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R&R trailing arm Bushings
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Posted 3/22/2012 9:32 AM
Inkblotz
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Date registered: Apr 2006
Location: Georgia
Vehicle(s): 90 300GD "Thundering Turtle II", w/ 603A turbo
Posts: 3187
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R&R trailing arm Bushings

When replacing my axle seal a few weeks ago, I noticed that my trailing arm bushings were in sad shape. The rubber portion had separated from its sleeve and was puckering out of its housing. All arms from and rear were exhibiting this condition. With the worst being the fronts. On one inner sleeve (the one that the bolt goes through) it was not attached at all and just flopping around in its rubber housing.

With almost 200k on the clock it was due for a little refreshing. I ordered all new bushings front and rear (FYI: the Front bushings and rear bushings are not the same size). I then set out to make a press to remove the bushings. (yes I know a shop can do the pressing in and out part for me, but since this is my daily driver the shop was not an option). The one I built did worked perfectly. I used liberal amounts of Anti-Sieze, and a couple large sockets and some cast plumbing pieces to press out the old and press in the new. The force it takes to remove the old ones taxed the the top of my press a bit. So I reinforced it with some steel and "pressed on".

The procedure:
With the G on the ground I reached under and removed one arm at a time, removing the bolt that mounts to the body first then the 2 at the axle. Then with liberal amounts of PB Blaster, a little rocking of the arm, a bar to get it out of the axle housing they come right out. Very straight forward. Take the one arm down to the "press room" to press out the 2 old bushings and press in the new ones. A couple of the rear bushings did not want to budge because of some corrosion on the sleeve so I used a small punch and a hammer around the edge of the sleeve tapping/deforming the sleeve inward. This freed it up for easy press removal. The fronts were a bit more time consuming than the rears as you have to remove the sway bar, remove one end of the drag link (you can swing it out of the way) and one end of the steering shock. With the rears the lower shock mount bolt needed to be removed to get the shock out of the way to access one of the bolts holding the bushing. After each arm install in the rear I then jacked up that side of the G till the shock lined up with its mating hole and reattached the shock. Then lowered it down and moved to the other side.

Reinstalling each arm:
I inserted and fastened the end attached to the body first then using a small bottle jack lifted the arm into its housing and slid a large punch into one of the holes to help align the holes to receive the bolts. The gradual raising and lowering bottle jack in conjunction with the punch in one of the holes to torque the arm in one direction or another worked the best to align the bolts. A rubber mallet was employed once the bolt was 3/4 of the way through to tap it all the way through. I torqued all the bolts and was good to go.

For me the entire procedure took a weekend to complete. With the fronts taking the longest due to the extra items to remove. Sorry I did not take more photos but my hands were layered with PB Blaster and Anti-Seize.

Handling, stability and drivability has much improved
Mark

Special Thanks to Karl and Dai for their insight.





Edited by Inkblotz 3/22/2012 9:34 AM




(Bushings.JPG)



(Bushings2.JPG)



Attachments
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Attachments Bushings.JPG (181KB - 27 downloads)
Attachments Bushings2.JPG (207KB - 26 downloads)
#201873
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Posted 3/22/2012 10:29 AM
AlanMcR
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Date registered: Apr 2006
Location: US, CA, Los Altos
Vehicle(s): G300DT E300DT 230SL
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RE: R&R trailing arm Bushings

The other way of (relatively) painless bushing removal is to cut through to the outer ring with a hacksaw.  Once cut the bushing can be tapped out with a hammer and drift.

#201875 - in reply to #201873
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Posted 3/22/2012 10:38 AM
DUTCH
Administrator Doppelgänger




Date registered: Apr 2006
Location: US, GA, Atlanta
Vehicle(s): 2015 Audi Q7 3.0 TDI,2018 Sprinter
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RE: R&R trailing arm Bushings

One added comment. The torquing of the bolts/nuts needs to be done with all four wheels on the ground.
#201876 - in reply to #201873
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Posted 3/23/2012 12:37 PM
zimm
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Date registered: Feb 2010
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RE: R&R trailing arm Bushings

a 20 ton press made from Al extrusions? youre gonna poke yer eye out with that.
#201918 - in reply to #201873
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Posted 3/23/2012 1:11 PM
Inkblotz
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Date registered: Apr 2006
Location: Georgia
Vehicle(s): 90 300GD "Thundering Turtle II", w/ 603A turbo
Posts: 3187
2000
RE: R&R trailing arm Bushings

zimm - 3/23/2012 12:37 PM

a 20 ton press made from Al extrusions? youre gonna poke yer eye out with that.


Too funny!
Disclaimer: no eyes were lost in the afor mentioned procedure.

