Hello all,

I just tried to get the xk aligned & was told I have a bad front lower control arm bushing. They refused to align the vehicle until I repaired it.

From what I can tell by Googling the term, this is beyond the scope of what I can do (I have no garage & cannot do major work on my car in my neighborhood). Or is it less involved than it seems? Anyone done this in a driveway same day (at a friend's house who doesn't have an HOA)? Independent shop fix? And if so, what type of expense am I facing?

Many thanks as usual. This forum is wonderful.

 

Just doable in a day if you either have a press or big C-clamp.

Getting the lower arm off will be a pain, the back bolt is likely to be obstructed by the steering rack, some people report that they could get the bolt out by putting the steering on full lock, didn't work for me.

My front bolt was also obstructed by various brackets which had to be taken off first.

So once you have done this and split off the ball joint, diconected the shock and anti roll bar and got the arm off the car, getting the old bushes out is also a real pain.

I used my C clamp to push out the inner bush and then cut the outer part of the bush out with a hacksaw and chisel.

Once both of these are out you will need a press or C clamp to push the new bushes back in.

Rear bolt.



Front bolt.



Knocking the bolt out.




Pushing out the inner part of the bush.




Cutting out the outer part.



The chiselled it out.



Pushing the new one in.



And its done.

 

Excellent advice! I'm not familiar with these cars at all... will I need a spring compressor when I remove the shock, or does the spring not use a perch connected to the control arm (if that makes sense)?

 

A sping compressor is not needed on the front as its captive on the shock.

I forgot to say that you can get the rear bolt out by slakening off the 4 bolts that hold on the steering rack.

There is also a pdf of the service manual available that you should download (from one of the links at the threads it at the top of the board) is its a great resource.

See here.

 

I have never seen BOTH lower control arms removed, still attached to each other.
I always separate them to get them in a press.

You need to look at TSB 204-S499 that I uploaded years ago.
Do search and it will have lots of good info.

bob gauff