How NOT to remove trailing arm bushings....

[Italian_Tuneup]

Maybe this has been said before, but don't think you are being clever by forcing the old bushings out with a bottle jack between the arms.... I could not get my bushings out for the life of me. I probably should have just left them in there but I figured the entire car is apart, let's change them. I tried the double-nut all thread method and got 1 out, but I broke about 9' of all thread trying to get the other three a$$hole bushings out. So I thought I was being smart and pushed them out with a bottle jack. I guess I didn't know the trailing arms were so weak. I went to re-mount them and the left one won't line up with the pad on the subframe by 3". So now I get to spend a couple hundred dollars on a new trailing arm and start the whole process over again :(

I guess I will burn out the old ones next time?

[AndrewBird]

Ouch. Yeah, that was a bad mistake.

[hoveringuy]

Don't need to burn, but heat until they start crackling and they slide out like greased pigs.

[LowR3V'in]

i was going to say
people seem to think literally burning them out is the way
but just heat it enough for them to start melting.

they do slide out like a hot turd. hammer and an extension works good.

[Massive Lee]

One must melt the sleeve, not the mount itself.

[Powling]

i was going to say
people seem to think literally burning them out is the way
but just heat it enough for them to start melting.

they do slide out like a hot turd. hammer and an extension works good.

Speaking of which, BRB...coffee is starting to kick in now.

[Italian_Tuneup]

Yeah, I took my subframe bushings out by heating them, and they do slide out well. I didn't want the stink and mess with these so I tried pressing. Lesson learned.

Another lesson learned, evidently I was going to need new trailing arms anyway, because I have a non-ABS 1985 which I guess has some sort of 2 year only weirdo small trailing arm housing and bearing, which I am guessing is why my new wheel bearings didn't fit, so $150 later I have 2 used later model trailing arms and I get to start this disaster all over. All this for a 5 lug swap. I'm losing it. Oh and one of the new trailing arms has an axle shaft stuck in it that the wrecker couldn't budge so they "gave me a gift of an axle shaft" that I will now spend all weekend trying to get apart. I guess if I didn't want these issues I would have bought a 2018 Corolla.

[tinoe30]

"I guess I will burn out the old ones next time?"

Why? There's a tool to do this job with ease and it sells for $38

[LowR3V'in]

on the axle heat the shit out of it and hit it with a big hammer.

[Hooves]

I used the all-thread method with great results. Did you cut the small rubber lip on the inside of the trailing arm bushing before trying to remove them? It made bushings come out with far less effort.

[Pootis]

I rented a ball joint press from advanced. cut the end of one side of the bushing off and pressed it out using that. It took no time at all