monkey
11-02-2004, 03:52 AM
I bought eccentric urethane bushings for the trailing arms of my e34. K-Mac I guess... I got them from bavauto.com. Anyone have experience with these before? I should have time to finish the install and alignment tomorrow. So far, here's my take on the job:
Removing the arms is no big deal, just be careful not to round anything out, particularly the brake line fittings and allen bolts ,when removing the axle, (I recommend an impact wrench for the allens so you don't lever on them with a wrench). I couldn't see an easy way to set the arms up in a press so I burned out the rubber bushings, knocked the centers out with a hammer, cut the sleeves with a sawzall then knocked them out with an air chisel. Fitting the arms back into the brackets with the new bushings was fun too. The bolt for the outer bushing on the right side was just slightly too long to fit in the hole without interfering with the body of the car. Putting it on the other way, with the bolt head in towards the center of the vehicle would make alignment adjustments very difficult so I persevered. I ended up tapping with a hammer via a vise grip clamped onto the shaft of the bolt. I thought i was home free, but the bolt from the dogbone (trailing arm link to subframe) butted up against the new castle nut on the trailing arm through bolt. The dogbone nut clears, so I got new, shorter bolts.
I found this link on the web, with some info on adjustment, http://e30m3performance.com/tech_articles/susp-tech/ecc_bush/ecc_bush.htm, but I have yet to play with the adjustments.
I've heard there have been issues with these type of bushings. I guess because of the offset and the thinner side? They look stout enough to me, anyone know anything about that?
Removing the arms is no big deal, just be careful not to round anything out, particularly the brake line fittings and allen bolts ,when removing the axle, (I recommend an impact wrench for the allens so you don't lever on them with a wrench). I couldn't see an easy way to set the arms up in a press so I burned out the rubber bushings, knocked the centers out with a hammer, cut the sleeves with a sawzall then knocked them out with an air chisel. Fitting the arms back into the brackets with the new bushings was fun too. The bolt for the outer bushing on the right side was just slightly too long to fit in the hole without interfering with the body of the car. Putting it on the other way, with the bolt head in towards the center of the vehicle would make alignment adjustments very difficult so I persevered. I ended up tapping with a hammer via a vise grip clamped onto the shaft of the bolt. I thought i was home free, but the bolt from the dogbone (trailing arm link to subframe) butted up against the new castle nut on the trailing arm through bolt. The dogbone nut clears, so I got new, shorter bolts.
I found this link on the web, with some info on adjustment, http://e30m3performance.com/tech_articles/susp-tech/ecc_bush/ecc_bush.htm, but I have yet to play with the adjustments.
I've heard there have been issues with these type of bushings. I guess because of the offset and the thinner side? They look stout enough to me, anyone know anything about that?