This coming weekend I will be tackeling the task of replacing my rear trailing arm bushings. For those of you who have done this throw some tips my way. I will be using the ES replacement bushings. Im pretty confident once I get the trailing arm off the car I wont have any problems. I have access to all the tools I will need to remove the old bushing and replace the new bushing. What im worried about is removing the trailing arm from the car. Any tips are welcome!!!
Its removing the bushing thats the bitch,
not the trailing arm-
Your gonna want a torch for sure.
I have access to the maintance dept. at work. They’ve got every tool I will need to get the bushings out and in. Was just worried about what all is involved in removing the trailing arm???
I pretty much have mine all apart and I was thinking about the trailing arm bushing but after I wiggled it around a bit it seemed to be pretty tight although it looked ugly. I guess if I was intending to do that bushing from the beginning I might look more closely at what and at what order in which everything is disassembled. I might tackle the trailing arm bolts first to ensure they come out, even if you have to tighten them again to get the other stuff off. Take out the upper control arm bolts that attach to the body. Leave the lower ones attached to the trailing arm. The uppers are easy. I think only the trailing arm to lower control arm bolt needs to come out. You don’t need to take off the shock/damper or anti sway bar attachments. They all connect to the lower control arm. I don’t know if you have ABS but if you do you will have to detach sensor from the arm. I think there are also a couple of attaching points for the brake lines. Be careful not to stretch or crack them. Hang the caliper with a wire. If you decide to take the bearing hub off, you will need a puller. A cheap one is good enough. At this point, if you have been having suspicious noises that sound like wheel bearing problems, now would be the time to consider replacement. The bearing is in the hub and cannot be replaced alone. You must buy the complete hub. Hope this helps.
There are only 5 bolts that you have to remove to get the trailing arm out.
1 upper control arm
1 lower control arm
1 sway bar
2 trailing arm bushing
When I removed the bushing from my trailing arm I used a hacksaw , blow torch, puddy knife and a wire wheel / hone.
Use the hack saw to cut out as much of the rubber as possible then use the blow torch to heat up the remaining rubber. when the rubber is hot use a screwdriver or puddy knife to scrape out the rubber. I used a hone in a drill to remove all the rubber that was left after the torch and puddy knife trick.
Use a press to get the bushing in. Be sure to use lots of the supplied grease.
If you don’t have a press use a long bolt and nut and 4 large (huge) washers or any 2 pieces of strong metal with holes in it for the bolt ( it has to cover the diameter of the bushing).
Make sure to have your car aligned after you are finished because the toe will be out of wack.
Guys, thanks for the info. I just got done with it. It took me 6 hours to complete this task. To anyone else thats going to attempt this: I would not even think about trying this unless you have access to air tools, blow torch, and a press. My squeek is gone and I can hang tight turns with any noise. Guess i’ll be getting it lined up very soon.