Oh Lordy, I now own a Fordy (a Lincoln actually)..

[njsteve]

It's just crazy. It means that when it was installed, the "mechanic" never even put the lower bushing and washer on it. Otherwise that lower bushing and washer would have been permanently retained in position by the bend once it kinked over on itself.

I went over to my buddy's garage this morning and used his bushing press tools to install the lower control arm bushings. As for the uppers, we damaged one (or it was defective). When we pressed it in, onto the shaft, the outer case pressed in fine but the inner rubber just stayed in place about an inch out of the bushing. We have a new Moog bushing coming in on Wednesday and that should take care of it. Then I can clean and paint everything.

I also got a second opinion on the ball joints. He checked them and agreed that they were nice and tight and there was no need to replace them. The rubber seals were all still good too.