$800 Quote for installing a lateral control rod bushing and Sway Bar bushings.

[MyLoCoLife]

Yikes, this seems really excessive. The parts from the dealer are $44 for the control rod bushing and about $50 for the total of the Sway bar.
Is this a hard job? I see on other posts here that it is a remove and replace with not much else to worry about. I just can't Press the lateral control rod at home.

edit:
The shop is quoting
272.82 for 2 Sway Bar Links (48802-60120) This is what jacks the price up 300 more than I would have guessed
29.76 for 2 Sway bar bushing (48815-60070)
16.92 for 2 sway bar link bushings 90385-11021)
81.42 for 2 Lateral Control Rod bushings (48706-60030)
312.58 labor

 

[jpoole]

The sway bar bushings are pretty easy and you should not need any special tools to replace them yourself in a limited amount of time. The larger bushings aren't that hard but a few special tools like a decent size press are a good idea in my experience.

Do you have a garage and any inclination to do this yourself? If you are only doing one bushing you have options besides buying a press and you can read up online and here or ask for more guidance if you dive into this yourself. My guess is that unless your other bushings have been replaced that they all need to be replaced and unless you can find a different shop that's less expensive you may want to tool up and replace all of them, over time, yourself. All new suspension bushings make a large difference in the driving feel of these old rigs.

 

[surfpig]

Yikes, this seems really excessive. The parts from the dealer are $44 for the control rod bushing and about $50 for the total of the Sway bar.
Is this a hard job? I see on other posts here that it is a remove and replace with not much else to worry about. I just can't Press the lateral control rod at home.

As said above, the swaybar bushings are easy. Are you talking about the panhard? or the control arm bushings?

I took my truck to one reputable shop to have them replaced, and they simply couldn't do it.

 

[MyLoCoLife]

As said above, the swaybar bushings are easy. Are you talking about the Panhard? or the control arm bushings?

Out of the FSM it is called the Lateral Control Rod. I have heard about 3 different names for it, and yes one name for it is a pan hard.
I do have a pretty good garage full of tools and I know I can tackle this if I just get the Bearing Pressed in. If this shop is trying to over charge me then I know not to use them.

 

[surfpig]

Out of the FSM it is called the Lateral Control Rod. I have heard about 3 different names for it, and yes one name for it is a pan hard.
I do have a pretty good garage full of tools and I know I can tackle this if I just get the Bearing Pressed in. If this shop is trying to over charge me then I know not to use them.

If they're just doing that, it's a lot of money.

 

[Heckraiser]

Option 1: remove your panhard and take it into some place with a 20 ton press and have them press the bushings off the truck. Or take it to a DIY Auto place (look it up, they are in the Denver metro) and use their press for $39/hr.

Option 2: buy a harbor freight 20 ton shop press and do it at home. Good tool to have, as you will eventually want to replace all the bushings (also useful for other projects).

Option 3: do option 2, but then sell the press when you're done if you don't anticipate needing it for anything else (it does take up some space in the garage)

The swaybar bushings shouldn't take more than 20-30 minutes with hand tools. The panhard bushings might take an hour or two if you're not prepared with the proper spacers, arbor plates, pucks and whatnot. If it goes smoothly, should take 40 minutes.

:edit: You might find someone on rising sun 4x4 who will let you use their press. I would offer up mine, but I'll be traveling and working a lot in the next few months.

 

[jpoole]

The shop probably needs to explain their quote in more detail before you can really decide if they are overcharging. With the details you've provided I think the price is too high but that's not the same as overcharging, and I'm a cheapskate anyway.

This press will install all of the bushings without any issues:

20 Ton H-Frame Floor Shop Press

Amazing deals on this 20Ton H-Frame Shop Press at Harbor Freight. Quality tools & low prices.

www.harborfreight.com

I removed all of my trucks bushings by first melting them out then by cutting the remaining shell with a reciprocating saw which tapped out easily after it was cut:

6 Amp Heavy Duty Variable Speed Rotating Handle Reciprocating Saw

6 Amp Heavy Duty Variable Speed Rotating Handle Reciprocating Saw

www.harborfreight.com

I used a few plumbing fittings, etc. as adapters for the press. Degreasing, cleaning and a fresh coat of spraypaint is also an easy and worthwhile addition to tack onto the job. Doing one arm at a time from each axle worked well for me as it keeps the axle positioned and the truck on the ground so you can torque the new bolts down immediately on reinstall.

