here's why to change rear axle bushes before 130,000 miles

[davidwort 0]

Car (1990 16v) was starting to feel a bit funny at high speed on bends etc...

I've done all the front bushes and they weren't in bad nick really but these pics of the rear bushes show the state of the rubber, it had come away from the inner shaped metal part all together.

Wasn't as bad a job to do as I thought, but it definitely helped having a 2 post ramp to take the beam off the car.

 

David.

[chrishill 0]

Hope mine dont look like that... 'perish' the thought!

mode>

[dinkus 10]

:roll: :lol:

[corradophil 3]

David, how long did it take you, and did you use the vw tool for removal and replacment of the bushes?

Does the car drive noticably better now?

[davidwort 0]

David, how long did it take you, and did you use the vw tool for removal and replacment of the bushes?

Does the car drive noticably better now?

 

I spent 2 days doing this!

 

It needn't have taken longer than a 3 or 4 hours though, I didn't use the VW tool, so I removed the rear axle completely (2 bolts) and 2 bottom shock bolts and then undid the rear brake lines clamping the hoses on the car to prevent the fluid draining through from the reservoir. I also fitted new rear brake pipes while I was there.

 

to remove the old bushes I cut/burnt out some of the rubber to extract the middle sleeve in the old bush and then used a hack saw to carefully slice through the outer wall of the bush to enable me to tap the bush out of the axle.

 

Pushing in the new bush was not too difficult, I just used a long heavy bolt with some very strong large washers to pull the bush into the axle, plenty of grease too. I basically just wound it in with a spanner.

You could probably use some kind of proper puller to do this other than the VAG tool, but my washer and bolt set-up with a few bits of metal packing to make sure the shoulders of the bush were being pushed on worked just fine.

 

the car is definately better now, everything is tighter, I've used all standard OEM quality bushes all round. Anything tightening up the rear axle improves turn in response and the higher speed, higher stress manouvering feels much more controlled now.

 

David.

[Bally 0]

Dave you nutter!

 

you'll have to take me out in yr car later to see the difference.. :wink:

[corradophil 3]

David, I think I will be doing this soon on mine, I will have to use the same nut, bolt and washer method, I did this when changing my front bushes. To be honest I found getting the old ones out a lot harder than putting the new ones in. How much were the bushes?

[Baz2004 0]

Those rear brake plates can get quite messy also I recently found out. :shock:

 

[corradophil 3]

Those rear brake plates can get quite messy also I recently found out.

 

Is that a flower pot fitted to your rear suspension?? How much of an improvement did it provide? :lol:

[daves16v 1]

Those rear brake plates can get quite messy also I recently found out.

 

Is that a flower pot fitted to your rear suspension?? How much of an improvement did it provide? :lol:

 

Do bigger pots make bigger improvements? :lol:

[Yandards 0]

LMAO Dave!!

[corradophil 3]

Hmmm I can see this thread turning into a "My flower pot is bigger and better than yours" debate.

 

David any tips you can offer for changing the bushes would be appreciated.

[davidwort 0]

Hmmm I can see this thread turning into a "My flower pot is bigger and better than yours" debate.

 

David any tips you can offer for changing the bushes would be appreciated.

 

Phil, my rear bushes were from GSF and OEM quality, only about a tenner a side.

I stood my rear axle on a pair of axle stands to work on them, cutting out the rubber was fiddly I used all manner of screwdrivers and whacking them to poke all the rubber away, it helped to soften it with a gas torch, once you have nothing but the outer metal part of the old bush left in the axle you can then cut through the wall of it by inserting a hacksaw blade and then doing up the hacksaw, slowly cut through the bush until you are nearly at the axle metal and then chisel the edge of the bush by the cut so the metal peels back, once you've got half of the length of the bush part that's pressed into the axle chiselled back the whole thing pops out quite easily. You'd never pull the old bush out I don't reckon, it would just distort and jam, perhaps the proper VW tool helps with extracting the old ones, don't know.

You need to be careful when pulling in the new bush to make sure it's orientation is correct (take a pic or leave one old one in place) and it pulls in straight at the start so you don't distort it, the metal is fairly soft. Make sure you clean up the axle first so no rust gets jammed in the hole as you're pulling in the new bush and don't pull the first one quite all the way in until you have the second one in and you have offered it up to the car again, I think it would be hard to pull them in too far but it's better to be safe than sorry. As I said before, plently of grease on the bush and in the axle helps when pulling it in.

I thought it would be worse to do than it was, I just took my time and all seemed to go well. It was fiddly to make sure the new bush was pulled on the right point on it, I found that by putting some bits of metal packing about 2cm deep and 2 or 3 cm long on the lip of the outer part of the new bush just where it bends and flares out, I got enough purchase on a strong part of it to pull it straight.

 

David.

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Well done for tackling that, not one of the nicest jobs to do on a Corrado.

 

Did you find that despite the crumbley appearance, the rubber still had a good purchase on the metal housing further in? Mine looked just like that (at 80K incidentally) but it took a lot of effort still to seperate the rubber from the metal inner. I don't think I've ever seen one come away from the metal completely though.....

[davidwort 0]

Well done for tackling that, not one of the nicest jobs to do on a Corrado.

 

Did you find that despite the crumbley appearance, the rubber still had a good purchase on the metal housing further in? Mine looked just like that (at 80K incidentally) but it took a lot of effort still to seperate the rubber from the metal inner. I don't think I've ever seen one come away from the metal completely though.....

 

yep, they were actually pretty well bonded to the inner sleeve still, in fact the only way I could get it out was using the welding gear with a burner tip on the end and burning the rubber away :lol:

Eventually I pulled it out with a pair of mole grips, but it didn't give up easily.

The flared bit that does the work of the passive wheel steer (I guess) looked pretty knackered though.

 

David.

[randal 0]

Ah crap, 4K to go on mine... ...and now I've tightened up the front end, the back end is really sloppy - think the culprit is obvious. Woo.

 

Good post with some good info, handy. :D