so i have had these nice new bushings here for awhile now and today i decided (after looking at my torn bushing) i should probly do this today, i did a few other things today, but i didnt take picture of the, they included the good ol arp extended studs and some new rotors and pads, i as about ready to put my russel SS brake line on but someone before me stripped the nut going to the hose
new bushings!!!
now i found t way easier to havethe knuckles off of the car while doing this, for two reasons on i can manuever them around and get the from different angles, which makes this whole thing alot easier and 2) if u et pissed off like i did and use a torch to burn the bushing out, it may be a god idea to not have it attached to the car when the things on fire, specially that close to a fuel tank
started with the stock trailing arm and bushing
nah- thats not torn, its just weathered a bit...
i starter by pulling the broken bushing away and slicing at it with my safety knife (arnt really that safe though,those things are sharper than most my other knives)
and now you have this...
next i started using the knife again to trim away all of the excess rubber from the pic (since it will be reused with the energy bushings)
i got to about this before i gave up for the night and went to bed...
next day i used a die grinder and removed the last remaining rubber and cleaned the pin up a bit
now we start on the rest of the bushing thats still in the trailing arm, after about 30 minutes of trying to cut with a saw, a knife and a few other air powered tools, i got pissed off, and got the torch
(you could ue a butane torch, available at any parts store, i just happen to have a oxy/ace torch laying around...
while still hot, use a file and remove the extra bushing material while its still hot,after everything it will look like this
all nice and clean
time for....bushing!
now you have to make sure you put the pin in the right way because they are offset and that will matter the next time you want to go align your car, so put them in right the first time even if it take ya a bit to look back and forth, i used a paint pen on the pin and wrote (inner and outer on the pin) and always make sure that you add some lube to the inner and outer part of the bushing before they are pressed in, it will come in the box
now it just happens i have a press, which is by far the easiest way to do this but there is a second.
in the energy manual they say that if u get a 4.5" washer, some spacers and a bolt, you can use them together with 2 wrenches to press them in yourself. (the directions came with the bushings, but a press would be easier and faster)
all done, i went a bit farther and cleaned everything up, masked everything off, sanded off the the weatherbeaten trailing arms and primed them with a high temp coating
and then used a engine gloss black to finish the job, afterwards they looked the nicest ive ever seen them
added my brembo drilled and slotted rotors and my raybestos pads, im waiting till summer to redo my brake so i can finally put my dimpled rotors and hawk hp+ pads on!
and bolted them back up into their spot
a pic of my suspension that could use a cleaning
dont forget, if u disconnect your brake lines in any way you have to rebleed your system and when your doing a job like this its always good to have an alignment done
and finally after all that, cars back on the road, definaly feeling better, turning a bit more solid and i my rear bushing no longer sqeak.
final-
and there ya go
diy- energy suspension rear trailing arm bushings
Nice write up.