In total, if you diy, based on my experience replacing all bushings and hardware a few months ago, you can do it all yourself including buying the press for about $800. If you just need to do one bushing then you may get by with putting the bushing in the freezer, heating the rod end and then using a vice or a ball-joint press or similar...

 

[BILT4ME]

You can order a complete:
48740-60040 Rod Assy, Rear Lateral Control for about $195 on McGeorge Toyota
48740-60050 Rod Assy, Front Lateral Control for about $215 on McGeorge Toyota
(not saying it will really happen, but it shows on their site.....)

Figure another $30 per control rod for new bolts and nuts (or re-use the old ones)

Time to R/R is about 30 minutes each to just remove and swap. The bushings are about $22 each and will take a couple hours to do both.

The 20 Ton HF press is $149 right now.

$100 in bushings
$50 hardware
$160 press
$190 Complete Wit's End Tool set of press-out bushings
4 hours of your labor at $100/hour (even if you're slow) I think it actually took me 30 minutes each for the Rod Assy's.

$900, but then you have the tools left over to do the rest of the suspension bushings on your truck for the cost of your labor and parts.
You also get to be the cool guy that owns all those tools for later.
You could sell those tools to others here to offset your costs.
You can forever hold the badge that says: "I DID IT MYSELF! I'M A BIG BOY NOW!"

 

[Pin_Head]

You don't need a press to remove the control arm bushings.
You can:
1. Drill a half inch ole in the rubber and then insert a hack saw or metal cutting jig saw blade in the hole and carefully cut the outer metal band of the bushing trying not to cut the arm too deep.
2. Burn the rubber out with a torch and then remove the outer metal band with a hammer and chisel. This stinks though.

If you have a lot of them to do, then a press is a good idea, but you also need a press tool. The inner front wheel bearing race for a Nissan Maxima works well, but you need to grind a few thousandths off the outer rim.

 

[BreckCruiser42]

What shop did you get the quote from?

 

[jemsec]

Keep looking for a 4wd shop of any kind. These folks sound like gold diggers.

 

[maxamillion2345]

Itll be overpriced until the nut welded inside the axle side panhard mount breaks free


Mostly joking.... I’d expect a few hours of labor at 90/hr or less. Sub $300

 

[toadshade]

You don't need a press to remove the control arm bushings.
You can:
1. Drill a half inch ole in the rubber and then insert a hack saw or metal cutting jig saw blade in the hole and carefully cut the outer metal band of the bushing trying not to cut the arm too deep.
2. Burn the rubber out with a torch and then remove the outer metal band with a hammer and chisel. This stinks though.

If you have a lot of them to do, then a press is a good idea, but you also need a press tool. The inner front wheel bearing race for a Nissan Maxima works well, but you need to grind a few thousandths off the outer rim.

Yeah, a friend did this in his garage with no special tools when he had to install adjusted bushings as part of a lift kit. No big deal. A cheap press would be worthwhile though.

 

[Heckraiser]

Getting the old bushings out without a press is one thing (been there with a different vehicle, torch+hacksaw method).

But getting new OEM bushings in without a press would be a very challenging job and I can imagine you'd destroy several bushings before you got one in straight.

 

[Pin_Head]

Way back when I used to work in an 8 bay tire shop, we installed hundreds of bushings using either a vise or a hammer because the shop was too cheap to get a press. It works but not as fast as a press.

The same bastids used coat hangers as filler wire to OA weld muffler tube. As far as I know none of them fell off.

 

[shocktower]

Get a hole saw a little smaller than the bushing cut out the rubber and then slit 2 sides of the shell, with a hack saw or sawzall , that held the rubber and sleeve small punch and it will nearly fall out , no burning rubber stench about the same amount of time

 

[ColoradoBoy]

You can order a complete:
48740-60040 Rod Assy, Rear Lateral Control for about $195 on McGeorge Toyota
48740-60050 Rod Assy, Front Lateral Control for about $215 on McGeorge Toyota
(not saying it will really happen, but it shows on their site.....)

Figure another $30 per control rod for new bolts and nuts (or re-use the old ones)

Time to R/R is about 30 minutes each to just remove and swap. The bushings are about $22 each and will take a couple hours to do both.

The 20 Ton HF press is $149 right now.

