[s-cars] Rear susp bushings....to replace or not to?

[Mike Fitton]

I hear you on the effort:gain ratio, but you'll probably never have a 
better opportunity to do it again for some time.  I say rubber in 
general has a lifespan of 80k or 7 years.  You can almost certainly take 
all the arms and bushings to a shop and let them deal with it.  For a 
real mechanic with a real press I'd bet not much more than an hour.  
Incidentally, if you're near southwest Virginia, you're welcome to use 
my $100 Harbor Freight bottle jack special press.  A little awkward, but 
it always gets the job done somehow.

On the bearing circlips...that happened to both my urQs, known for their 
rust in general.  I ended up taking them to a shop down the street and 
they just took care of it.  I didn't see what they did, but I suspect it 
involved fire.

-Cheers!
Mike

Aaron Ryba wrote:
> So I am in the middle of tearing apart the rear suspension to install H$R & Bilstein sports. I did purchased all new bushings however it looks like most all of them will be a PITA to remove & replace . I don't have much of a shop, no press except the 5" vise I just bought. I though I might be able to press them in & out with a large hand held ball joint press but that's not going to work. 
>
> The existing bushings all look good and besides the  bad OE shocks there was no clunking or improper tire wear. Alignment was achievable also.
>
> I have the trap arms & hubs out however it looks like another PITA to get the rear subframe crossmember out with the parking cable running through it and all.
>
> The question is while I have the ass end all apart now is it worth it to replace all these bushings if they seem to be in decent shape? It will be 75% of the trouble for the whole job and maybe only 5% of the difference in the performance upgrade.
>
> I was going to have a machine shop press in new rear bearings and I was thinking I could have them do all the metal collared bearings. Is that asking to much though? Bentley has some very specific instructions about installing some of these bearings. 
>
> Car has 140k miles.
>
> Also, I have new rear bearings to have a shop press in but the circlip seems frozen in there. Any BTDTs?
>
> Thanks,
> Aaron Ryba
>
>
>
>
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