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I replaced my first ball joint yesterday (I know, big deal!). Anyway, while the front end was apart, I wanted to judge the state of my control arm bushings. I was told they needed replacing, but I couldn't see much play in them while everything was assembled. With the ball joint off, I removed the lower link arm bolt. I thought that the control arm would rotate relatively freely around the bushing axis in this state, as it would need to when the suspension bounced. I found however that the control arm sprung back into a more or less horizontal position each time I let it go. The bolt through the front bushing was not seized. It came out easily, and then the control arm rotated quite freely.
What is supposed to happen to the front control arm bushing when the control arm rotates around the bushing axis? Does the rubber in the middle of the bushing simply twist while the inner metal sleeve is "stuck" to the crossmember and the outer metal sleeve is "stuck" to the control arm? I would have thought that the amount of rotation required would rip up the rubber in a short period of time.
If the above is not true, then what is supposed to slip in order to allow the control arm to rotate freely?
Other than the above question, the front bushing seems quite firm. The rear one on the other hand has a loose inner sleeve, and a piece of rubber near the back nut seems to have separated - it's a piece almost the size of the upper link rod bushing which sits under the rear nut. I'll be replacing the rear bushings, but not the front, unless someone advises me otherwise.
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