Getting ready to replace bushings on my car being it has a little "shimmy" in the rear upon hard accel. Upon checking the pass side is done. My question is for those that have done this replacement,whats a good time frame to complete this job,being everything goes smooth! LOL! No rust underneath ,shims and bolts clean. Poly OR Rubber? Thanks!

 

The time frame depends on your tools, experience, and the condition of the suspension (rust). The job is probably going to get more involved as you tear into it because as you probably know one thing leads to another on these cars.

 

If everything comes apart easily, I can do both in an afternoon. IF the bolts are rusted in, you'll have to cut them out. Rubber is the way to go, but you need a tool to compress the bushing and then flare the sleeve. Cleaning and painting take extra time, and if you go through the wheel bearings, that takes more time and special tools too.

 

With the replacement bushings, shims, bolts, and the required tools on hand (bushing install tools and likely a Sawzall and replacement blades) experience leads me to say a solid two shifts.

 

IF all goes smooth...I know I can do a trailing arm bushing easily in about 4 hours.

NORMALLY it does not go smooth and there will be some hiccup along the way.

DUB

 

It's very rare that it comes apart easily. For us when we do this job sometimes you have to weigh the cost of the labor vs. the cost of the arm. Rarely would I pull a trailing arm and not rebuild it.... but it happens.

The issue is getting to the trailing arm bolt to drive it out. We have a tool we made here that will go on the bolt and then we use an impact hammer/driver to attempt to remove the bolt... if this fails, considering the time to cut the bolt/bushing out with a saw's all.... It's usually cheaper on the customer to just get the plasma cutter out and cut the old arm out of the car.

What else is a factor is the condition of the arm. Look at it from the backside and see if the two halves are separating. When the arms rust the halves will push outward and start to separate. If you have an arm like this then you should consider replacing it.

Willcox

 

I just read another way to get trailing arms out. This needs DUB's opinion. Cut bolts off flush with a 4.5 inch right angle grinder. Then center punch and drill the side of bolt you can get to. just need to drill down 1/4 inch or so. Drill bigger progressively til you cut that 1/4 inch off 1 side of the bolt. Then with a little wiggling, the arm will come out. Sounds way better than trying to chuck hacksaw blades into a sawzall.

 

getting the arms on a bench is the best way to go.
the bushings can be changed on car but getting the old ones out can be tough.
then getting new ones in and flaring the sleeve comes into play.
as far as the bolt? never know until you try and remove it.
good luck and leave room in time for trouble.

 

ASSUMING we are talking about doing this with the body ON the frame.

I have to say there would be NO WAY I would try this method. This method makes absolutely no sense and who ever wrote it must NOT know what they are talking about.

First off...trying to drill the outside visual portion of the trailing arm pivot bolt and NOT mess up the hole that is dedicated for the pivot bolt to go through is way to risky for me. Not only that...trying to drill the bolt would require using a 90 degree drill because you are not going to be able to get straight shot at the end of the bolt.

Then..trying to get in and cut or grind the head off the bolt that is on the inside. GOOD LUCK WITH THAT!!!! And forget all about getting a drill in there with a ANY accuracy.

The amount of time this would take..it would be faster to use a saws-all and eat up blades. Actually I would use my plasma cutter or cutting torch and cut the arm out...especially if it is shot and not worth saving. And that is generally done on those Corvettes that DO NOT have the later design slotted alignment shims that can be removed.

Why anybody would attempt to service the trailing arm bushing in the trailing arm when it is still attached to any part that prevents it from being removed needs to have their head examined.

Keeping in mind that I am referring to the factory rubber design trailing arm bushing and NOT the urethane ones from VB&P that do not require a special staking fixture tool.

Having it held in a vise or on the work bench has always been my way of doing it. Heck..in some peoples opinion...I might have been doing it wrong all this time also.

DUB

 

I did this job, but it was about 20 years ago, and had the luxury of time, as I had the car off the road for the winter. IIRC, if the pivot bolt is rusted in place, in the bushing's steel sleeve, you still might be able to pry the alignment shims out of the "pocket", giving you some work room, and then you might be able to cut the bolt in half, with the trusty saw-zall.

 

Go with rubber bushings. My car HAD poly bushings, they crumbled to bits and nothing was left but the steel parts.

 

When my bushings went bad I pulled the trailing arms and took them over to Vansteel to be rebuilt.

I didn't want to have to go through the fun of taking everything apart twice.

If you trailing arms are original to the car and never rebuilt I'd give some serious consideration to having the whole thing done. One less thing to worry about down the road.