Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Proz]

Ok so i tried to change my donut bushes today but the sod wouldnt move so with limited tools and couldnt get the car high enough to have a good go we gave up  :-/

However heres the twist ...
Whilst trying to lever the bush out the suspension arm was moving and there was a lot of grit / gravel stuff coming down .
So , on the way home just now on a road ive driven hundreds of times the creaking and grating noise has disappered at places where it always had made a noise before 
Sitting in the drive at home with handbrake on and putting into drive the car squats down at the rear and used to be accompanied with the creaking noise ... and going slowly over speed bumps etc but now its gone 
So is it possible this grit/gravel has been the source of the noise by being wedged between the arm cushion pad thing and car body causing the creaking ... its the only thing i can think of   

[amba]

Can,t imagine grit/stones would cause the creaking noise associated with the bushes being knackered but obviously not helping.

Whilst attempting to remove them did you get a good look at the originals condition as when I removed mine some months back they looked in fair condition until they were fully removed then you could see the split from the central metal sleeve.

I found the best tool for removing them was a very long thick screw driver.To start I bashed it into the join of the metal rim and its housing and applied pressure and held for a while causing the rubber to almost "give up" and start it moving.Once started it was just a matter of more and more constatnt applied pressure to the ever increasing amount of visible rubber bush and eventualy it gave up.

Real secreat with this is constant applied pressure and then hold and it will move.Expect it to move just with a slight wedge in from your chosen tool and I think it would be very difficult.As long as it is supported on stands doesn,t really need to be that high as you are only just reaching under the car ,not fully under.

Best of luck and give it another go as the improvement with new bushes is worth while.

[Proz]

The bush didnt look too bad to be honest .... strange how all this crap fell out and now there is no noise at all  :-/

[Mr Gav]

The way I do them is to jack the car up using the crossmember  and then support it on axle stands. Undo the main bolt and remove and then undo the three cover plate bolts and remove the plate. Lower the crossmember down enough to get a large socket inbetween the bush metal sleeve and the chassis, then jack the crossmember back up and the socket should press out the bush.
The only down side is that sometimes re aligning the mounting bolt can be a pain if the crossmember moves out of position slightly.

[Proz]

We were at work so didnt really have lots of stands and tools to hand ... im also taking it for an mot next week and didnt want to make it look bad by damaging it and not getting it out .
Will have a proper go another time 

[Gaffers]

Thats the thing with these bushes, they look ok but once you get them off you can see that they're breaked.

The way that Chris showed me to tell if they are banjaxxed is if the the rubber and metal layers show any sign of coming away.  If so, change them 

[Proz]

Thats the thing with these bushes, they look ok but once you get them off you can see that they're breaked.

The way that Chris showed me to tell if they are banjaxxed is if the the rubber and metal layers show any sign of coming away.  If so, change them 

I do intend to change them as we tried to change them today  .... just didnt have enough tools of the right kind and as said i didnt want to make it look as if it had been hacked at but left in just before going in for mot .
Once she is through the mot ill have a good go at them or stick it in a garage if i cant manage .
I never thought about the socket method from above and jacking arm up i'll admit though 
A friend of a friend who is an mot tester had her up on a ramp looking at them a month or so ago and says they should pass the mot as they arnt too bad ... im just curious as to why the grating creaking noise has gone completely though .

[amba]

They don,t seem to be a very common MOT failure,intruth I doudt if many inspect them very thoroughly so unless they are falling to peices you should be ok on that score.

I am somewhat dubious about the socket technique suggested as it would seem that once set in place you run the risk of just keep pushing the car into the air,so imho and one I have tried and done myself with relitive ease I would just lever them out and smack them back in as far as possible with a block and lump hammer and the remainder with the triangular plate reversed,as per the guide.

It is quite possible some of the noise you could hear was cratting gravel and stones but as most Omegas are on their original rear bushes and they are the real cause of the rear end groans I would be more inclined to expect them to be the cause.

Good luck with MOT and I am sure you will suceed in getting them replaced,as honestly it is not that much grief.

[feeutfo]

It won't fail an Mot due to the creak of course, but the creak will be back.

On some I have seen the aluminum centre spacer has almost corroded completely away leaving no flat surface to bolt the plate on to.

IMO,key to this job is NOT to move the arm at all. Jack it up with the entire weight of the car on the arm(rear subframe) and off the stand and leave it there until complete.

So jack onto the arm, off the stand. Remove / re fit bush in correct orientation/ wack the bolts back in . That way, hopefully, the subframe will still line up with the chassis holes.

Don't know why but Estates seem to be more of a pig re line up.  :-/

There can't be many cars left with good bushes tbh, not of this age. So its worth changing them, fail or not, you'll feel the benefit before the tester spots the fault.

[Andy B]

.... fail or not, you'll feel the benefit before the tester spots the fault.

My MOT tester failed to spot the knackered bushes in my Senator, despite the centre metal bit being completely detached from the rubber. When I turned out onto a main road with 'enthusiasm' the back end used to bang like buggery.
Thing is I'd to pay a local garage to fit mine as I couldn't be arsed my back wouldn't have been up to task. 

[feeutfo]

Failed bushes are rarely spotted at MOT. If they where our omegas would handle a lot better.

[Mr Gav]

I am somewhat dubious about the socket technique suggested as it would seem that once set in place you run the risk of just keep pushing the car into the air

I did it on my Senator and it worked a treat and then replaced them with polyurethane bushes.