TommiM

iTrader: (19)

I recently wanted to upgrade some rear suspension components. I looked into the whiteline rear bumpsteer and trailing link bushings. Installing bushings is somewhat straight forward, but sometimes you run into a unique design that requires a certain way for these bushings to be replaced. Not wanting to damage anything I tried searching for some how to just to be certain I didn't need to remove the bushing a certain way or something weird like that. Not a lot of useful info was out there so I decided to write up a sort of how to from my experience of doing mine.

I used a ball joint separator (not a pickle fork), after I loosened up both sides of the arms so it can move freely, but still attached, to free the ball joint. Make sure the other side of the arm is still attached or when the joint frees its gonna pop off and fly away (ask me how I know)

So anyhow, the first one I did was the bumpsteer arm. Here is a pic after I removed the bushing, but for reference this is how it is assembled on the arm, with the 2 washers on the ends




The trick to getting this bushing out is you need to pop off the end washers. You can use a dremel or a hammer and chisel, you just have to be careful not to damage the control arm. Dremel would probably be better. In my case I had access to air so I used this guy.



I carefully positioned the tip behind the washer and away from the arm and a quick tap from the hammer is all it took. With an air tool it just pops off really easy.



Once you pop off one end the inside piece can slide out and then you can proceed to press out the bushing.



Using this method I had some rubber from the bushing that was not allowing a good socket to sit flush like I liked. so I just cut off some of the rubber to get a good straight line into the bushing. Not a big deal if you don't but it made it much easier for me, imo. Heres a pic of what Im talking about. sorry if the angle is off.




You just need to cut off the flared out end of rubber as you can compare the shorter one is after I cut off the excess. This allowed me to get a regular 1/2" drive 27mm socket on there.


A non impact style socket fits better, and 27mm is a great fit. Then just press it out. On both of these arms it doesn't matter which side you press in or out of, BUT, you will see they have one side that's got a small chamfer and that taper can allow the new bushing to be centered in easier as you install it, fwiw.


Ok, so I apologize for not taking pics of the actual pressing in of the whiteline bushings. Ive never really done a lot of poly bushings so it was interesting trying to press this in. I had access to a shop press, but my issue was that it kept sliding around. I just pressed in the poly bushing on the chamfered in and used some pliers to CAREFULLY realign the bushing until the first part got started then its all good to go. However you do it just make sure the opposite end gets pressed all the way through. The center washers on these bushings are gonna be a tight fit, but I ended up pressing them in a bench vise.

With the bumpteer kit, the bushing is off centered, and to reduce bumpsteer you want the offset to be downward. What I did was mark the washer and bushing with a sharpie to make sure it was aligned as I pressed it into the vise. Heres the finished product.



and heres the finished trailing link arm



sorry if the angle is off.


All in all, its not a that bad to do. I was just trying to be extra careful not to damage anything so it took me a little longer to do these. Thanks for reading.

joshua_s

iTrader: (5)

nice write up, did you notice a big difference in handling?

golgo13

iTrader: (134)

How much work was it just to get the arm out? I've done the Whiteline RCK for the front LCAs myself.

TommiM

iTrader: (19)

As you can see in the pic Im working in a cramped garage on jackstands and it wasn't bad at all really. The ball joints are on nice and snug, put some pb blaster and use a long breaker bar to loosen them. I removed the wheel speed sensor so I can get a straight shot with my socket and breaker bar. What I did after I loosened them was removed the stock nut and use a 14x 1.5 open ended short lugnut so the ball joint separator can press against that instead. Using this will save from possibly ruining the threads on the balljoint and also from damaging the oem nut. Theres plenty of room to use the separator so that wasn't an issue. I used the one from Harbor Freight and it worked like a champ.




Well, the car is gonna be down until I get my engine rebuilt so I wont know. I think I still remember how it behaved at the limits so I should be able to compare once it finally back on the road.

WRC-LVR

iTrader: (1)

You will notice a difference.....i did my trailing arms and bumpsteer arms as well. Actually had to swap the passenger side trailing arm out as the ball joint went bad.

The car will feel more stable, take a set faster, and should give you more confidence to push it a little harder.

RJones

iTrader: (5)

Awesome! I just pulled my arms off yesterday to do this and I was questioning how to get the old toe arm bushings out.

TommiM

iTrader: (19)

bumpin this to show you folks an alternative to using a press.


1/2" electric impact

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bushing remover/installer kit

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the dies and adapters on the control arm. This kit is really nice, it uses ball bearings instead of bushings, and the dies are grooved where the nut spins so its self centering

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heres a quick video of it in action. I stopped a few times since this was the first time using my electric impact to do this and didn't want to overheat the motor. The gun was fine but I just wanted to be certain.



and heres the results.


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This is much easier than using a press, imo.

killerpenguin21

iTrader: (20)

whered you get that kit? looks like its very pricey...

TommiM

iTrader: (19)

The gun is from Matco, the kit I got from the Matco guy but its not a Matco brand. Its a german company. The gun and the bushing kit I bought mainly for work, but I wanted to try it out on an evo bushing to see how it worked. I was filiming on my iphone with one hand and the impact on the other so I say it worked pretty well. The Matco gun iirc was like $700 for the gun,charger, and 2 batteries. The bushing kit was somewhere around the $600 mark.

I went with this one but if you search around there is another company that makes a similar kit for a lot more reasonable price. If you do a lot of bushings like I have been lately, its worth the time saved being able to do these ON the car without a press.

For the folks that want to do it cheaper, you can replicate something like this with some large sockets Im sure. That's why I posted the vid, hopefully give you some ideas to make it easier for removing your bushings.