Mark
#201920 - in reply to #201918
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Posted 3/23/2012 1:19 PM
thanito
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Date registered: Aug 2009
Location: Greece
Vehicle(s): MB G400CDI, MB 300E-24, Mini Cooper S
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Re: R&R trailing arm Bushings

I second Dutch's post.
#201922 - in reply to #201873
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Posted 3/23/2012 1:58 PM
Razon



Date registered: Jul 2008
Location: Vancouver, BC
Vehicle(s): 1986 280ge Cabrio, 617A, 5sp manual
500
RE: R&R trailing arm Bushings

To get a little technical, as a general rulle, any bushing should be tightened (not talking just about torquing) in it's normal working position.

If you think what forces are on the trailing and radius arm bushings (axle side), you'll see that they "work" only when the axle is "flexed". So, if you do the job in a way that the axle stays parallel with the frame, you could tighten the bolts even with the suspension unloaded.

The frame side bushings: they "work" every time the wheels travels up/down, so they should indeed be tightened/torqued only with the truck having all it's weight on the wheels. However, these bushings are not vulcanized to metal and they're not pressed in, so they can move even after installation.

Panhard rod bushings would suffer the most if not tightened in their neutral position.

Of course, without being too technical, keep things simple and have the truck sit on it's wheels, under it's own weight when you tighten any suspension bushings (as previously mentioned).

:cheers:

#201924 - in reply to #201873
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Posted 3/23/2012 2:44 PM
AlanMcR
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Date registered: Apr 2006
Location: US, CA, Los Altos
Vehicle(s): G300DT E300DT 230SL
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RE: R&R trailing arm Bushings

See, now you've got me thinking ... I have this pile of aluminum I-beams sitting around doing nothing.  I wonder how hard that would be to hack together into a press, using the factory jack.  What is its capacity?
#201929 - in reply to #201920
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Posted 3/24/2012 2:19 AM
512bbi
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Date registered: Jan 2007
Location: North western US and Europe
Vehicle(s): 05G55kge,Range rover classic,clk55amg,ML 430
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Re: R&R trailing arm Bushings

thanito - 3/23/2012 11:19 AM

I second Dutch's post.


I agree too.

Make sure you check that none of the small arm to chassis middle of frame little bushings are sitting flat and none has turned a little sideways when installed with the axles at full droop.
If tightened that way will deform the wrong way and stay that way for life.
Some silicon lube helps when loosening the nuts and moving them at the right position.

My MB dealer did that once under warranty.

Mario

Edited by 512bbi 3/24/2012 2:19 AM
#201958 - in reply to #201922
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Posted 3/24/2012 6:32 AM
Inkblotz
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Date registered: Apr 2006
Location: Georgia
Vehicle(s): 90 300GD "Thundering Turtle II", w/ 603A turbo
Posts: 3187
2000
RE: R&R trailing arm Bushings

Sorry poor photo.

Mark



(Trailing Arm Bushing.jpg)



Attachments
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Attachments Trailing Arm Bushing.jpg (170KB - 22 downloads)
#201965 - in reply to #201873
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Posted 3/26/2012 3:52 PM
thanito
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Date registered: Aug 2009
Location: Greece
Vehicle(s): MB G400CDI, MB 300E-24, Mini Cooper S
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Re: R&R trailing arm Bushings

Question: Did you notice any significant difference/improvement in ride quality/handling/cornering with the new bushings installed?
#202115 - in reply to #201873
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Posted 3/26/2012 6:58 PM
Inkblotz
Expert




Date registered: Apr 2006
Location: Georgia
Vehicle(s): 90 300GD "Thundering Turtle II", w/ 603A turbo
Posts: 3187
2000
Re: R&R trailing arm Bushings

Handling, stability and drivability has much improved.
Goes over bumps more solidly as well.
Mark
#202124 - in reply to #201873
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Posted 3/27/2012 1:09 AM
512bbi
Expert




Date registered: Jan 2007
Location: North western US and Europe
Vehicle(s): 05G55kge,Range rover classic,clk55amg,ML 430
Posts: 1313
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RE: R&R trailing arm Bushings

The little bushings , trailing arm to chassis are the ones that suffer from deterioration even with low miles and make the largest difference.
Also they are the ones that can hide being bad since you can not visually inspect them properly unless they out as they can broken and not seen easily on the truck.

The rest can be visually inspected if good or not.

Panhard rods ones are very important also as they effect drivabililty as much as the ones described on the chassis.

Mario
#202135 - in reply to #201873
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Posted 4/12/2012 8:04 AM
Inkblotz
Expert




Date registered: Apr 2006
Location: Georgia
Vehicle(s): 90 300GD "Thundering Turtle II", w/ 603A turbo
Posts: 3187
2000
Re: R&R trailing arm Bushings

One additional disassembly item to be removed from the rears are the clamps that hold the hand brake cables to the trailing arms.

