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So I am in the middle of a rear air spring replacement (E550 4matic) and both of the rear air springs are stuck in the lower control arm to the point that the first one required dropping the lower control arm in order to gain enough access to chisel and pry it out. There was no way that any amount of thumping it free via the bottom access hole was going to budge it free. I tried for over an hour (I don't have a hoist either). This is a rust belt car and once the first one was final freed, I needed to grind the inside of the lower control arm to remove enough rust/pitting to allow the new air spring to seat itself in its' pocket.
Fine. I'm over it. On to the second one. Same issues. No problem, I'll just drop the lower control arm again....
The bolt holding the lower control arm to the body is frozen inside the control arm bushing sleeve. Ugh.
TL;DR - Has anyone ever had to replace that lower inner control arm bushing before? What tool did you use? Is that specific nut and bolt available at the dealer? I just don't think that I can get that steel bolt out of that aluminum sleeve. It's bad, I tried many techniques. I'll cut the bolt, pull the control arm and replace the bushing, I just need to know what specific tool is needed for the removal/install of that bushing.
10-19-2022, 05:56 PM
