Lower A arm bushing replacement question

Am about to attempt this. Have searched the archives.

One consensus as to the first part of the procedure is to put car on stands, remove the calipers (some say hubs too), support the spring pan with jack, take out the upper bolt through the shock arm ends and then slowly and carefully lower the spring pan.

Another consensus is to remove the lower bolt going through the outer ends of the A arms and then lower the spring pan or, alternatively, remove the 3 bolts and the sway bar bolt holding the spring pan to the A arms and then lower the pan. Nothing is said about removing the calipers or the hub.

My question is, utilizing either of the latter two methods, is it necessary to remove the calipers or the hub?

I've done quite a few of the front suspension rebuilds and think the best way is just to remove the whole front crossmember, throw it on the workbench and go to work. Once you get in there to replace bushings you almost always find a worn bolt or 2, shot fittings and such. Undo the brake line connections to the calibers, pull the brake line from the mounting tabs on the crossmember, unbolt the steering knuckle, then just undo the 4 bolts holding the crossmember to the frame and lower. Takes no more than an hour to do this and put on the bench. Before doing that though it's best to put a jack under the spring pan, undo the 4 bolts holding the spring pan to the a-arms (one is the tie rod) and then lower the spring down through the bottom. This gives you a chance to inspect everything while on the bench.

Personally, I do not recomend trying to remove the spring pan first without a spring compressor. I did it once without the compressor and with a jack under the spring pan.PITA. First three bolts(no front sway bar) were ok but as soon as I started to loosening the forth bolt the pans shifted and I ruined the threads. Just my personal experience. Joe

I to have done a few frontend jobs. I'm guessing close to 100 of them. I remove the calipers, hub,and backing plate. Then place a floor jack under the king pin assm. Jack it up enough to get the shock arms off the bump stops. Remove the upper fulcrum and lower the jack to remove the spring. Unlike Brian I don't remove the cross member till I have removed the shocks and A arms with the king pin assm attached. Then I break down the A arm assm at my bench.

To me it's a lot more difficult to remove, and replace the spring by removing the spring pan. Doing it the above way involves removing one bolt and the assm keeps the spring in the correct possession. Plus lining up the four holes is more involved than just getting the upper fulcrum pin in.

As Brian has said trust us when we say there is going to be more to replace than the A arm bushings. I would never do that job and not replace all the parts in the lower front fulcrum.

you should've known better than to ask.


i've only used tom's method and it has worked well enough for me.

Many thanks for the replies. I'll do it the correct way and be prepared for needing more parts than just the bushings.

Just to be safe I chain the spring to some part of the car to insure that if something goes wrong it doesn't shoot my way. This may be overkill but I feel better about it.
-Dave