Super Pro trailing arm rear bushing install

[Paranoid Fabrications]

well, i finally got around to install this. Install took about an hour for both sides. not too bad.
Tools needed.
17mm combo wrench
17mm socket
C clamp
2" scrap piece of tubing.

I started off by lifting the car and taking the wheel off. I could not find my jack stands so i used the stock jack and put the tire under the car in case it fell.

this is the bushing we are removing. its the bottom on on the knuckle. the stock bushing has a lot of play in it and is very soft.


Next up was removing the stock bushing. This was a PITA. you take the C clamp and put it on the knuckle as shown. you just keep cranking on it till the bushing pops out. the hardest part is just holding everything there and getting it started.



here is a pic of the two bushings together. notice the difference. the new bushings are a two piece design. so its way easier to install.



and a side shot to show the two pice.




just pop the new bushings in and insert the new metal sleeve. then bolt it up. nice and simple

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[WRblueX_Guy]

Nice.

You have Group N bushings pressed into your lateral links, right? What made you go with the poly bushings instead of the Group N for the rear trailing arm?

[Kostamojen]

Originally Posted by WRblueX_Guy

Nice.

You have Group N bushings pressed into your lateral links, right? What made you go with the poly bushings instead of the Group N for the rear trailing arm?

Because you need a special tool and a huge press to install the Group-N bushings into the rear hub...

I tried the Group-N bushings first, but gave up and bought the Superpro bushings. 100x easier to deal with.

[WRblueX_Guy]

Originally Posted by Kostamojen

Because you need a special tool and a huge press to install the Group-N bushings into the rear hub...

I tried the Group-N bushings first, but gave up and bought the Superpro bushings. 100x easier to deal with.

Ah true. Luckily I'm next in line for Big Sky WRX's tool for the group n bushing

[Paranoid Fabrications]

the groupn bushings were installed then taken off to paint. i have a seperate set of lat links (painted green ) ready to go back on. The reasion i didnt do the group in bushing is that there was a long line for that tool i have access to the presses and what not, so thats not an issue I have the groupN knuckle bushing sitting here when i have more time ;D

Shane

[fastwrx25]

did you break from the bolt side or nut side? I am having a hard time getting that bolt off.

[Paranoid Fabrications]

Yea, they are on there tight. i broke it from the nut site. just used a extension on my combo wrench

Shane

[Kostamojen]

I used my 3 foot breaker bar

[Paranoid Fabrications]

crap, looking at that top pic it looks like my trailing arm is bent. hmm
Shane

[Kostamojen]

Originally Posted by Paranoid Fabrications

crap, looking at that top pic it looks like my trailing arm is bent. hmm
Shane

Might be an optical illusion due to the axle peeking out there behind it along with a bend due to the camera lense.

[lovesmysuby04]

Air tools FTW. I like this mod cause I'm a bushing freak. Was there any noticable difference, maybe just a cuts down on the play from the rubber bushing is my guess.

[Paranoid Fabrications]

the car seems to rotate around corners a lot better. haven't had much seat time on it. I seem to feel more bumps
yea, air tools are nice, and while i have a good selection of them. I find it more tranquil to work on my car with out them. I usually only use them if i am in a hurry.

Shane

[mrpedal]

my 2c: I used bigsky's bushing tool and put in the grpN a week or so ago (it's in the mail back to him as of monday for whomever was waiting on it). Very easy, but nowhere near that easy. As for the NVH, I detect only H, and like the alk, it's the muted thwack from road gaps/expansion joints, or other stuff. Not offensive at all. For the record, my wife did notice the change- over rough road around us, but wasn't bothered by it.

Handling wise, it's hard to isolate the change- I did front and rear trailing arms as well as whiteling lateral links at the same time. Oh wow is the back end nicer now. Nothing scary, but it really comes around better. Haven't had that 'oh wow this mod makes the car drive like it's on rails' feeling since the ALK & camber plates install.

