvanized bolts to do the pulling this time. Took 3 stripped threaded rods to get the job done last time.

But it's freaking COLD down here. I can't even imagine doing it up north right now. But this is my one free weekend so it's gotta be done. So gonna start getting the truck up on jackstand and getting the bolts undone and the torsion bar out tonight. Then work on the rest tomorrow when it's warmer. I'll post my progress later if anyone else it thinking of doing this.

But mine is needed. I'm getting tired of the squeek and whenever it hits a seam in the road on that left tire it takes off in that direction.

 

OK. There are how-to's on here that kinda layout how to take the lower control arm out and get the bushings out. Also the Haynes manual 24071 for the Chevy s10 and sonoma pickups has the same info with pics. Now remember, this is for the 4x4. the 2wd is not nearly as complicated as you don't have to futz with a torsion bar.

First at relieving the tension from the torsion bar adjuster arm. It's not really hard. However, if you have the haynes manual and look on page 10-10 in the center pic at the top of the page it shows the worker using a gear puller to push the adjuster arm up to relieve the tension on the adjuster nut. THIS WORKS. HOWEVER, I have a similar, BUT DIFFERENT gear puller.

https://blazerforum.com/forum/pictur...ictureid=13559

My craftsman puller is similar in it's design. However the arms on mine are a little more um, curved. The arms in the picture in the manual are fairly straight. The ones on my puller are curvy enough that they keep the one arm from contacting with the lip on the crossmember. It is possible to still get the gear puller adjuster bolt into the divit in the torsion bar adjuster arm but until you start to get some real pressure on the arm, the gear puller arm that is on the free (back) side of the crossmember. But once you get the tension off and take the torsion adjuster bolt out the nut comes right out and you can unscrew the gear puller bolt until the torsion adjuster arm is free.

From there use a 13mm socket to disconnect the swaybar bushing. With a crescent wrench on the other side for resistance.

Now for the pivot bolts, they take 21mm sockets. You can get them by this method. Get the front bolt from the front and the rear bolt from the rear. It may seem the sway bar is blocking the hole in the frame that you use to access the front pivot bolt's nut but a 21mm socket and a 6" extension and you can get to it. Together with a crescent wrench on the bolt head for resistance and a small breaker bar (I used my tire tool) you can break this bolt loose. https://blazerforum.com/forum/pictur...ictureid=13557 The same goes for the rear except putting the crescent wrench on the nut towards the front and the socket at the back. Now you can take these bolts out. And using your tire tool or some other pry, simply pry the control arm down and free the bushings from the frame. https://blazerforum.com/forum/pictur...ictureid=13558

Now from here if you have more time or more patience you can go ahead and use the regular procedure to remove the spindle nut and use your gear puller to push the whole spindle, hub and all, off the cv axel. Now I cheated. I had previously replaced my lower ball joint so it was no longer riveted in. https://blazerforum.com/forum/pictur...ictureid=13556 So I simply used my 13mm socket and removed the 4 bolts that connect the ball joint to the control arm. Now here is where the slightly removed cv axel comes in handy. See there is VERY LITTLE CLEARANCE between the cv axel and the bulb on the end of the control arm that goes over the top of the ball joint. I thought the grease fitting on the ball joint was going to hang up. BUT After using an 18mm socket and removing the bottom bolt on the shock absorber and disconnecting the shock from the control arm. I was able to wrangle it around and slide the little bulbe around the ball joint and out from under the cv axel without disconnecting it. Now it helps to wrench the control arm below the sway bar end. This is because once it is free of the spindle and below the sway bar end all you have to do is wiggle it a little (maybe a little shot of wd-40 to loosen it up but I didn't need it) and you can pull the control arm off the torsion bar. This is how mine is sitting now. The torsion bar is hanging from the adjuster arm at the back. The control arm is out and all the rest of the spindle is still intact.

https://blazerforum.com/forum/pictur...ictureid=13555

Now Here's a heads up on getting the bushings actually out of the control arm. You need a piece of pipe at least 2-1/2 inches wide. I had a 2" piece of pipe 3 inches in length. This was not wide enough to allow the bushing metal sleeve through. no biggie though, for two reasons. First I used a hacksaw and cut a seam down one side of the pipe and used a couple prybars to open it up enough to allow one of the new bushings through. But that really wasn't needed. See while I was torquing on the bolt to push the bushing out, the rubber insert part of the bushing separated from the bushing and came out. I simply used a hammer and chisel to beat the bushing out on it's own without damaging the control arm sockets. But here is a BIIIIIIG heads up, The bushings for the fronts of the control arm and the back of the control arm are NOT the same. The front bushing seems to be a larger, beefy-er bushing. At autozone it is part FB331. However the rear bushing appears to be similar in size to the upper control arm bushings, or the lower control arm bushings for the 2wd. I say this because the girl at the counter actually got me two bushings for the 2wd and they looked like the uppers and were a different part #. Can't remember it right now.

https://blazerforum.com/forum/pictur...ictureid=13554

So for now that is where I'm at. I have the control arm out. the torsion bar is still up in the adjuster arm waiting to receive the control arm again. I have the front bushing out and the new one in. And I have the rear bushing out and I need to go back to exchange the bushing I have for the bushing I need. It's getting cold again, it's dinner time and it's getting dark, so I hit a stopping point. Tomorrow going to autozone and get the right one and put it all back together.

