WIBIMMERS

Just in case anyone is wondering what I wound up doing:

My control arm itself was fine.  I was replacing my struts and tore the boot on the outer ball joint.  After several failed attempts at finding a replacement that fit, I was prepared just to replace the whole damn arm just to get the car back on the road.  << Impatience got the best of me, not my finest hour.   After a few beers, and a couple days away from the car, i tried ordering a cheapo ball joint, took the boot off that, and voila! Back in business.

Anyway, struts installed, boot replaced, and many happy miles under the tires since.

I did say that one of the reasons for getting this car was to learn on...

Nonetheless, thanks for all the input on how to work the bushings. I'm sure it will come up eventually.

Thanks.  I'll give it a shot.

My bushings are fine, it's just he control arm that needs replaced.   How did you get the bushing back on the control arm?  I thought you needed a special tool.

Anyone have a control arm bushing tool I could borrow or rent?   I need to replace the control arm on my e30, and don't feel like spending $100 on a tool I'm going to use once

Many thanks!

Glad it worked!   I'm fine with you holding onto it, if you don't mind sending it on to the next requester.   Otherwise, feel free to send it back to me, and I'll put it on the shelf.

Your call.

I think CYoung still has it...

Just curious,  how'd it go?

I recently made and sucessfully used a DIY subframe bushing puller on my e30.

It's based on this thread I found on Bimmmerforums:

http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?1389953-A-better-subframe-bushing-puller

I hope I don't need it again.

If others want to use it, they are welcome to borrow it.  Here's how I'd like it to work:

I've loaned out the modified pitman puller and a pipe-cap (used for pressing in new bushings).  You'll need to supply your own 2 jaw gear puller to complete the package.

Once you are done with it, you can either hang on to it until someone else needs it, or return it to me.

All I ask, is as it makes the rounds if you have the kit, just post it here when you have it, when you are done with it, and who you loaned it to.  That way, I can track it down if I should need it in the future, and whoever else might need it can find it.

If you want to use it, just post a request to this thread.

If I've got it, and need to send it to you, figure on 8 bucks for shipping to anywhere in the state.  Paypal for shipping is preffered.

If you are getting it from someone else who is holding it,  it's up to both parties to work out shipping.  ( I think the way it's worked so far is the person who has it is paying to ship it to the next person...)

Keep in mind that whoever has it is responsible for returning it to me if I need it.

Boris3 just shipped the puller to CYoung, so the ball is in his court.

Good luck!

Boris3 said:

Moral: cool tool but for a Midwest e30 with approx 250k and a lot of winters too much for it

I was wondering.  The underside of my e30 is ridiculously clean, being a low-ish mileage Florida car. 

Here's hoping Chris has better luck!

When I installed my new bushings, I put some anti-sieze on the top of the metal sleeve (on the bushing).  I think I remember seeing somewhere that they can get corrode to the frame?

Maybe that's what happened to yours?

It might... My guess it would depend if the bushing is seized onto the bolt / frame of the car.  Then again, if it's not a vert, you could probably remove the bolts and then get a saw in there to remove whatever the tool didn't remove.

It's worth a shot... worst case, you'd just pull the subframe anyway.

But... If your subframe bushings are that bad, your trailing arm bushings are probably shot too.  You'd probably save time by removing the subframe and doing both jobs at once.

Just to update the thread.   I finally carved out some time, and replaced the bushings without removing subframe or the bolts using the techinques in the link I posted earlier.

I didn't take any pics of the process, but it was very straight forward.  The only think I'll add to the above is that if you need to replace the plate washers that sit on top of the bushings, you might have to remove the subframe bolts to install them.

So,  I've now got a homemade bushing puller thing that I'll happily loan out to whoever for the cost of shipping.  It took me about an hour to make the tool, but I was trying to be carefull to get as good a fit as reasonable without going totally anal-rententive.

I'll start a new thread about how I'd like the loaning process to go, and what other tools you'll need to do the job.

Zero seller rating though...

OK.   Because I'm lazy, I just used google's Map Engine.

Here's the link to view the map.  There's nothing on it yet...

https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid=zbup_1j8VZjs.k0JwOgR7djj0

If you want to add stuff to the map, you need to be added to the list of editors -- just send me an email, and I'll add you to the list of editors.

I'm assuming I should start a new thread with instructions on how to use the map, and what info people want on it?

Sorry, life kinda got away from me the past few weeks.   I still need to order my bushings.   They should be in middle of next week sometime

Ok.  As my contribution to this little community, I'll setup an online map that all can contribute to.

I'll start with with the locations described above and add them as I confirm them (gives me a destination while I'm testing the car after I work on it).

Once it's setup, I'll post the link here.

Just off the top of my head, roughly in the order of ownership:

Cars:

79 AMC Concord

81 Honda Civic Sedan

81 VW Diesel Jetta

79 Ford Fairmont

84 Renault Alliance

71 VW Karmann Giha Cabriolet

75 VW Beetle

79 VW Type 2 (complete with leopard skin interior)

68 VW Beetle

77  VW Type 2

79 VW Scirocco

87 VW GTI 16v

1st Gen Plymouth Voyager (forgot the year, does it matter?)

86 Olds Cutlass Ciera

92 Skoda Fabia

88 BMW 325i Cabriolet

Bicycles:

2005 Ridgeback Cyclone

2007 Giant SCR

2007 Xootr Swift

Cresswell Fold-it

93 Brompton M5L

12 Bullitt Cargo Bike

73 Schwinn Super Sport

14 Salsa Vaya

I loved them all.

Thanks all. 

grumble grumble

Might as well bust out out the hose and bucket if I'm going to have to drive out to New Berlin...

Ok.  So it's not strictly BMW specific, but I want to find a place to do a quick wash on my convertible from time to time.

I can't seem to find any of the coin-op hose wash stall thingies in the Milwaukee area.

Any pointers?  Google gives me nothing.

DrLeadFoot said:

At Concours BMW.

I keep seeing this one out and about.

Doppelganger.