Trailing arm bushing replacent. With pics. (dialup warning)
Thread Starter
Drifting
Joined: Jul 2011
Posts: 1,697
Likes: 139
From: Syracuse NY
Trailing arm bushing replacent. With pics. (dialup warning)
Ive devoted the last 73 hours of my life to this project, so Ive decided to share. After noticing almost 3/4 inch of play when I wiggled the wheels (the entire trailing arm would move) I decided to replace the bushings. A quick internet order with MidAmerica Motorworks and a few days later I started tearing it apart. I got everything apart and it came time for the dreaded Sawzall cutting of the bolts...and then I realized....the dam shims wouldnt come out.
Learning point #1- Getting the rusted shims out are CRUCIAL for sawing thru the bolts. It took me an entire evening of cursing, prying, bending, cursing and cursing to get the shims out. I had to make several cuts with the sawzall just to loosen enough crud to get them out. One I had them out... (ahhhhahhhahhhh, sound of heavenly music and such) getting at the bolts was no problem at all.
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So I got the arm out and proceeded to tear out the old bushing. That involved a grinder, an impact hammer, a torch (just because) and lots of cursing. I did buy the bushing staking tool from Midamerica.....this tool is REQUIRED for this job. Once I had it all set up, about 20 strikes with a 5lb sledge and it was good to go.
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Then it was time to put it back together....Now grab the popcorn because this is where it gets ugly. Imagine all 5'11, 200 LBS of me, balancing the TA assembly on one leg while blindly trying to get the cross bolt thru, using a set of 4 inch needle nose plies as a guide. Did I mention that the TA assembly weighs at least 5000 lbs? (I work out 3x a week, and lifting that thing up, down, in, out, dropping it, etc, kicked my a$$) I wont get into specifics, but after 2.5 hours, a 6 beers, 2 gaping cuts on my hand (from dropping the TA) I came to the conclusion that super long needle nose (at lease 10 inches) are required for this job. As soon as I woke up, I was off to HF to buy some pliers....now that I had them, I managed to get the bolt back in.
TIP 1- Start the bolt WITHOUT the TA in place, then put an old cotter pin in the hole once it comes thru the other side. THEN put in the TA assembly, line them up, the tit on the bolt will make it into the bushing hole, pull the old cotter pin and push it thru. This tip will save you a lot of frustration.
Other lessons learned (1)- I dont think it was my TA bushings. Both my torsion arms were thrashed. Their bushings were metal on metal, and one of them was twisted about 5 degrees, the other was actually bent. I think replacing the bars made the biggest improvement and solved my mystery clunk.
(2)- dont even try and save your lower shock mounts. (if replacing torsion bars) They are drawn into place by a 3/4 nut and once installed, require the brute strength of a wookie to remove. You will destroy them as you beat them out.
Now for the unexpected. I found some NASTY frame rot. Now, I know that this is a pretty damning find, but Ive no choice but to keep the car and make the best of it. So, I welded on a few pieces of scrap steel I had around, threw some rubber undercoating on it and was actually pretty darn proud of myself.
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
Now I know the cancer is still there, and I know it may be worse in places where I cant see, but I cant do a frame off resto and Im determined to keep driving the car. With that being said....
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
I think I did pretty good.
All in all, I dont think Id attempt this job unless I KNEW the TA bushings were blasted. Im pretty sure my culprit was the torsion bars. I wound up replacing the bushings, bars, shock mounts, and shocks, and put an estimated 350 bucks into parts. It was VERY time consuming. (2 and a half days of NON stop work). The rusted shims are what really caused me all the problems. Im not kidding when I say the shims were one giant mass of rusted scale. Im glad that its all together now, I can move on to my next project on the car. Lets see, where else do I want to throw a bucket of money at..... 8*)
Learning point #1- Getting the rusted shims out are CRUCIAL for sawing thru the bolts. It took me an entire evening of cursing, prying, bending, cursing and cursing to get the shims out. I had to make several cuts with the sawzall just to loosen enough crud to get them out. One I had them out... (ahhhhahhhahhhh, sound of heavenly music and such) getting at the bolts was no problem at all.
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
So I got the arm out and proceeded to tear out the old bushing. That involved a grinder, an impact hammer, a torch (just because) and lots of cursing. I did buy the bushing staking tool from Midamerica.....this tool is REQUIRED for this job. Once I had it all set up, about 20 strikes with a 5lb sledge and it was good to go.
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
Then it was time to put it back together....Now grab the popcorn because this is where it gets ugly. Imagine all 5'11, 200 LBS of me, balancing the TA assembly on one leg while blindly trying to get the cross bolt thru, using a set of 4 inch needle nose plies as a guide. Did I mention that the TA assembly weighs at least 5000 lbs? (I work out 3x a week, and lifting that thing up, down, in, out, dropping it, etc, kicked my a$$) I wont get into specifics, but after 2.5 hours, a 6 beers, 2 gaping cuts on my hand (from dropping the TA) I came to the conclusion that super long needle nose (at lease 10 inches) are required for this job. As soon as I woke up, I was off to HF to buy some pliers....now that I had them, I managed to get the bolt back in.
TIP 1- Start the bolt WITHOUT the TA in place, then put an old cotter pin in the hole once it comes thru the other side. THEN put in the TA assembly, line them up, the tit on the bolt will make it into the bushing hole, pull the old cotter pin and push it thru. This tip will save you a lot of frustration.
Other lessons learned (1)- I dont think it was my TA bushings. Both my torsion arms were thrashed. Their bushings were metal on metal, and one of them was twisted about 5 degrees, the other was actually bent. I think replacing the bars made the biggest improvement and solved my mystery clunk.
(2)- dont even try and save your lower shock mounts. (if replacing torsion bars) They are drawn into place by a 3/4 nut and once installed, require the brute strength of a wookie to remove. You will destroy them as you beat them out.
Now for the unexpected. I found some NASTY frame rot. Now, I know that this is a pretty damning find, but Ive no choice but to keep the car and make the best of it. So, I welded on a few pieces of scrap steel I had around, threw some rubber undercoating on it and was actually pretty darn proud of myself.
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
Now I know the cancer is still there, and I know it may be worse in places where I cant see, but I cant do a frame off resto and Im determined to keep driving the car. With that being said....
Uploaded with ImageShack.us
I think I did pretty good.
All in all, I dont think Id attempt this job unless I KNEW the TA bushings were blasted. Im pretty sure my culprit was the torsion bars. I wound up replacing the bushings, bars, shock mounts, and shocks, and put an estimated 350 bucks into parts. It was VERY time consuming. (2 and a half days of NON stop work). The rusted shims are what really caused me all the problems. Im not kidding when I say the shims were one giant mass of rusted scale. Im glad that its all together now, I can move on to my next project on the car. Lets see, where else do I want to throw a bucket of money at..... 8*)
Drifting
Joined: Aug 2010
Posts: 1,839
Likes: 45
From: nassau co. new york
the old me would have done everything you did.the new me would have done the same except beating the shock mounts to death,cause they cost $.pb blaster ,time,more pb blaster and a wheel puller will be your best friend.i hope it is all localized rust and your good to go.you should be able to align the rear nicely now.best of luck.
