Rear Trailing Arm Bushings

Who here has replaced them?

Doesn't look too bad....is it?

Any write-ups?

Looked at mine as it has been clunking and the bottom half seems to be torn away. Prob just old and dry from the tx heat and it killed them.

Thanks in advance!
Brad

u are going to have fun with this one. If you're replacing the bushings, i would suggest getting PROTHANE brand trailing arm bushings. I bought the energy suspension bushigns because they were cheaper, but now, i wish i would've gotten the prothane kit becuase it will save you about 2 days worth of work. The energy suspension ones dont come with the "axle pin" mounted, you have to reuse the old ones which means burning all the old rubber off.

anyways, to replace,you have to remove all the old rubber with a combination of hacksaw/cutting torch. make sure all the rubber is gone and install the new bushings. a machine shop told me you have to have a special tool to install them, but i just set the TA on the ground and set the bushing in place and stepped on it and it pressed itself in.

its a lot easier if you have access to a press. then you just press out the shaft, press out the bushing sleeve, and even press most of the rubber out of the sleeve. then you just burn and cut the leftover parts out, and if you really wanna get into it, lightly hit the shaft on the grinder and take a file to the sleeve. after that, you just press the bushings into the sleeve, and then press the shaft into the bushings.

if you dont have a press, its the same process, only you gotta hit stuff really hard, jump up and down on things, and generally wear yourself out.

the bushings are well worth it though. in fact, the only thing i thought wasnt worth it was the ball joint dust boots from energy suspension, simply because they dont really seal well.

and prothane makes more bushings for our cars than energy suspension, but they are more expensive cause they already come with metal sleeves and shafts in them.