Pontiac Repair: Repair, control arm bushings, harbor freight tools

Question
Hi Todd, i have a 99 pon. montana 6cyl 140000 mi  ive been told it needs lower control arm bushings, is this something a good diy-er can tackle or no. also i have a light for the abs that stays on can u give me some steps to find out why  thanks for your time..

Answer
Hey Jim:

well yes and no on the DIY part of the job. If your handy you should be able to do the job BUT I willwarn you if you live in the rust belt area it can be trouble! the bolt that goes though the bushing seized in the bushing and it winds up having to be cut off above and below the fram where it goes in it a HUGE hastle to get apart if that happens. As for the bushing it's self you need a press to press the bushing into the control arm. A ball joint press works well you just need one with the right size cup to press it in .A lot of auto parts stores rent tools you may find what you need there. Also when the bushing goes bad the metal outter ring for the bushing is still in the control arm so you need to cut the ring out of the control arm. That is a hastle also! As for the ABS I'm sure you have a wheel speed sensor issue but which one I can tell you. 90% of the time it's a front sensor or a hraness going to the sensor. when your renting the tool if you choose to do so have the parts store scan for codes and see what they find. If you have a bad sensor you can find it with a good volt OHM meter that will read Megohms. A cheap Harbor freight tools meter will not do it. if you have a bad sensor you can verify it with the meter across the 2 terminals in the sensor the resistance of the sensor should be between say 900-1800 Ohms and if you touch one terminal in the connector of the sensor and the other to a good and CLEAN body ground the meter should read OL if it reads anything other then that the sensor is shorted to the vans body  and that is not good and it needs to be replaced. good luck :)