Trailing Arm Bushing Question

[Jolbaru_LGT]

So, I'm about to replace my rear Trailing Arm Bushings and I see the instructions on the forums and internet all usually point to burning them out and then hitting and prying the metal sleeve out with a hammer and screwdriver. Has anyone pushed them out with a press? Like, a bushing press kit? Or ball joint tool? Just wondering anyone's thoughts or success/failures? Thanks!

[seanyb505]

I'm sure with caution the burn and hacksaw method works. I had a shop do it and after what they charged, I wish I would have tried it myself. 

[silverton]

I don't see why you can't press them out if you're gonna press them in.

[Jolbaru_LGT]

1 minute ago, silverton said:

I don't see why you can't press them out if you're gonna press them in.

That’s true. Any idea if there’s an orientation? Like, which way to push them out? Like, if it’s sloped in there? Or wouldn’t it matter? 
Im considering doing a pic-by-pic tutorial of pushing it out, and using the ol’ burn and hacksaw as a plan B. 
 

 

[seanyb505]

Granted that's going to whitelines, which do not require pressing. It might still have some info on orientation. 

 

[Pleides]

My mechanic Ben was able to do them with the arms still installed in the car just hanging down while it was on a lift. I didn't question it. 

I would recommend OEM bushings. With each squeaking, passing day, I regret the quantity of polyurethane bushings in my car.

[Jolbaru_LGT]

10 hours ago, Pleides said:

My mechanic Ben was able to do them with the arms still installed in the car just hanging down while it was on a lift. I didn't question it. 

I would recommend OEM bushings. With each squeaking, passing day, I regret the quantity of polyurethane bushings in my car.

Hmmmmm, well that's just great. I got Energy Bushings a while ago, just waiting to do this install. Thought it would help with weight, towing, etc. Could it be they just weren't lubed properly?

Edited September 29, 2022 by Jolbaru_LGT

[KZJonny]

1 hour ago, Jolbaru_LGT said:

Hmmmmm, well that's just great. I got Energy Bushings a while ago, just waiting to do this install. Thought it would help with weight, towing, etc. Could it be they just weren't lubed properly?

Have a look at your kit. From what I can find online, trailing arm main bushings from Energy are at least sleeved in the middle, (They'd kind of have to be, given the forces they see...) I think you'll have fewer problems with noise from this type of bushing if properly lubed when installed than one that is captive and metal moving directly against poly all the time, think sway bar bushings.... I went OEM when I replaced mine, since I really didn't see this as an area when the poly was gonna help all that much, and if you *really* want to stiffen up the bushings, you can always fill in the voids with urethane....

On the other topic at hand, doing a walkthrough here would be great. There is a pretty good one over on subaruoutback.org that I referenced when I was doing mine. That car was a lot less rusty than mine tho, and he didn't break off a weldnut inside the body when loosening the big bolts that hold the mounting bracket to the unibody!! So, what should have been afternoon became a little more complicated for me.

I should however, mention that I couldn't find a set of press cups anywhere near large enough to properly press out the old bushings, and the correct set from Subaru is spendy, if they will even sell you a set. I think Snap-On makes some, but the press kit +adaptor for Subaru runs like $800USD. I think this is the main reason most people go to a torch and burn out the rubber, then just cut the outer metal bush with a hacksaw to relieve the tension, and tap it out with a mallet. Cheap, easy and quick. You're removing a broken bushing, no real need to baby it...

If you're doing stock steel arms: I was able to get the new bushing in place relatively easily, in proper alignment, and at the correct depth by just throwing the bushings in the freezer overnight, and heating up the trailing arms a little with a torch before install. A little bit of grease on the inside of the bores helped things along. You just need to get them started straight and in the right orientation, and away you go.... 3 lb hammer and a drift did the rest, easy peasy.