As for the bolts holding the arms and links to the hub- I sprayed them once a week with PB Blaster for about a month before I did the job. I had air tools, but all the bolts came off w/o it really hammering at all. Main headache was the inner link bolts were only accessible with a wrench, and with the car up on jackstands there wasn't much room. Using a wrench on another wrench for an extension and a lot of grunting took care of that.

edit: And Shane- use some of that fender brace/cowl stay cash and get some harbor freight jackstands!

[Paranoid Fabrications]

oh, i have jack stands. they are just big ones. (i work on a lot of off road trucks) and i ahd a set of smaller ones, but they are missing now

yea, those trailing arm bolts suck. those were some of the tighest bolts ever.

Shaen

[Turn in Concepts]

Ok - I'll bite. You got me curious on these so I ordered up a few sets to try on our local test cars. Word from the US distrib is that they are out of stock though so it won't be for a while.

I noticed that superpro also make replacements for the forward end of the trailing arm. Have you considered trying those as well?

[Kostamojen]

I have the forward trailing arm ones as well. They were equaly useful.

[Paranoid Fabrications]

Originally Posted by Turn in Concepts

Ok - I'll bite. You got me curious on these so I ordered up a few sets to try on our local test cars. Word from the US distrib is that they are out of stock though so it won't be for a while.

I noticed that superpro also make replacements for the forward end of the trailing arm. Have you considered trying those as well?

no, i have a full set of GroupN bushings to go on. i just did those as it was real quick. I am working on another pair of trailing arms that i am going to reinforce to get rid of the weakness of it (twists easy) then install it. so within a month or so, the whole rear will be GroupN bushings, and maybe i will pull this one out for the GroupN bushing as well

oh, this place has them in stock. i bought mine from there and they shipped super quick. Global seems to be out of them
http://www.landefabrication.com/sess...iew.shopscript
Shane

[din]

Are there any performance reasons as to why you are planning to change your rear end with group n's? or is it just for drivability and noise reasons?

BTW, when you are done could you please post pics and the results of your reinforced trailing arms. Thanks

[Paranoid Fabrications]

hmm. main reason is that i want a nice and tight rear end
if you push the car, i can feel the rear give some. it seems to be inconsistent. so i figure with nice new harder rubber it will be perfect. and the choice of GroupN ones, is that poly usually makes noise after a wile, and i don't want to deal with that (same reason i went with the GTspec ALK)

oh and don't worry, i will make a post on those arms

Shane

[Ottawagon]

Oh man... in the middle of an install of the rear trailing arm group-n - it is killing me!

I thought I could pull the whole knuckle off, but I can't figure out how to disconnect the parking brake cable. I tried to lay the press down in there under the car, but that was too akward... maybe if I get a friend to help, but even then, it is hard to get that thing in the press, since the backside and dust cover are in the way of where you would want to brace it from.

I guess I can use your idea of a C-clamp to push out the original one, but I am sure that won't be enough force to push in the group-n. I guess I might have to make a tool with a big bolt and washer and cup to pull it in... this is taking a long time! Just fighting with all the bolts last night was brutal... I sprayed them first, but in Canada things get rusty and hard to work with.

BTW - for reference, I am putting sedan lateral links and new trailing arms and sedan rear axles on a wagon. Already pressed in all the other group-n bushings into the sedan links and the extra set of trailing arms, and gave those a good sand blast, primer and paint coat, so they are ready to go. Just need to deal with these bloody rear bushings!

[wrxwhite]

The parking brake cable disconnect should be inside where the parking brake
shoes are.

[Paranoid Fabrications]

yea, if doing the groupN bushing, you really need the bigsky tool. would make it way easy. it was out on loan when i asked, and i was too lazy to wait, so i went with poly

[Ottawagon]

Yeah - going to try to make my own with a machinist friend in the next day or two... if it doesn't work out, I will leave the stock ones for now and wait until we can make a proper tool, or rent Mike's.

[Ottawagon]

Update: Tool is done! Can't wait to try it later today.

Pics to follow...

[MasterKwan]

I just ordered a complete set of bushings from L&E. Looking forward to installing them. Cheaper than a set of pillow-balls (spherical links).