I am doing my hub bearings and ball joints and I might as well do the lower control arm bushings too. Truck has 250,000 miles.

Its a 2002 F150 4x4 SCrew

How do I get the lower control arms off without killing myself? Also, how do I do this since I normally jack the truck up with the tab on the LCA?

 

search can be your friend>>>https://www.f150online.com/forums/19...ntrol-arm.html

 

Im needing advice on the LOWER control arms. If I relax the suspension by jacking at the frame, will the torsion bars be relaxed so that I can replace the lower control arm bushings?

 

I think you have to loosen the Tbars all the way and from what I've read the shock has to be unbolted from the control arm. I've been thinking of giving my front end an overhaul someday. There isnt allot of information on those bushings out there. I think they be hard.

 

Spray both ends of the bars with penetrating oil. You should have jack stands under the FRAME of the truck holding it up.
Unload the bars as much as possible, then put a jack under the LCA and remove the shock. You will probably have to hammer the bars out of the arm. Press the old bushings out, press the new ones in. You will need some pipe adapters to clear the bushing and hold the arm, I don't remember measurements.

The new bushings stretch when they go into place, so don't be alarmed when you take them out of the package and they look 1/2 to 1" too short.

 

At 250k miles, just buy the LCA's. I did them in my '04 thus summer and I took everything off. It's not bad really, I'm still new to suspension work too.

 

That adds $200 to the front end overhaul to replace a metal piece that does not wear out.

 

Labor and bushings cost money too. Opportunity cost... If you're set up for it, great. Just saying, for most it's easier just to pull and replace ... Especially if it's a daily driver. After doing one side, I was beat. Also, watch out for the bushing material. Polyurethane firms the ride and is prone to squeak. Another reason why I bought entire loaded arms so I could get factory rubber. Just my thoughts.

 

I was going to do this myself too on my 4x4 but after seeing that it's going to cost me as much to rent the tools I don't have, I can just take it to a shop and have it done for the costs of tool and also get an alignment as well.


not too much left to do to do the bushings when doing the ball joints as well

 

Thanks a ton for the info!

This truck is my hunting truck, and only gets driven about once a week at the most out of season purely to keep the battery up. It will probably need a transmission before too much longer and who knows if it will need an engine overhaul.

Based on the work to do the LCA bushings, Im going to address only the safety issues with the front end. LCA aren't there. There rubber looks 'OK', and it doesn't squeak, so I think its best and more cost effective to the the front bearings and ball joints and put it back together.

 

Are these one or two piece bushings? The one piece bushings can be difficult.

If the bushings are press fit:
Clean / grind all rust out of the control arm where the new bushing will be seated; make everything smooth. Find a water based lube and coat the new bushing and the control arm where the bushing will be seated. Petroleum based lubes might #$&! the rubber up and cause it to expand. If you don't clean the rust out and try to press a new bushing into place, you will shred the new bushing!