Rear sub-frame bushing trick not working

[LateFan]

I am trying FredK's slick method for popping the sub-frame bushing out from above by pounding on the pointy end of a 5/8 lag bolt installed from below.

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=78367&highlight=subframe+lag+bolt+bushing&page=6

It's not working. Everything is loose. The subframe splined bolts popped right out, no corrosion. Subframe wants to drop - I have a jack with a block of wood under the center to support it. Car is on jack stands at the rear jack points.

I've soaked everything with PB. I've been banging on a 3/8 extension from inside the back seat with a dead blow hammer.

Not budging. Could the whole subframe be rocking instead of the bushing letting go? Does the sub-frame have to be on it's own jack stands?

[rturbo 930]

Sometimes, this bit sticking out will get stuck in the chassis. Not sure how to fix it (employed my dad's help on mine), but I'm thinking this is likely your issue, unless I misread something. If I'm remembering right, my dad ended up separating the the sleeve that goes into the sub frame from the piece the bolt goes through by drilling (?) out the rubber. I'll ask later and see if he remembers.

[LateFan]

Fred said he gave it a couple of whacks and it came right out. Mine isn't corroded at all and it's not budging - no movement at all.

I've started pulling out the whole sub-frame, as I'm changing the diff bushing as well as TA and sway bar bushings.

This is another slick method, but I haven't gone to get the tools yet.

http://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?1389953-A-better-subframe-bushing-puller

OH...another thing - the parking brake cables aren't sliding out. The nuts are removed at the lever, they pull out maybe 6 or 8", and they're hung up on something inside or under the car.

EDIT - you just have to wiggle the cable ends out from under the lower part of the brake handle where they hang up. Then they'll slide right out the back.

[LateFan]

Sub-frame and rear suspension are all out. Sub-frame bushings dropped right out of the car - nothing stuck.

Getting the driveshaft to let go of the diff and cross-member was a chore - odd angles and too much tension on bolts.

Exhaust had to come off - I pretended I could work around it for too long. All three bolts sheared off.

None of this is as smooth and simple as Fred's method! Everything's off!

[BMWManiac]

So was something stuck? What was keeping your subframe in there?

[jalopi]

i had an issue that sounds pretty similar to OP's - i ended up having to thread the bushing sleeve for a 16mm bolt (pretty much the same setup as above) but used an air hammer from above. it was the biggest baddest air hammer that snap on makes and it still took like 30 seconds of air hammering to get that damn sleeve loose out of the chassis

[DoneRightBimmer]

I am working on my subframe right now took it off yesterday. It was stuck pretty bad and seeing how i have a cabrio working from the top down was gonna be a pain. I used a slegde and gave the sub a few good kicks and ended up braking the metal bushing sleeve in half so i had about a half inch of sleeve stuck in the chassis holes. If that happens to you i recommend drilling out the sleeve, its soft metal so drills easy.

[LateFan]

So was something stuck? What was keeping your subframe in there?

I think the "pins" or sleeves on the subframe were already completely loose - no corrosion. So I was pounding on a subframe that was supported in the center on the jack, and was just flexing / rocking back and forth when I pounded down.

If the subframe is on a set of jack stands, you could pound on the lag bolt and push the bushing out. My method had nothing pushing up to counter the pounding down.

I had a shop press the old ones out and new ones in. He had a 30 ton press. Worth it.

[FredK]

I've had an opportunity to do this a few more times in the intervening years.

The last one I did... it required a LOT of pounding to get the subframe to drop because of corrosion. In fact, I hit the bushings for like 5 minutes with a 3lb sledge and was like, I don't even believe in myself any more.

I went inside and after crying myself to sleep, I woke up the next day with vengeance on my mind. I POUNDED that sucker. Like, two hands on a sledge driving in the last spike of the Transcontinental Railroad triumphantly, linking the two halves of America together symbolically and literally. It then dropped. I shed a single tear of joy.

[LateFan]

Very nice! Good imagery!

I must have been lucky, mine I think dropped out right away and I kept pounding, but on the rubber bushing or subframe rocking. I like the modified 2-jaw puller method as well, I just didn't have the tools on hand and was headed to the shop with the press anyway, so I had him do them all.

[FredK]

Ah ok. Yeah there's any number of ways to skin this cat. If you have the tool, that's the best way to do it for sure! But if you don't, you sometimes just have to depend on yourself to make a solution. It may not be the best solution, but so long as it works...

Best part of the subframe job is when it's done, and you don't have to worry about it for a long, long time!

[tspangle88]

I am working on my subframe right now took it off yesterday. It was stuck pretty bad and seeing how i have a cabrio working from the top down was gonna be a pain. I used a slegde and gave the sub a few good kicks and ended up braking the metal bushing sleeve in half so i had about a half inch of sleeve stuck in the chassis holes. If that happens to you i recommend drilling out the sleeve, its soft metal so drills easy.

Same thing happened to me. I ended up cutting into the bushing a bunch of times with my Dremel to weaken it, then was able to get a screwdriver in there and break it apart and get it out in chunks:


All I can say is that I'm glad that job is behind me.

[LateFan]

^^^ wow, that sucks…

Me too - glad that's done and will be there a long time. It does feel solid, and tracks a lot better now.

[BMWManiac]

^^^^is that the metal sleeve stuck in there?

Is that the only part that goes into anything? I figured since the bushing sticks out the subframe itself that the bushing head went into some kind of recess, but I guess it is just the metal part of the bushing and that is what typically gets stuck?

[LateFan]

Yeah, the metal center sleeve of the bushing fits up into a cylindrical structural steel recess in the body. Aluminum and steel not playing nice together, corrosion, and it's stuck up in there. Mine just fell right out - lucky.