fitting new poly bushes - diy ? how difficult

[chevy-stu]

I'm thinking about fitting poly bushes on the old girl, and curious if anyones done it themselves without a press. I know it can be farmed out to a local garage but I wouldn't mind doing it myself if poss. I've heard it can be done witha big hammer and some big old sockets and spacers. Bearing in mind the car is 28 years old and I have to get the original rubber ones out too. Advice ???????

[Mutant Rat]

Not sure I'd want to do it with a hammer (you might damage the new bush it it doesn't go in square), but I've done them with a bench vice plenty of times, no problem.

My personal approach is to burn out the rubber and inner sleeve of the old rubber bush with a blowtorch, then carefully hacksaw through the old outer sleeve and chisel/drift what's left out.

Getting the new polybushes in has been relatively easy.

[chevy-stu]

CHEERS FOR THAT MR RAT. i THINK I'VE BEN MORE WORRIED ABOUT FITTING THAN REMOVAL, BUT I GUESS A BLOW TORCH, CHISEL AND HACKSAW SOUNDS LIKE A FUN DAY !!!!!

[leorest]

I prefer drilling out the old rubber. It's a bit more work but a lot less toxic!
Some of the poly bushes I've seen are two parts, which makes it much easier to push in from each side.
Leo

[chevy-stu]

Also sounds like a good method of removal. I like the slightly more maverick idea of the blowtorch though, you never know i might cause havoc, set light to the shed, burn it down, claim on the insurance and have a proper garage/workshop built !!!!
well maybe not, i'll get my drill out methinks.

[bugsy]

The Powerflex bushes are available in two halves

[chevy-stu]

I'm not sure how mine would come, as the cars an older american one, so probably a bit more limited on what type/makes are available. Also, does it make a massive increase in road noise and ride harshness. I want it to handle better and turn in sharper but it's not a track cars and I don't want a bone shaking bumpsteering ride as I've had on cars before with super stiff springs/shocks set-ups.

[leorest]

Just came across this and thought it might help!

www.smartracingproducts.com/pdfdocs/4512XX_bushing_install.pdf

I fitted hard nylon bushes to the outer end of my rear A frames and could hardly detect an increase in noise/harshness. I think the only thing to do is try some and see how you go! A slightly softer damping setting might offset any bush-induced harshness.
My 2p
Leo

[Andylewis1986]

Hi, ive recently fitted new rubber mounts to the trailing arms of my e36 bmw. As others have said getting them out is a case of burning, cutting ect, but dont damage the housing! To get the new bushes in i tried several frustrating and useless reccomended methods but in the end resorted to modifying a puller tool to press it in.

[falcemob]

Just use a vice and a couple of sockets to get the old bushes out. The new ones go in by hand quite easily. Alternatively you could always buy a press for the same price as a garage would charge for a couple of hours labour or even hire one.

[angrys3owner]

I thought this would be pretty easy on my Audi S3 I wanted to change the wishbone bushes, bought the parts have a bench vice and had been told two plates of metal and a threaded bolt was the way to go about these things if the vice didn't do the job.

The bushes I was attempting to fit had a lip on both edges and the idea is it squashes in enough to push through the wishbone then pops out into place, did one bush no trouble, then the second the lip just split off - oh bugger! looked like a pastry cutter had cut it off. Tried a number more times and borrowed a 10 ton hydrualic press of a mate - still no joy just kept cutting it off. Ended up getting some slightly different bushes from a different make (powerflex - top products) these went in pretty much first time as long as you could stop everything moving about when you applied force and the bush was perfectly square on to the hole in the wishbone.

Was not easy on my car but definately something that's worth giving a go.

ps... put the bloody things in very hot water for a while before attempting to fit too!

[combemarshal]

I really wouldn't recomend Burning anything rubber out, especially on older cars, they can cause all sorts of problems to humans, and some are pretty major!