Cleaning Out Control Arm Bushing Sleeves

Hey Team:
I really need to start posting my build, but the quick and dirty of it is that I am doing a frame replacement / overall restoration of a 2001 regular cab prerunner.

I'm onto the front suspension components. I've already got the Bilstein 5100s on, new ball joints, and am also swapping in some poly bushings int he UCAs and LCAs. This is where I've hit my current snag.

I need to retain the outer sleeves from the original bushings, and need only remove the inner sleeve and rubber component. I tried burning with a torch on the first UCA and ended up with a sticky, gooey mess inside of the outer sleeve. I tried charring it up some more with the torch, but need to get it cleaned up more. I tried some dremel attachments and also some various drill attachments, but all I end up doing with the dremel is heating it up and making the rubber smoke, and the drill attachments just end up getting gunked up with sticky rubber.

Has anyone had better luck removing the rubber while keeping the sleeve, while being able to get the inside of the sleeve a bit more cleaned up? Thanks for the input.

Adam

 

I would get a drill and a drill bit to the outer parameter of the rubber bushing all the way around trying to drill each hole as close to the previous hole. The bushing should almost fall out if you do it right. Why not just have the outer sleeve, rubber bushing and inner sleeve pressed out?

 

I need to retain the outer sleeve for the poly bushings to fit correctly.
I've tried the drilling out method, but the rubber is adhered enough to the outer sleeve that there is still a lot remaining.

 

What you need is a small wood chisel so you can whittle the rubber out.

 

doesn't completely do the job but, air hammer and a simple small chisel. when im replacing oe arm bushinds, i will pop the center sleeve and most of the rubber out just by using an air hammer. with pressure applied, it will usually cut the rubber.

 

Check out my 96 build I have a lot of pics. I did give up b/c I could not get the washers reconnected. Got everything else done though. Ended up going with MOOG bushings. Got them installed in under 30 mins compared to the probably 3-6 hours I spent dicking around with all the burning of the rubber and the rest of that nonsense. Now those perfectly cleaned out sleeves are somewhere in the garage after I threw a temper tantrum. I'll find them one day...

 

probably won't help this time but i used a hole saw to cut rubber out, cuts like butter
any pieces left push right out with fingers

 

I heated mine with a torch until they started melting and pressed them out. Yes, it left gooey rubber in the outer sleeves. I used the original Goop hand cleaner to clean the melted rubber out of the sleeves, then 80 grit sandpapered the hard rubber bits that were left.

 

I used several wire wheels of 1" and yes they gunk but it will clean them out. I used a screwdriver and other various things to "try" to get5 the rubber out but it's so mushy or hard that it skims right by.

time taken was at least a few hours to get everything cleaned. I did it over hte course of two days back and forth.

 

Thanks for all the very helpful suggestions. I've got the UCAs done and am moving onto the LCAs. I ended up having good luck with a lot of torching following by a large screwdriver for the leftover charred bits, followed by putting a burr bit on the dremel. The burr bit got the job done very well, removing the remaining rubber (and a small amount of metal) without too much fuss.