I’m about a week behind on car stuff, so let’s catch up!

I started working my way through the front passenger side suspension components. New upper control arm bushings, upper control arm ball joint, lower control arm ball joint, lower control arm shock bushing, inner tie rod, outer tie rod end, tie rod boot, sway bar linkage, and sway bar to frame bushing. For the most part, the items coming off the car seemed to be in reasonable shape, and probably could have stayed a while longer, but I was already in the middle of things so I just kept going.

All of the ball joints (including driver side) that came off the car were loose enough to push around with my finger, but still fit tightly in the socket without any noticeable slop. I wonder why people say that it being loose enough to move means it’s shot?

Old and new upper control arm pieces.

The upper control arm ball joint had an alignment mark so I set it up with the dot on the arm.

Done!

Removing the lower ball joint was a huge pain. I wound up using an impact wrench and press kit, which they say not to do..

And the lower control arm shock bushing was an EVEN LARGER PITA. I wound up following a forum post’s advice and cutting it out with a saws-all.

Old bushing. Intact, but obviously worn.

Noooope. Would not press out.

Finally! Pressed out the inner rubber, and then sawed through the sleeve and pried it out.

The new bushings had an alignment dot, but I couldn’t find out where it went So I gave up and just put it facing “down”

I did not replace the lower control arm to frame bushings, and they seemed OK-ish.

The old sway bar hardware was in OK shape. Got replaced anyway.

New tie rod end!

And that’s about it, besides the alignment being screwed up, I didn’t really notice much difference. At least not compared to how much impact the new shocks had.
–ctag