Control Arm Bushings

[Rolf-Dieter ✝︎]

Each control arm (rear of the car ~ part of rear suspension) have 2 control arm bushings on each control arm (one front and one rear). Does any one of you have a recommended source for those control arm bushings?

I had my rear shocks changed today and the control arm bushings do not look too healthy and need to be changed.

I found the front ones at AUTOPARTSWAY.CA

Front Suspension Control Arm Bushing
Vehicle: 1969 Mercedes-Benz
Manufacturer: First Equipment Quality
SKU: FEQ1635135

Cannot find the rear ones.

Thanks fellows!

[wwheeler]

I just replaced mine that I got from the Classic Center. There are actually (2) bushings in the rear of each arm.

I have a tip when replacing the rear ones. DO NOT put lubricant on the OD (outside diameter) of the cone shaped rubber bushings. DO put a lubricant on the ID. Why? Because the lubricant on the OD will allow the bushing to extrude out when manipulating the arm back onto the front body stud mount. See attached picture. Looks horrible, I know.

After I took it back apart, I reinstalled the bushing with no lubricant on the OD. Now everything is fine. 

[KevinC]

Classic Center.

[jameshoward]

I just replaced mine that I got from the Classic Center. There are actually (2) bushings in the rear of each arm.

I have a tip when replacing the rear ones. DO NOT put lubricant on the OD (outside diameter) of the cone shaped rubber bushings. DO put a lubricant on the ID. Why? Because the lubricant on the OD will allow the bushing to extrude out when manipulating the arm back onto the front body stud mount. See attached picture. Looks horrible, I know.

After I took it back apart, I reinstalled the bushing with no lubricant on the OD. Now everything is fine. Maybe worth doing the big donuts at the front of each arm at the same time. You'll have them out anyway.

+1  

Been there...

Do a search on how to do this job if doing it yourself. It's not hard, but there are tricks to getting the bushes in (a vice is easiest, I found, as the circlips are tight) and then lining up the arms. The wiki has some good Intel also on this point.

JH

[Rolf-Dieter ✝︎]

Thanks all for the tips ... I'll add it to my winter project list

[wwheeler]

The other thing I noticed when doing this bushing replacement is concerning the new steel wire circlips. If you look at the ends of the clip, one side is angled-in and one is angled-out. Looks like they cut the clip at an angle. The problem is if you are using ring pliers, the side with the angle out allows the plier pin to slip out easily. The angle-in side bites nicely. So I took the new clips and ground the one side to match the angled-in side.

Incidentally concerning the bushings, I went so far as to use a degreaser and sanded the ID of the arm where the bushings go with 80 grit sand paper. That really locked the OD of the bushings in the arm. Now both sides are perfect.

Live and learn. Seems like I mostly just learn though!