Renewing REAR suspension arm bushings WITHOUT taking out Spindle pins

[PATZ]

Hi guys!

This will be the first time i`l be doing this, so pls bear with me.I would like to renew my 240Z REAR suspension arm bushings(forward and rear lower control arm bushings) with OEM rubber that i already have (i woulda gone poly, but not in these here parts!). From what i`ve read i would rather leave the SPINDLE pin portion of the suspension arm alone if i dont find any real noticeable play in the wrong planes of movement. I`ve only looked around under the car without jacking up the 240z. Yes i`ve read through an amount of the threads on REAR suspension arm removal (also called a Transverse link right?) as well as having the Haynes manual. I just needed to make sure i understood it. The following procedure assumes i DONT mess around with the spindle pin/bushing portion of the suspension arm. So i plan on accomplishing this by detaching the entire Strut-Hub-Drum-Suspension arm, and here is what i envision the steps to do:

1- Raise rear of car via bodyframe sidemembers.

2- Remove wheels.

3- Put a jack under the differential and raise it till the jack supports the differential`s weight.

4- Unscrew the suspension arm inner bolts and the various nuts and bolts in this area of the arm to free the inner portion of the suspension arm.

5- Remove mounting crossmember.

6- Unscrew and remove suspension arm rear mounting bracket bolts to remove bracket and lift away that portion of the arm.

7- Disconnect flexible brake hose from brakes and disconnect parking cable from brakes as well.

8- Remove 4 bolts holding driveshaft flange at wheel hub end.

9- Disconnect suspension struts upper mounting nuts.

OK, now here is my question, Can i just then lower the entire strut-hub-drum-suspension arm assembly and thus detach it? Am i going about this correctly? Also, how do i check for worn spindle pin bushings WITHOUT taking off the pins as i already mentioned? Any and all advice appreciated! THANK YOU.

patrick

[Weasel73240Z]

If I'm understanding right, and all you want to do is replace the large (inner) bushings on the rear control arms, you don't need to take anything off of the car. With the rear of the car in the air, loosen and remove the rear control arm transverse link inner bolts (the big ones that bolt into the control arm). Support the front diff. mount, un-bolt it (4 bolts). Now you should be able to slide the front bushings off of the control arm. Next, un-bolt the metal retainer from the bottom of the link mount brace, behind the rear differential. Now the rear bushing should be free. Reverse to install. Make sure you torque everything back together correctly.

If you want to replace the smaller (outer) bushings, you have to take the spindle pin apart, and everything has to come out.

I attached a couple pages out of the FSM to help.

RA Rear Axle.pdf

RA Rear Axle11.pdf

[PATZ]

THANKS A LOT Weasel! The FSM pictures help a lot! Sorry, i forgot to mention that i planned on bringing the suspension arm to a shop to have the rubber bushings pressed out and have my new OEM bushings pressed in (hence the necessity of taking out the suspension arm w/the hub-brake-strut assembly). Otherwise, is replacing the inner bushings something i can do myself without any fancy tool? Thanks again!

[Weasel73240Z]

THANKS A LOT Weasel! The FSM pictures help a lot! Sorry, i forgot to mention that i planned on bringing the suspension arm to a shop to have the rubber bushings pressed out and have my new OEM bushings pressed in (hence the necessity of taking out the suspension arm w/the hub-brake-strut assembly). Otherwise, is replacing the inner bushings something i can do myself without any fancy tool? Thanks again!

The inners you can do easily with no special tools the way I described. Just have a good torque wrench, and some loctite for re-assembly. The outer bushings are tough to press out. Actually, the toughest thing for me, was getting the spindle pin apart.

Once the pins are out (lots of WD-40, lots of heat) I put the control arm in a vise, and melted away the rubber and inner sleeve from the small outer bushing. Grab the inner sleeve with some vice grips, and heat. Eventually, once its hot enough, the inner sleeve will pull out. The take a spade bit, paddle bit or hole saw (I think 1" is the size) and get out as much of the remaining rubber as possible. Then you have to carefully cut out the out remaining thin steel sleeve with a hacksaw blade. I put in the new bushings by slowly tapping them into place, you don't really "need" a press for any of this work.

Make sure you lube the bushings when re-assembling.

[beandip]

A couple of things that haven't been addressed here yet. first the spindle pin will come out fairly easy. Depending on weather the car is from the Rust Belt '' road salt'' or not. With a spindle pin puller. Second , this is important. When you reassemble the controll arm into the car. If you torque the bolts down with the suspension extended while the car is up on jack stands . When the Z is lowered to the ground you have preloaded the bushings and they will fail prematurely, because they will be twisted.

The factory recommends that you just lightly tighten the assembly while the Z is lifted. Then lower the car to the ground and add weight. They recommended two 150 lb persons. Then torque the fasteners to spec.

I lower my Z onto a couple of blocks to make it easier to access the inner control arm bushings. My Z is lowered .

Gary

[PATZ]

WEASEL73240Z- THANKS again! I can at least get started and get a go at the bushings, but i`l try it without messing around with the spindle pins portion and with the entire assembly still on the car(?), otherwise i may just go the route of removing the entire strut-drum-hub-axle assembly...

BEANDIP-As i originally said, i`ll check the spindle pin bushings part of the arm for any unnecessary movements in the wrong plane and if it checks out ok, i likely wont mess with it. And THANKS about how to properly torque the fasteners!