1998 4.6 4WD Lower Control Arm

[GZ123]

I've got bad bushings in both of my front lower control arms. Per the usual case with these things, the torsion bars are seized into the lower control arms and the keys, so my plan is to unload the bars and disassemble essentially all of the front suspension, then swing the lower arm off and replace the bushings with the torsion bar in place. I'm already replacing the upper arms, struts, sway bar links, and tie rods, so this isn't extra work to take all the stuff apart. I've got all of the parts taken off at this point, but I'm not sure how to undo the front bolt holding the lower control arm to the chassis. Is the head of this bolt hiding beneath the circular rubber cover in the chassis directly in front of the control arm mount (see photos below)? I assume that this is the case, and that you need to pull off the rubber circular cover to get to the bolt head, but I didn't want to destroy that thing taking it off for no reason. Any help would be much appreciated.


Also, has anyone gone about replacing the lower arm bushings in this way? I realllllly don't want to cut out the existing torsion bars and pay a bunch of money for junk yard torsion bars and keys if I can simply replace the bushings. The lower arms themselves are fine.

Thanks!

 

[GZ123]

For future noobs, yes remove the cover plastic on front frame rail to access nut/bolt to remove the front lower control arm.

This Rough Country install manual for a lift kit on an F-150 has applicable information:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/roughcountry/install/1477.pdf

I'll report back if it is indeed possible to replace the lower control arm bushings this way.