Trailing Arm Bushings - Rebuild Rear Suspension?

[jimmycakes401]

I have an extra rear suspension and I was planning on taking the trailing arms off, sandblasting them and replacing the bushings. Is this possible? Difficult. I don't know how to get the bushings out. At $42 an arm at IAP, I figured I could save money and just refurbish what I have.

[vandor]

Assuming you have the original arms in your '81, the bushings are not replaceable. New ones are not available, and the old ones cannot be pressed out. I tried. The only way to do it is to burn the old bushings out and make your own bushing. I heard there are kits so that you can make your own urethane bushings. You'd have to be careful, tho, as those bushings can't be too stiff or the arm will break from the side-to-side motion caused by the panhard rod.

The early arms (up to 1978) do have replaceable bushings that can be pressed in.

[jimmycakes401]

Bummer. Guess I need to buy new ones. I have the old stuff. Guess it makes my extra rear end useless. Unless I want to sell it for scrap. Although I suppose having an extra rear axel is useful.

[jimmycakes401]

How about this. How long to these usually last? A long time? These are all original. Would it be worth it to take a weekend, paint them and replace them. Just so they look nice? Until I can afford new ones?

[124JOE]

like you i wanted every thing to look right and clean
back in 2002 i replaced all the arms

my longer one on the drivers side was broken and welded"looked like crap"to start
as for the bushings they all looked ok

[jimmycakes401]

Mine look okay. Basically I just want everything to be protected. $15 is paint to keep them in good shape is worth it my bushings seem to look okay, but who knows? Is there a way to check? Just put a bolt in it and make sure there's no play in the metal sleeve?

[124JOE]

yep

[whiterabbit]

Now if you want to go to the extreme you could have the ends modified for heim joints. I was thinking of modding the track bar/5th link on mine to keep the rear aligned in hard turns and to recenter the axle after lowering the car.