trailing arm bushings

[Robznob11]

i just bought some poly trailing arm bushings, what is the best way to change these out and is it possible to do it in my drive way or do i need a press or something, let me know if you had problems thanks rob

[chevybill]

i do not think this is a drive way job, the springs have tension on the trailing arms, i would not try to remove the traiing arm until you have removed the rear springs.

i think you have to reuse the original outter shells when going with poly bushings, i went back with rubber and took them to a shop that has a hydraulic press. many have use a oxy-ace torch to burn the old rubber out.

[Fred T]

I swapped mine out for poly, but I pulled the arms to do it. Biggest problem was getting the bolts loose. Had to get one of the nuts so hot I left wrench marks in it. There wasn't room for an impact wrench.

To get the old bushings out I ended up melting them. It wasn't easy putting the poly in. I ended up chamfering one end and squeezing them in with a big clamp and lots of silicone.

[jugernot]

I tried burning mine out. It made an awful smell and did not work. So I used a hack saw to cut mine out. I disconnected the hacksaw blade from the handle. Put the blade through the bushing, then reattached the blade to the handle. I cut the inner metal tube in two places. Then with a screw driver I collapsed the inner tube and pushed pieces out with a screw driver. Once the inner metal tube was out the rubber bushing came out with easy. It sounds like a lot of work, but was cleaner and faster then anything else I attempted.

I replace the bushing with new poly ones from ECE.

[72BLAZERDUDE]

I used a small drill and kind of broke up the rubber then just hammered the sleeve out. The outer sleeve stays in the arm. Ran a small wire brush attached to my drrill through it. Then stick the bushings in the freezer to shrink them slightly.leave then overnight. Next morning I tapped them in pretty easily. Note that they are stepped so they only go in one way correctly.

[COBRO]

Just did mine a couple of weeks ago - first off soak all the nuts/bolts with penetrating lube and let them sit for a few hours before starting. Jack the truck up and put jackstands under the frame to support the weight of the truck once the trailing arms and springs are removed,but leave the rear tires sitting on the ground to support the rearend. Loosen the bottom spring retainer but do not remove the bolt to keep the spring centered on the arms.
I had to use a 1/2"drive breaker bar with a lenght of pipe on that as a cheater bar to break the U bolt nuts loose - unbolt the bottom shock mounts - once the U bolt nuts are off the biggest problem was getting the trailing arm off the U bolts (thirty some years of road grime and rust). I ended up driving a masonry chisel I had between the top of the trailing arm and the mounting pad on the rear end.After getting the trailing arm to drop down some I kept looseing the spring bolts until the arms dropped down far enough to take the pressure off the springs then the spring bolts can be removed. After getting the rear half loose the just unbolt the front pivot points and the arm is loose - another tip is once the front bolts are out hold the arm up so you can get some slack in the parking brake cable and remove them from the arms once you have removed the retaining clips. To get the old rubber bushings out I drilled 1/4" holes spaced closley together around the bushing and then went after it with a beatable screwdriver - it takes a little time but you can slowly beat enough of it out to where you can get it all out. Be carefull not to damage the outer shell as you will have to reuse it. Grease the snot out of the new bushings with the supplied grease that comes with them and mine just slid in by hand but you could use a bench vise to press them in if needed. Do everything in reverse to reinstall them and when you rebolt the spring retainers be sure to get them centered in the springs before you tighten them down.Grease the sides of the bushings along with the center bolt metal sleeve and the bolts before reinstalling. My bushings came with grade 5 nuts/bolts and lock washers,I upgraded to grade 8 bolts with polylock nuts but many say this isnt necessary - just made me feel better about it. Both sides took me less than a half a day to do and this included wire wheeling the arms clean and painting them. Sounds alot harder than it really is so go for it - just think out what you are doing and you will be fine. HTH::::CB

[matthufham]

burn out the old rubber, and push it out with an old screwdriver you don't mind screwing up. well i'm getting ahead of myself.
put a jack under the trailing arm and have no tension on it but have it there. remove nut, bolt, old bushing, and sleeve. now lower the trailing arm until it stops. now heres where it gets creative. stick some strong metal pipe through the frame sideways where there's 2 humps, and put the jack ontop of the trailing arm, and push against that pipe. jacking up on the pipe will lower the trailing arm because it's the base, and it's movable. insert new bushings.
ok getting the bushings in is easier said than done, but easy with my method. leave the metal sleeve out, and put the poly bushing in, and you can usually do it with your hand. then put the sleeve in and use the nut and bolt to get it in the whole way.
thentake the nut and bolt out, and depress the jack. that should bring the trailing arm halfway up, then jack it up from the ground. insert new nut and bolt, done.

[Joe67]

Cobro - use the Enter key once in a while

I used a torch to burn out my old bushings then tapped them free.
SAVE THE INNER SLEEVES AND DO NOT DAMAGE THEM

I cleaned up the area and installed my poly bushings

Mine are from www.p-s-t.com

* Moved to SUSPENSION *

[COBRO]

Sooo very sorry.Im so
I didnt mean to hurt your eyes or give you a headache.
Will enroll in typing and english classes.
Will not happen again.
CB.