If doing Spec B/JDM aluminium arms, then I would say yeah, go buy the cups. I had a *really* bad experience with the Subaru dealership attempting to install bushes in mine, and doing the job badly. Lots of cosmetic damage to the alli, and they installed on of the bushes so badly, and at the wrong depth you could see light between it and the bore. (Replaced for free....). So aside from them doing a bad job, I would not try to install bushes in the aluminium arms with anything less than the right tools. Too easy to do a bunch of damage.

Edited September 29, 2022 by KZJonny

[Pleides]

3 hours ago, Jolbaru_LGT said:

Hmmmmm, well that's just great. I got Energy Bushings a while ago, just waiting to do this install. Thought it would help with weight, towing, etc. Could it be they just weren't lubed properly?

I did OEM bushings for the entire front of the car bar the sway bar bushings. I did polyurethane for the rear upper control arm bushings and entire subframe/diff section as well. The Whiteline rear control arm kit that gives you camber adjustment has urethane bushings but I don't believe those ones are the ones that are squeaking (they're pre-lubed) so you could be right. It's still safe to assume that they will squeak after some number of years and most, if not all, of the urethane sets for this car require total disassembly of the car to get to the arm with the urethane bushings in them. I talked to Surgeline about doing OEM bushings throughout all of it again and it's a cool 6 hours of labor just to remove everything and put new bushings in, plus an alignment of the car since I want to do OEM rear upper control arm bushings.

Just food for thought. The urethane bushings didn't noticeably improve the handling and drive me mad now. They'd make more difference in your use-case on a particular component of the suspension on our cars that gets heavier abuse, just would need lube every few years to not prematurely wear out and squeak.

[Jolbaru_LGT]

4 hours ago, Pleides said:

I did OEM bushings for the entire front of the car bar the sway bar bushings. I did polyurethane for the rear upper control arm bushings and entire subframe/diff section as well. The Whiteline rear control arm kit that gives you camber adjustment has urethane bushings but I don't believe those ones are the ones that are squeaking (they're pre-lubed) so you could be right. It's still safe to assume that they will squeak after some number of years and most, if not all, of the urethane sets for this car require total disassembly of the car to get to the arm with the urethane bushings in them. I talked to Surgeline about doing OEM bushings throughout all of it again and it's a cool 6 hours of labor just to remove everything and put new bushings in, plus an alignment of the car since I want to do OEM rear upper control arm bushings.

Just food for thought. The urethane bushings didn't noticeably improve the handling and drive me mad now. They'd make more difference in your use-case on a particular component of the suspension on our cars that gets heavier abuse, just would need lube every few years to not prematurely wear out and squeak.

I hear ya. Everything suspension-wise is rubber on mine, except the sway bar bushings. I'm not sure what convinced me to go poly on the TABs but I must have researched it, and heard good things. I'll keep an eye/ear out for them, for sure. I figure once I get them removed, I'll clean the holes up and put a thin layer of anti-sleaze down. Which hopefully should make getting them out in the future easier if I need to.

Edited September 29, 2022 by Jolbaru_LGT

[KZJonny]

28 minutes ago, Pleides said:

Just food for thought. The urethane bushings didn't noticeably improve the handling and drive me mad now.

Agreed. Unless you're maybe doing a lot of track driving? I did almost all of the bushing in both my 2.5i Outback and GT wagon.

IMO - the difference was much more that I was replacing shagged out and worn down 18yo bushing with nice stiff new ones. If there is a marked difference between that and a car full of poly, I'm not going to find it on the squirrely backroads I like to go driving down. I suspect that more people attribute some of the magic to poly bushes becuase they are replacing worn out OE stuff.

I'd would genuinely love to drive a car with all brand new OE stuff (with better than stock struts....) and the same car with all poly. I bet the difference wouldn't be *that* big.

Disclaimer: I've got some poly bushes installed myself. Not hating. Sometimes it was just a matter of price/availability/ease of install. Ie: I didn't have the right size press cups to install the front LCA rear bushing, so I threw in an Energy Suspension one. It is a little noise and clunky, but better than the torn OE bush!

Edited September 29, 2022 by KZJonny