Need quick help! - How to remove trailing arm bushings?

[royalflush313]

Title says all.
What's the easiest way of getting the trailing arm bushings with mostly basic home tools. (Don't have a BMW Special tool, whatever that is).

The arms are disconnected from the subframe, and ready for the new trailing arm bushings to go on.

Thanks

[kowalski]

Title says all.
What's the easiest way of getting the trailing arm bushings with mostly basic home tools. (Don't have a BMW Special tool, whatever that is).

The arms are disconnected from the subframe, and ready for the new trailing arm bushings to go on.

Thanks

we have pretty much everything except this bmw "special tool" the one catch is, i can't use a press because i dont have time to take the arm off...

[royalflush313]

found this link for future reference:

http://www.e30tech.com/forum/viewtop...ng+arm+bushing

[Borat]

I just used a standard gear puller, had to hacksaw part off the lip off the bush so the puller could get a grip but came right off.

[fporro]

this is what the tool looks like, can be replicated with a piece of pipe, a treaded shaft and nut.
second pic it's tool in action ...

[mspiegle]

If you do it right, you can use a bottlejack too. Just put the jack in between the 2 arms and use it to push the bushing out.

My bottle jack is really big and would only work for 1 side. I made a tool for the other side similar to Frank's but used a deep 32mm socket and some long bolts.

[nando]

I used a 2 jaw puller, basically the same idea except you have to trim a little of the bushing for the jaws to grab onto the trailing arm.

[fporro]

a friend wants to know if it's possible to swap bushings wthout removing half shafts ?>

when i did it the whole subframe was removed to do other work.

[Garageaholic]

I used a 2 jaw puller, basically the same idea except you have to trim a little of the bushing for the jaws to grab onto the trailing arm.

Well yeah, but how do you put the new bushings on? Can you squeeze by without trimming it? I know that when you're removing them, you dont care because you're discarding them anyway, but how do you install them with the jaw pullers?

[fporro]

Well yeah, but how do you put the new bushings on? Can you squeeze by without trimming it? I know that when you're removing them, you dont care because you're discarding them anyway, but how do you install them with the jaw pullers?

oops, forgot to mention, we'll use the k-mac tool (a few posts above this one) and urathane off centered replacements, they slide in without much fuzz.

[nando]

Well yeah, but how do you put the new bushings on? Can you squeeze by without trimming it? I know that when you're removing them, you dont care because you're discarding them anyway, but how do you install them with the jaw pullers?

I dunno, I used urethane bushings, they slid right in.

[kowalski]

I dunno, I used urethane bushings, they slid right in.

me too, i like the urethane stuff. i got it done thanks guys! she will be running tomorrow with all new bushings. (every single rubber bushing front and rear has now been replaced:)) i forgot to take pics tho, but i like seeing the gree IE bushings in the subframe! and yes you could do the controll arm bushings without pulling the subfram, or the halfshafts, it would just be a serrious pain in the ass.
atleast it looks like you would be able to...

[Garageaholic]

me too, i like the urethane stuff. i got it done thanks guys! she will be running tomorrow with all new bushings. (every single rubber bushing front and rear has now been replaced:)) i forgot to take pics tho, but i like seeing the gree IE bushings in the subframe! and yes you could do the controll arm bushings without pulling the subfram, or the halfshafts, it would just be a serrious pain in the ass.
atleast it looks like you would be able to...

You did the rear subframe bushings too? were they a bitch to do? And they were urethane?

[royalflush313]

You did the rear subframe bushings too? were they a bitch to do? And they were urethane?

bitch is an understatement. Only good thing about urethane is that it pops in without any hesitation.

[ak96ss]

bitch is an understatement. Only good thing about urethane is that it pops in without any hesitation.

Rubber goes in easily as well - just stick the bushings in the freezer overnight, then heat the subframe up with a torch, hit it with PB Blaster or white lithium, then slide them in.

I replaced all the bushings in the rear with just a puller and some plumbing stuff (end caps). Worked well, and didn't take a long time to do.

I considered urethane bushings, but I have heard (somewhere, sometime...) that they don't age gracefully. IOW, when they go, they go, and there is no gradual worsening of the handling.

I have no evidence to back this up, but I figured the originals lasted 180K+ miles, so they can't have been horrible. Cheaper, too.


FWIW.