P38Tom
Member
- Posts
- 14
- Location
- London, UK
Hi all,
Thought I'd share how I recently did my radius arm bushes without a press or special tool (I have a press but this was way easier). Have heard lots of horror stories about how difficult these are to do so was amazed/relieved when I managed to do them very easily. It's made a huge difference to the wallowing cornering too.
This is what they looked like, I think they might have been original (200k miles...)
You'll need a set of these, a decent impact driver, a sander, some fairy washing up liquid, some exhaust clamps, and some spanners.
First job is to remove the old ones so you just need to pair two of the sleeves from the kit. Make sure you have the top one bearing on the very outer edge of the bush and the bottom one bigger than the expanded bush once it's out so it doesn't get stuck in the sleeve (I did this, duh).
Next job is to clean up the radius arm around the bush to make sure you don't drag flakes of rust etc and to make sure the hole is back to it's original size minus rust. Then use a sander to put a good chamfer on the first 5-6mm of the bottom of the new bush.
Put one exhaust clamp around the top sleeve and one around the bottom of the bush. These don't need to be tight, just nipped up to stop the bush warping and bulging as you drive it in. I used a tiny amount of fairy washing up liquid on the chamfer of the bush just to help it seat that first bit. Your setup should look like this;
The silver exhaust clamp is spanning the gap between the top of the bush and the sleeve to prevent the bush bulging and splitting at the top.
Now get it all bolted up with the sleeve kit and aligned as best you can, like this;
Now, slowly wind on the pressure with the nut on the top, just a tiny bit at a time. Check the bottom of the bush isn't bulging from one spot. If it is, back off the nut and start again. If you can't get it all to start going in uniformly, you may need a bigger chamfer. If it's going in straight and evenly, wind it in until you get to the first exhaust clamp, then back off the exhaust clamp so you can send the bush in. You can then remove the bottom exhaust clamp and send it all the way in. I did the top clamp just tight enough that it moved up on its own as I drove the bush in. Make sure you stop when the bush is flush with the radius arm!
I managed to do both front radius arms (one at a time off the car) in about 2hrs.
Let me know if you have any questions!
Thought I'd share how I recently did my radius arm bushes without a press or special tool (I have a press but this was way easier). Have heard lots of horror stories about how difficult these are to do so was amazed/relieved when I managed to do them very easily. It's made a huge difference to the wallowing cornering too.
This is what they looked like, I think they might have been original (200k miles...)
You'll need a set of these, a decent impact driver, a sander, some fairy washing up liquid, some exhaust clamps, and some spanners.
First job is to remove the old ones so you just need to pair two of the sleeves from the kit. Make sure you have the top one bearing on the very outer edge of the bush and the bottom one bigger than the expanded bush once it's out so it doesn't get stuck in the sleeve (I did this, duh).
Next job is to clean up the radius arm around the bush to make sure you don't drag flakes of rust etc and to make sure the hole is back to it's original size minus rust. Then use a sander to put a good chamfer on the first 5-6mm of the bottom of the new bush.
Put one exhaust clamp around the top sleeve and one around the bottom of the bush. These don't need to be tight, just nipped up to stop the bush warping and bulging as you drive it in. I used a tiny amount of fairy washing up liquid on the chamfer of the bush just to help it seat that first bit. Your setup should look like this;
The silver exhaust clamp is spanning the gap between the top of the bush and the sleeve to prevent the bush bulging and splitting at the top.
Now get it all bolted up with the sleeve kit and aligned as best you can, like this;
Now, slowly wind on the pressure with the nut on the top, just a tiny bit at a time. Check the bottom of the bush isn't bulging from one spot. If it is, back off the nut and start again. If you can't get it all to start going in uniformly, you may need a bigger chamfer. If it's going in straight and evenly, wind it in until you get to the first exhaust clamp, then back off the exhaust clamp so you can send the bush in. You can then remove the bottom exhaust clamp and send it all the way in. I did the top clamp just tight enough that it moved up on its own as I drove the bush in. Make sure you stop when the bush is flush with the radius arm!
I managed to do both front radius arms (one at a time off the car) in about 2hrs.
Let me know if you have any questions!
