I need help again. I just took my front end apart on my 69 camaro. Top ball joints came out fine. Having trouble with the lower. Are the lower ball joints pressed in ? If so, does this mean I need to disassemble the lower control arm and have them pressed out and new ones pressed in ? If that is the case is it wise to press in new bushings ?

Yes Yes And Yes


Lower ball joints are pressed in. I have heard of people beating them out with the control arms on the car, but I personally would not treat suspension parts that way.

Once the control arms are off the car, you'll be able to eyeball the bushings, but generally if the balljopints are bad, so are the control arm bushings.

Thanks for the info. One more question, the lower control arms look easy enough to remove. On the upper control arms, is the two outside bolts all that is needed to remove them or is there something I am missing ?

There is such a thing as a ball joint press that allows you to do them on the car, however some of the kits are spendy. I spent like $650 on mine but it was snap-on largest model. You can get them for much cheaper if you don't want anything that fancy, or you could see if one of your local parts stores has one that they rent out. It looks like a big c-clamp with cups to fit the ball joint and you just use an impact to press them out. Slick as melted butter.

I took my LCArms in to an alignment shop a couple of weeks back. Even with their industrial press, they had to really work to get the old pressed out. Glad I didn't beat on them.

I will take them to a good shop and have them pressed out and new ones pressed in. How do you get the upper arm off ? All I see is two bolts.

Careful taking off the lower arms, the springs are preloaded. If you're not careful you can get hurt !!!!!
If you can remove the lower control arms, you certainly are capable of replacing the ball joints yourself, with a ball joint press.
dale

Can the press be used to do the bushings ?

just those 2 bolts on the uppers, leave the bolts, take off the nuts and push the a-arms off.

I imagine if you're replacing balljoints, the spring pressure has been relieved.

The springs are already out and the upper ball joints out. I am going to go ahead and take off both A Arms and put in new bushings and new ball joints. Will a ball joint press work for bushings ?

Look at those bushing real close. I think some of them have a tack weld to keep them in. I was a certified frt end mechanic for at least ten years and never did a set of lower bushings on a car like the first gen Camaro. I still believe the best way to remove the ball joints from the arm is with a big hammer.

Jeff

It's easy to change the lower balljoints with an "on the car" C frame press. Harbor Freight sells one for $40 or most autoparts stores lend them for free. I'll bet my HF press has done a dozen of them by now. Works on the A arm bushings too (with a little creativity).

How does the center arm that goes from bushing to bushing and is used for alignment shims on the upper arm come off ? Does it come off when the bushings are pressed out ? Thanks for all of the info. I could not of done this without the help of this forum.

Greg,
Yes, the arm will stay in between the bushings and is pressed back into position with new bushings, just keep shims labeled and taped together to put back in the same position.

just those 2 bolts on the uppers, leave the bolts, take off the nuts and push the a-arms off.

I imagine if you're replacing balljoints, the spring pressure has been relieved.

Yes, make sure you take the nuts off versus trying to turn on the bolt itself. The bolts are knerled and putting a socket on it will damage it.