$100 in bushings
$50 hardware
$160 press
$190 Complete Wit's End Tool set of press-out bushings
4 hours of your labor at $100/hour (even if you're slow) I think it actually took me 30 minutes each for the Rod Assy's.

$900, but then you have the tools left over to do the rest of the suspension bushings on your truck for the cost of your labor and parts.
You also get to be the cool guy that owns all those tools for later.
You could sell those tools to others here to offset your costs.
You can forever hold the badge that says: "I DID IT MYSELF! I'M A BIG BOY NOW!"

X2!
Did this- it was a fun and informative way to get to know my rig better.

 

[LINUS]

I’m in favor of @Heckraiser ’s option #2

That, or offer up some quality #6’s for a local with a press, pack your floorjack, jackstands & toolbox & bang away at his/her place in the driveway.

Or if you have a 2nd car, take the arms to them, same offer.

If you lived near me, I’d take a trade like that.

Even a local machine shop would take a small cash ‘donation’ / no receipt required for a few quick bushing swaps.

But yeah - $800 is about 3x what I’d expect in labor-only at a shop if you brought the parts.

 

[MyLoCoLife]

The shop probably needs to explain their quote in more detail before you can really decide if they are overcharging. With the details you've provided I think the price is too high but that's not the same as overcharging, and I'm a cheapskate anyway.

This press will install all of the bushings without any issues:

20 Ton H-Frame Floor Shop Press

Amazing deals on this 20Ton H-Frame Shop Press at Harbor Freight. Quality tools & low prices.

www.harborfreight.com

I removed all of my trucks bushings by first melting them out then by cutting the remaining shell with a reciprocating saw which tapped out easily after it was cut:

6 Amp Heavy Duty Variable Speed Rotating Handle Reciprocating Saw

6 Amp Heavy Duty Variable Speed Rotating Handle Reciprocating Saw

www.harborfreight.com

I used a few plumbing fittings, etc. as adapters for the press. Degreasing, cleaning and a fresh coat of spraypaint is also an easy and worthwhile addition to tack onto the job. Doing one arm at a time from each axle worked well for me as it keeps the axle positioned and the truck on the ground so you can torque the new bolts down immediately on reinstall.

In total, if you DIY, based on my experience replacing all bushings and hardware a few months ago, you can do it all yourself including buying the press for about $800. If you just need to do one bushing then you may get by with putting the bushing in the freezer, heating the rod end and then using a vice or a ball-joint press or similar...

I am leaning toward the Harbor freight press and doing it all myself. I have done other Hacks like some are saying on this thread for other cars in the past but now I am older and wiser and have grown tired of spending time figuring out an alternative.
Painting the parts after they are off is a nice plus. Like another poster here said, I also get to be the cool guy that owns all these tools for later.

 

[jpoole]

I did this over a few weekends in November and it was pretty straightforward and made a huge difference in handling. Here is the parts list that I used including prices (was close to $600 with shipping added) from Partsouq.com primarily though I may have picked up a few items from other vendors:

BUSH SUB-ASSY, LEADING ARM, NO.1	48702-60050	4	$88.00	front link axle side
BUSH, LOWER ARM	48061-60010	2	$42.00	front link frame side
BUSH SUB-ASSY, FRONT LATERAL CONTROL ROD	48706-60030	2	$26.00	front panhard
BUSH SUB-ASSY, LOWER CONTROL ARM	48702-60040	4	$120.00	rear LCA
BUSH SUB-ASSY, UPPER CONTROL ARM	48702-60031	4	$92.00	rear UCA
BUSH SUB-ASSY, REAR LATERAL CONTROL ROD	48706-60040	2	$22.00	rear panhard
Bolt, front leading arm	90119-16003	6	$16.00
Bolt, front leading arm	90105-18007	1	$4.00
Bolt, washer based	90105-18006	10	$40.00
Bolt, with washer	90119-18001	1	$4.00
Bolt, front stabilizer	90101-10172	4	$4.00
Nut, hexagon	90170-18007	11	$9.00
Nut	94180-41000	4	$4.00
Nut	90179-16015	5	$5.00
Washer, Plate	90201-19011	11	$12.00
Collar, stabilizer bar	90560-10275	4	$6.00
BUSH,STABILIZE	90385-11021	4	$4.00
BUSH, FRONT STABILIZER BAR, NO.1	48815-60070	2	$10.00
BUSH, STABILIZER(FOR REAR)	48815-26020	2	$10.00