Again, this is for the 95 4x4. The 95 is a similar body design to the 96 and older, not the boxy 94 and earlier. So not sure how similar other years are, but it's a start. According to the manual this should be the same on the 96 and newer models. Now for my part here is my result. When doing my testing I could hear that it was the FRONT beefy-er bushing that was doing the squeeking. However, after getting the rear bushing out (it came out in 1 piece, rubber still in the metal sleeve) I can see the rubber was separating from the sleeve. Now the front could have also, but as I've written that the rubber part separated from the sleeve I can't say how bad it was. But this is definitley the cause of my squeeking and my tire wearing early and why it would take off whenever that wheel met a seam in the road.

More tomorrow. Let me know of any pics you'd like to see while it's out and apart.

 

Any pictures of the process? If you can get pictures, this would make for a great How-To article!

 

OK it was part my mistake. When the girl said front control arm bushing, I thought she meant a bushing for the front control arm (which didn't sound right as there is NO rear control arm) but she meant the FRONT BUSHING (as opposed to the rear bushing) for the lower control arm. And after looking it up the rear bushing part number at autozone is similar FB330. Gonna get it tomorrow. And I'll take pics. I'll start where I'm at and work my way back.

 

I've used one of those big c-clamp tools (meant for pushing ball joints in/out of control arms on other vehicles) to push bushings/in out of control arms.

I've also used a drill to drill through the rubber (remove enough rubber and the rubber and center steel sleeve will push right out of the outer steel sleeve) and then used a hammer to cave the outer steel sleeve in some till it loosens up in the control arm and it'll pretty much "fall out" with very little effort.

 

I have to say. I've done many repairs on this truck. I've had some that didn't work too well. I've had some that worked as expected. But This is by far the one repair that worked and gave the best and most noticeable improvement.

I got it all back in and back together. I'll edit my original post later. I have pics of the process. But my most important thing I noticed about this repair is, yes it is imparatively important to relieve the tension on the torsion bar at the adjuster bolt. But seriously, it is not that difficult a job as some people have said or i've read. I mean that simple gear puller is all that is needed. No special tools. And as long as you have the gumption to do it, it really isn't that hard. Yes you can futz with working the torsion bar out first, but it really isn't that much harder to work the control arm out on it's own like I described. And putting it back together is just as straight forward. About the only hard part is working the control arm around the grease fitting on the lower ball joint without damaging it.

I first got the control arm on the torsion bar and then worked it around that grease fitting, no problem. Then I simply used a floor jack to bring the control arm into the frame mounts. From there it was just a matter of getting the control arm holes lined up (a little hammer knocking on the front). Then getting everything else bolted down: front control arm bolt, rear control arm bolt, the 4 bolts that go from the lower ball joint to the control arm, and the bottom shock bolt.

With those all tightened down I knocked the torsion bar back into the correct position, fully seated in the adjuster arm at the back. I used the long bolt I used to pull the bushings as a knock bar to hammer it back. With that I used the gear puller and pushed the adjuster arm up enough to get the torsion adjuster nut in the hole and started the adjuster nut. After tightening this down the gear puller came free and I removed it. Using a flashlight to see the mark I torqued the adjuster bolt back so the marks I put on before removing it lined back up. From there it was just a matter of putting the sway bar bushing back in and the tire on. Drove to the shed to put the tools back.

Not a single squeek. And the road to the shed is quite bumpy (road work) and not once did I hit any of the bumps did the truck take off like it did before. The steering is tight again, and the suspension is tight again. But one thing that was a surprise, I didn't expect. My brakes now seem to be a bit tighter. I can't explain this, but it is. I did NOT A THING to the brakes. Didn't take the caliper off or touch it at all. You'll see the pics. With the control arm out the whole thing was still assembled and just hanging there. But the truck drives so smoothly now. Look for the pics tonight.

 

how do you in stall the new bushing

 

Hm. I thought it was spelled out. Use the rig that I set up with the 8" hex bolt, two washers, 2"diameter by 3" long pipe cut on one side and widened, with a brace and washer on the other end. Put the bolt through the hole and the pipe on the side of the direction it comes out. You get the bushing out by turning the nut down to push the bushing out of the control arm. (see picture 13554 above on how it looks). Getting back in is the same process just in the opposite direction.

 

but one thing that kyle said before, that when one thing in the suspension goes something else is bound to go. It's true. I did the upper bushings earlier this year and the control arm bushings now on the driver side. So those are all new now. This after doing all the ball joints last year and 1 bearing hub. And now that I have the big nasty squeek from the driver side fixed (and driving tight now) I can hear ever so slightly a slight squeek coming from the passenger side also. Not nearly as bad as the driver side. I can only hear it on big bumps and only if the window is down. I could hear the driver side before, over the radio, with the radio on.

 

I rebuilt everything (balljoints, tie rod ends, idle, pitman, sway bar bushings) but neglected the control arm bushings... on my way out right now to do them...
Thanks for the write up, I have access to a pretty fancy press so mine shouldn't be quite as hard