Last weekend I replaced all the rear bushings on my 244. This weekend I replaced all the front bushings, lower ball joints, outer tie rod ends and Bilstien tc shocks all around. Allso replaced passenger control arm (due to mishap on press). After a proffesional alighnment, I dont think I am driving the same car. It used to drive more like a boat, but now it is very "sure footed" and quick to respond. Thanks to Brick Board and all the authors of the "homebrew tool" information. Whithout your help and guidence, I would never have attempted these projects that have made such a dramatic difference. Now to the pick and pull to locate turbo swaybars hehe.

Joe in Atlanta

Hey Joe,

Congrats on the suspension work. Sounds like everything came together just right. One quick question. I just started my front end suspension work this morning and everything is out and in the middle of being cleaned up. I'm going to take my control arms in to have the bushings pressed out (because I don't have a press or a bench vise) and the shop I go to will do the rear ones for free. My uncle in-law is a mechanic and has a shop next door to them. Anyways they told me that the rear control arm bushings would be no problem but that they almost never do the front bushings being that they stay in good shape and are a B#&*H to pull out. When you did your control are bushing did you do the FRONT and REAR or just the REARs? I would like to have the fronts done as well because I would like to know that everything has been taken care of. The front bushings are still firm but do show cracks from their age. Any advice on replacing those bushing would be great. Thanks for your time.

Sincerely,

Nickvjr
1979 264GL 120,301

Hey Nickvjr
I did both front and rear. It is not to difficult when you figure out the system. I had to kill one control arm while figuring out the system. fortunately I have a doner car. The front control arm bushing was done kind of backwards. We put a socket the size of the bushing on a plate and alighned the bushing (in control arm) on top of it. We used an outer bearing race from something that fit just around the size of the bushing lip, and put it on top. Then we pretty much pressed the control arm off the bushing. The rear control arm bushing was a simple press the bushing out kind of thing. By the way, the crome plated sockets from your tool kit are just a little bit smaller than the high torqe ones used on air guns. This little difference was important when using the socket to push the bushing out.
I know this is kind of hard to follow and I wished now I had taken pictures. I hope it helps. Did you get your glove box painted yet? Good luck

Joe

Thanks for the info. I can kind of see how the bushing is pressed out. I did think that the front one was not going to be an easy press on, press off. I also noticed that the front control arm bushings have SPOT WELDS to the control arm. The bushing themseleves still have the VOLVO on them as well as the part number. The shop I took the rear bushings to told me that they usually don't do the front control arm bushing because they hold up better. This is somewhat true on my control arms. The front bushings are still firm and show very little signs of wear. One of them has very slight cracks but all in all it's still in good shape. I'm going to put the front end back together tonight with the new rear bushings and the old fronts. I think I should be okay. What I'll do is go the the junkyard on the weekend and snag me a pair of front control arms. I will play with them and try to get the new bushings installed. Meanwhile I can still motor around town. I didn't have a hard time taking the control arms out so if I do get around to installing those new front bushings on another pair of control arms then I will just swap them out. As far as the glove box door I haven't finished because I got so caught up with the front end. It should be ready be this weekend. Thanks for the advice and sorry for the long post.

Sincerely,

Nickvjr
1979 264GL 120,310