Mark
#202768 - in reply to #201873
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Posted 4/13/2012 12:37 PM
stevegsmith
Expert




Date registered: Apr 2006
Location: SF Bay Area, CA USA
Vehicle(s): 82 300GD WVO, 06 Jeep Lib CRD B99
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Re: R&R trailing arm Bushings

Mark, this is nice but I do have a suggestion that might make this DIY post a little more attractive. I realize this should have come up during the "DIY Post Technical Review and Commentary Phase" in the discussion forum but I just wasn't quick enough. My bad. So, here's the suggestion:

Write the word "Hazet" on the side of your aluminum press.

Ancillary suggestion: Put one of those magnetic digital kitchen timers on the press just to give it a little bit more of a contemporary edge.

Then you're done.


Edited by stevegsmith 4/13/2012 2:30 PM
#202810 - in reply to #201873
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Posted 4/14/2012 7:41 AM
Inkblotz
Expert




Date registered: Apr 2006
Location: Georgia
Vehicle(s): 90 300GD "Thundering Turtle II", w/ 603A turbo
Posts: 3187
2000
Re: R&R trailing arm Bushings

Steve,

Once again your exemplary insight into the world of professional posting leaves me standing here looking like a slack-jawed yokel pondering the pure genius of your suggestions.

Stay thirsty my friend.
M

Edited by Inkblotz 4/14/2012 7:47 AM
#202819 - in reply to #201873
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Posted 4/16/2012 1:41 AM
stevegsmith
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Date registered: Apr 2006
Location: SF Bay Area, CA USA
Vehicle(s): 82 300GD WVO, 06 Jeep Lib CRD B99
Posts: 1301
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Re: R&R trailing arm Bushings

No problem Mark. Just doing my part to make the world a better place (on the coattails of others......which is a lot less work, but hey, that way i have more time to comment on other posts...rigth?).

Xo.
#202860 - in reply to #201873
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Posted 5/30/2012 7:09 AM
Inkblotz
Expert




Date registered: Apr 2006
Location: Georgia
Vehicle(s): 90 300GD "Thundering Turtle II", w/ 603A turbo
Posts: 3187
2000
Re: R&R trailing arm Bushings

If you make a press for this operation nothing less than a 20 ton jack will do.

M
#204133 - in reply to #201873
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Posted 8/11/2012 6:00 PM
pete_v
Member




Date registered: Aug 2011
Location: Norway
Vehicle(s): 300GD SWB pickup (1990 WDB460.332)
Posts: 36
25
RE: R&R trailing arm Bushings

Just done my front trailing arm bushes. I read Marks excellent guide above, before starting. While it's fresh in my mind I'll add my $0.02:

Prep:

1. Front axle onto stands
2. Remove road wheels
3. Remove anti-roll bar
4. Remove RHS drag arm ball joint (on my LH drive vehicle) & steering damper from drag arm.

Then, one side at once:

5. Remove trailing arm - chassis nut, washer & rubber bush.
6. Remove trailing arm - axle two bolts.
7. Withdraw trailing arm downwards & forwards
8. Press out old bushes, & clean surfaces
9. Press in new bushes
10. Installation as per step 7 - 5 in reverse proceedure.

11. Repeat step 5 - 10 for the other side.

12. Tension trailing arm & anti-roll bar nuts with road wheels on the ground.


For any Scandinavian readers, here's what I used to press out/in the bushings:

20Tonn press:
http://www.biltema.no/no/Bil---MC/Verktoy-og-verkstedutstyr/Bilverk...

Drift:
http://www.biltema.no/no/Bil---MC/Verktoy-og-verkstedutstyr/Chassis...

The whole exercise took about 2 hours per side, and would be a bit quicker second time round. The handling difference is amazing. At present I run 7.00R16 FuldaFlex Allrounds on the standard steel rims (love that funny jeep look) and where previously it would hop & skip around corners, now it holds on to the extent that it goes up on two wheels if pushed.


/Pete




(press-trailing-arm2.jpg)



Attachments
----------------
Attachments press-trailing-arm2.jpg (159KB - 19 downloads)
#206418 - in reply to #201873
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Posted 8/15/2012 5:22 PM
Inkblotz
Expert




Date registered: Apr 2006
Location: Georgia
Vehicle(s): 90 300GD "Thundering Turtle II", w/ 603A turbo
Posts: 3187
2000
Re: R&R trailing arm Bushings

Very nice, glad it worked out for you. My G was high enough not to have to put it up on stands, though your way surely makes it more accessible.

Enjoy the new ride.

Mark
#206481 - in reply to #201873
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