Fitting bottom arm rear bush.Is there another way?
 

:mad: I've just spent an awful day lying on the drive in persistant rain replacing my o/s rear bush which was so shot the wheel was moving backward and forwards in the wheelarch. The main hassle is refitting the bolts in the bush to fasten it to the subframe as you struggle to reach them with the arm in situ, so i had a thought. Has anyone fitted the mount in place first then with a bit of lube pushed the arm into the bush first before refitting the balljoints into place? I have the other side to do but it's going to take me a week to recover before i can even face doing it again.
Apart from a rattle that's now appeared over the bumps!!! the car feels great and the vibration through the car has gone . I thought it was being caused by my engine mount so i may have wasted my money on a powerflex one.

Pete if you lightly clamp the bush with a G clamp you can then line up one of the threaded holes by tapping the bush into position with a hammer, get a bolt in and nip it up, remove the clamp, a bit more with the hammer if required and get the other bolt in.

A small mirror and a torch are useful to check the bush is aligned with the holes. Simples. ;)

Mike

Good idea Mike. It appears that i'm going to have to do it all over again as the knock seems to be due to play in the arm to subframe ball joint that i must have damaged on removal. It wouldn't tap out of the subframe with my hide and copper hammer so i had to take a chance with the dreaded balljoint splitter and it looks like the gamble hasn't paid off. Now to try to get a good deal on a genuine arm as it's not worth risking a cheap one due to all the hassle.:cry:

I must admit that I always thought it was possible to swap the lower arm bushes with the lower arm pulled out.

Then to refit lube up the arm and slide back in.....

Well, in THEORY, as this is a job I have yet to have the pleasure of, but I'm sure I will soon!

RAVE makes it look a monumental pain.

When the rain is pelting down and running down your drive rendering your waterproofs useless and only have a jack and a couple of axle stands to raise the car to a limited height, you find that you can't release the large balljoint and finally you struggle for hours trying to refit it all back together.............

It is a monumental pain!!!!!!:getmecoat:

Just having the correct tools makes this job so much easier.
I wouldn't attempt it without an 18mm ratchet spanner, a G-clamp and a big crow bar if I was removing the bottom balljoint.

Mike, what size of G clamp would you advise as i will need to go out and buy one.

Peter

Easiest way is mark where the old bush fits (Scribe a line on bottom arm) remove bush and arm together, then refit new bush onto arm before fitting back to car.

An absoloute pig of a job otherwise (Especially in the rain) :(

When I replaced my rear bushes with powerflex ones recently I left the balljoint to the subframe in situ and released the balljoint on the lower hub.
Car was in the road with front on axle stands so there was only limited room underneath but I found that once I had pushed the bush and holder on the arm the correct distance that I had a little 'wiggle room' to get the bush aligned. It was perhaps a frustrating 15 mins each side in getting the first bolt in each holder aligned but straightforward after that. I had a G clamp ready but did not need to resort to it. Maybe I was just lucky.
Under the conditions you were attempting it would make a frustrating part of the job very much more difficult - hopefully when you try again the weather will be better and it will then all fall into place for you.
Good luck.

I have just had a thought!
I replaced mine with powerflex bushes which allows rotation between the inner and outer part of the bush this may well have helped me in alignment.
With a standard bush there could be some torsion effect in the bush to overcome which I suppose would make alignment more difficult.