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[TheBoy]

A pry bar and a well calibrated hand. There's always movement in them, it's just the amount of resistance to movement that counts. (stiff resistance = good, flapping around with barely any provocation = bad).

Thanks Kevin. No substitute for experience then.

One further question. On a previous forum one highly regarded contributor made a specific point of stating that the front horizontal bolts must be torqued up with the weight back on the wheels otherwise if they are tightened when the wheels are hanging you are immediately 'twisting' the bushes when it is lowered to the ground then further adding to it with the movement of the supension over bumps. He claimed this caused premature failure of the front bushes. I don't recall seeing anything specific about this here (must check) but in my experience it is virtually impossible to do this as when the wheels are on the ground as there is not enough clearance to turn the torque wrench on them.

So is this really a problem and if so how are folks getting around it without a car lift or a pit?

Absolutely - this may well have been the cause of the premature wear on my MV6 bushes (I simply followed the book of lies).

This time around, they were tightened on the ground, thne raised to get final torque on.

Would putting the car on a set of ramps qualify for being on the ground?
Got to change mine soon and have noticed the fact about so little room to get under the car so was thinking maybe tighten the bolts whilst jacked up then drive car onto ramps for final torque setting.
 :-/

No, fit wishbones jacked up, but only do up not even finger tight.  Lower car and bounce a couple of times, then tighten up enough so that it won't move (this is the key bit), then you can jack back up for final torque.

[Marks DTM Calib]

Would putting the car on a set of ramps qualify for being on the ground?
Got to change mine soon and have noticed the fact about so little room to get under the car so was thinking maybe tighten the bolts whilst jacked up then drive car onto ramps for final torque setting.
 :-/

Yes, this works fine as the weight is still on the suspension legs.

[TheBoy]

Would putting the car on a set of ramps qualify for being on the ground?
Got to change mine soon and have noticed the fact about so little room to get under the car so was thinking maybe tighten the bolts whilst jacked up then drive car onto ramps for final torque setting.
 :-/

Yes, this works fine as the weight is still on the suspension legs.

Are you sure Mr DTM?

[alexandjen]

Thanks guys but I am now confused over your different opinions  :-/

Edit: would it be easier to just change the bushes?
Can this be done without specialist tools?

[Kevin Wood]

Thanks guys but I am now confused over your different opinions  :-/

Edit: would it be easier to just change the bushes?
Can this be done without specialist tools?

You might have slightly less weight on the front on ramps but the front suspension will be close enough to its' natural resting state.

Changing the bushes requires a press, so not an easy DIY job for most. A local garage might press new bushes in for a few beer tokens if you took the wishbones to them I suppose.

Kevin

[v6coop]

I managed to get around it as I had fitted new wishbones the day before the MOT. I tightened the bolts up as tight as I reasonably could with a ratchet handle then took it for MOT next day. As  I know them quite well I took my torque wrench and ring spanner (to hold the bolt) and at the end of the MOT whilst he was completeing the ticket put it back up in the air slackened them both off and and accurately torqued them up. Not the sort of thing every MOT centre is going to let you do (probably shouldn't under H&S) but worked for me.