Well ok I made a post about how I was having trouble getting the rear trailing arm bushings out, so this weekend we thought up some stuff and it worked pretty well. The tools you are going to need are as follows:

4" blades (home depot 6 pack for 3 bucks)
A utility knife (home depot 4 bucks)
Titanium coated blades for the utility knife (not really needed but they cut through rubber like butter, Home depot 3 bucks)
Needle nose pliers
Flat head screw driver OR chisel
Hammer
Drum sanding bit (i used 1.5inch)
Die grinder (air)
Zip ties and an extra jackstand or something to hold the rta

This write up is done where you dont have to remove the RTA from the car completely, Also be VERY VERY CAREFUL, I stabbed myself in the thumb haha


Ok so here goes:

Step one: Remove the 14mm bold under the car holding the RTA. This bolt has a slotted mounting point for alignment.
Next remove the first two bolts used to hold up the parking brake cable starting from the hub counting back.
Remove the two 17mm bolts holding the RTA bushing pin to the chassis
And remove the 14mm bolt holding it to the UCA (or whatever it is )

Step two: Take the zip ties and the extra jack stand and turn the RTA out so that the hub is up against the spring/strut assembly and the end of the RTA is pointing away from the car (You will see what I mean in later pictures) Zip tie the Hub part of the RTA to the spring, and rest the other end on the jackstand. This is so you dont have to remove the parking brake cable and so you wont damage the hydraulic cable by just letting it hang there.



Step three: MARK HOW THE PIN GOES IN BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING!!!! Cut the RTA pin out of the center by cutting the two rubber parts connecting it to the outer part of the bushing. Use the utility knife for this cutting as far down as you can from both sides.

Step four: You should end up with something like this next picture. Take the utility knife and cut as far down as you can longways on the rubber portion on the pin. Then take the screwdriver or chisel and hammer and remove each piece. This is "whitedcfiver" hard at work and he came up with this new method



Step five: Take the pin after most of the rubber is removed and place it in a vice. Take some 80-120 grit sand paper and sand off all of the excess rubber, should take about 5 minutes of sanding. You can paint the pin if you want to try and keep out rust.

Step six: Take the RTA bushing that is still in the RTA and do the following. FOr this you will need the 4" blades, the utility knife, and the needle nose. Start with the utility knife and cut here


Next take the needle nose and slip it under the cut piece and get a good grip on it. Start to ROLL the pliers while cutting stuck parts with the 4" blade. Most of the time the rubber will just come right off easily. After you have remove all the rubber you can with the pliers, scrape off as much as you can with the 4" blade.

Next take the sanding drum and die grinder and CAREFULLY sand down the rubber than cannot be removed by the blade.

All of the OEM bushing has now been removed from both the pin and the sleeve. Take your ES bushing or whatever kind you are using and grease it up as per the instructions giving to you by ES. Press the bushing in from the outward part of the RTA, using either two large washers and a C-clamp or two large washers and a bolt.

Next press in the pin and bolt everything back up. Sorry for the lack of pictures on this write up but I was extremely dirty at this point If you have any questions that I might be able to help with I can try to answer them.

 

Good write up, I just used a torch and a razorblade to get rid of the excess rubber when i did mine, took about 5 minutes

 

ah yes, I did that too, but my neighbors threatened to call the cops haha so this is an alternative I forgot to mention that

 

good stuff.

the other way is to buy the prothane bushings which make it uber easy.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Driven &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">good stuff.

the other way is to buy the prothane bushings which make it uber easy. </TD></TR></TABLE>

where do you get those? are they just inserts or something?

 

Prothanes are inserts but they come with the middle part already in it. it's WAY more money though.

just a tip, it's better to get a brass wire wheel attachment for your drill of die grinder and using that to get the rubber completely off after you're cut away as much as you can. it will get it VERY clean and will not take away any metal. Worked AMAZING for me.

 

This is just the right timing for my trailing arm mini-project.

I need to replace my 2000 GSR trailing arm bushing.

1. Which bushing can I buy? I heard that honda/acura don't sell these, but there are ones I can get and keep the outer shell like in the writeup as a gap filler?

2. Any suggestion where I can buy it? part #?

 

Could you please show a pic of the finished product?

 

Contact energy suspension and see what they have for the GSR the guy I talked to was very helpful.

And I will be working on the front suspension this weekend so If I remember Ill take a pic of the finished product

 

i pressed mine out, cut as much of the rubber away then burned the rest. i also powder coated the "plug" as well as the trailing arm before reassembly.

 

I wish I had a press but yeah powder coating the parts is a damn good idea Im gunna be doing the whole front suspension this weekend, so hopefully its gunna go a lil smoother

 

I just filled my rear trailing arm bushing with 3M window weld... kinda messy but does the job..

 

anyone ever hear of putting zerk fittings on the bushing shells?

 

I believe Wes Vann (sp) did?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Thrillhouse &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">anyone ever hear of putting zerk fittings on the bushing shells?</TD></TR></TABLE>

I'm not sure you should do that. I would prefer the OD of the bushing be dry so it does not move at all.

 

the outside is what is supposed to be greased isnt it?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Jays91DXhatch &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Prothanes are inserts but they come with the middle part already in it. it's WAY more money though.</TD></TR></TABLE>
true.


$110 for the prothanes vs. $30 for the ES bushings

but, my 3hrs of burning/cutting the stock rubber bushings vs. the 5mins it took to hammering them out was worth the $80.

 

for $110, might as well get mugen/stock replacement.

 

The other day I saw a hydraulic press for sale for $69.99, capacity is 2 ton.

Do you think it's worth buying the press?

How much should I expect to pay if I bring it to a shop to press out?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Driven &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">true.


$110 for the prothanes vs. $30 for the ES bushings

but, my 3hrs of burning/cutting the stock rubber bushings vs. the 5mins it took to hammering them out was worth the $80.</TD></TR></TABLE>

MY understanding was that even for the Prothanes you would have to take the old bushing out the same way and get all the rubber out of the stock metal sleeve.

The only difference is removing the rubber on the middle pin part, which with a utility knife and a wire wheel, is a 3 minute job per.