On 22 Aug 2005 at 21:31, Wesley Pegden <wes@CS.UCHICAGO.EDU> wrote:

> Hi guys,
> sooo.... after deciding to change my upper control arm bushings, I
> finally looked up the job in my Haynes manual, to find THIS under the
> section on the "upper wishbone: removal and refitting":  "If renewal of
> the bushes is necessary, this work must be carried out by a VW dealer".
>
> So, uhh, is there some way around this?  I haven't done any spot
> welding, which is apparently what this calls for, and am on a REAL tight
> budget right now... do I need to just put this job off 'till later?

Not a big deal, I've done them on both my vans now... just grind off the weld,
hammer out the old bushings (hold in a vise, or just rest on edge of vise), then use
the old bushing to drive the new ones in, thus preventing damage to the new ones.
When you see how tight they are going in, you will probably agree that the spot weld
is redundant... I did my first set about 6 years ago and no problems so far.

ps: They move very slowly at first, so don't give up - just a steady firm pounding from
the inside of the arm will get them going, probably will take 20-40 solid hits.

Shawn Wright
http://zuiko.sls.bc.ca/~swright
'85 Jetta D
'88 Westy 2.1L, soon to be 1.6TD 5 speed
 (see progress at http://members.shaw.ca/vwdiesels)
'82 Diesel Westy