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Trailing Arm Busing Removal

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71tr

71tr

Jedi Warrior
Offline
Okay, after 30 years those suckers are really stuck. Anyone have a suggestion on how best to remove the old rubber w/steel sleeve trailing arm bushes? Level one technique of beating with a hammer accomplished little.
 
71tr, take them to a machine shop and let them press them out and take the new ones with you and take care of that at the same time. Or if you must DIY and have a good size vise, get a socket just a little smaller than the bush and one slightly larger than the hole, open up the vise put the small socket, flat face towards the bush on one end and the other socket open face towards the bush all in a vise and start turning, use a lot of WD40 or such and ware safety glass, sockets have been known to shatter. As a last ditch effort, bring it up to Salisbury. Wayne
 
I used the "socket in the vice" method as well, but with a twist. I used a utility knife to cut the rubber lip around and edge of the training arm then cut a piece of PVC pipe to roughly resemble the profile of the side of the trailing arm OPPOSITE the side that I will be pressing the socket into. The theory being that I as press the rubber will be shoved into the center of the PVC pipe. I'm attaching a small pic that I made of my device. It was still a pain to do. It was hard to get everything lined up so it would push out. But I managed to do both training arms in one night using this method.
 

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Ah, the pvc pipe acts as an offset, allowing the vice to push back against the trailing arm but allowing the bushing an escape route as you press from the other side. I don't have a vice, believe it or not, but how about a big C-clamp. I'll give it a try. Thanks
 
Hello 71Tr,
I have tried all the pressing type methods and my current favourite is a blowlamp to heat and soften the rubber. I now use the polyurethane replacements which are long lasting and easier to fit and remove.

Alec
 
If the C-clamp/PVC pipe/washer setup hadn't worked for me, I was ready to torch them out. Burn baby, burn. This is reason enough to go with the nylatron bushings that are fitted with bare hands.

Rick O.
72 TR6
 
one of the tr sites suggests using a small drill bit to drill holes through the rubber before pressing out.
 
I drilled holes in the rubber to weaken them and used an air chisel to beat them out. Took 20 minutes total. Piece of cake.
 
I'm going to try the C-clamp routine with the pre-drilling first. If that doesn't work then fire will be added.

Any comments on poly-bushes vs nylatron?
 
Alright, this project is done. I kept it simple, just drilling relief holes into each bushing and then beating them out with a hammer, total project time/cost; 20 minutes and one broken drill bit. Just be sure to strike the steel sleeve with your hammer blows and not the rubber bush. Like trying to cut down a palm tree with an axe.
 
I used poly. I like mine. Just be sure to use a non-water soluble grease when installing them. I used boat trailer wheel bearing grease. No squeaks after three years and about 10k miles.
 
If you use poly bushes, just make sure to check the trailing arm brackets for cracks now and again.
 
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