(T) rear bush removal tips

hi there people

I am going to be replacing my cinq rear bushes in the next week or so, so I am after any tips any of you may have to ease removal .. and refitting.


thanks

Length of studding, two very large sockets and you can then fairly easily wind out the rubber centres.

Then to remove the steel sleeves, hacksaw two slots (carefully) along the sleeve then knock them out with a hammer and drift.

Made that sound easy, but its a pig of a job to do. But you get faster after you've done one or two.

Alternatives are:

1. Burn the rubber out. The rest should come out more easily due to the heat. A blowtorch will do it -- no need to use the oxy-acetalyne gear!

2. Take them to an engineering shop: they should be able to press the whole lot out and press the new ones in.

Remember, there's a lot of stuff to remove before you get to the arms.I'd start with the WD40 and wire brush a couple of days before you start on the actual job.

I was planning on leaving the hub and drum attached to the arm, I can see that I have to undo brake pipe, and handbrake cable, then the shocker, lower the arm with a jack to release the spring, then off with the arm bolts.

Is the brake pipe, in general, easy to remove?

Extracting the bushes [or most of..] with a threaded bar seems a good idea, I reckon that with a drilled plate[s], I could even install them that way..

post away if theres any more tips!

thanks

start soaking the brake unions in pentrating oil, start now. keep putting plenty on. and often.

If you are putting Powerflex bushes in, these will push in by hand.

Make sure you get the right spanners for the brake fittings....the LAST thing you want is to round one off! .. .or if ya poor, get a socket spanner and grind a bit out to fit over the tube...it may work

thanks

I have also noted this page: http://www.powerflex.co.uk/removal.asp

spanner only costs 3quid from halfords

Not when I got mine from there more like £5-7 dependant on size. As the new hoses were not the same as fiat's, I needed 3 or 4 of them (can't recall exactly as I block painfull memories )!!

They were the Halford's Pro series, but couldn't see any cheaper ones else I would have snapped them up

halfords pro, £3.49 - so says my receipt!

Bushes Done!

Sad to say, no pics [to put a guide together], my other half knocked the camera off the cupboard, and it snapped the battery flap off, luckily [or not] it was a bit of a relic, but it did the job perfectly!! RIP

Anyway. Undoing the lower shocker was easy, even the brake pipe came off easy, handbrake cable removal fine too.

Dropped the arm, remove spring, undo arm, remove.

Getting the bushes out, pain in the backside!! I drilled out the rubber in 4 places on each bush, the centre tapped out easy. I was struggling to get the outer bush sleeve out, I tried with the hacksaw as suggested, it was peeing me off big time!! I tried with a cold chisel, a bit better, then I realised that the bush has a lip, I hit that with the chisel and hammer, and the sleeve flew out!! I was on a roll then!!

So, job done, took me about 4 hours to do one complete side, by myself.