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Old 11-11-2006, 04:18 PM
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johnb16a2 johnb16a2 is offline
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Re: has anyone installed polyurethane bushings themselves?

I used the Energy suspension master kit that had everything except the rear trailing arm bushings they were a seperate purchase at like $25.

When my Dad and I replaced my trailing arm bushing we didn't bother burning it out. It's a huge waste of fuel and a stinky, smokey mess. We used a sawzall (with an agressive wood cutting blade) to cut the pin out and continued to use the sawzall to cut most of the rubber out. We then used a grinder with a wire wheel and removed the remaining rubber. All you have is rubber powder to vacuum up, avoid getting a black lung, and it came out great. As for the rest of the bushings it was just a matter of repeating the above process as much as possible. For the smaller bushings we just used a small (very sharp!) chisel to cut around the bushing, used the sawzall again with a metal cutting blade to slowy cut through the shell and avoid cutting into the control arm, we then hammered a small chisel or pointed punch between the bushing shell and control arm and the shells just fall out. (My included instructions did not mention reusing the bushing shells for the lower control arms.) I'd recommend bringing the parts to a garage to have them pressed in if you don't have access to a press of your own. GL
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