Re: Bushing replacement goes afoul (archive)

Are you sure that the bushings didn't just back out when you lowered the car and then attached the thrust arm? This happened with me and I had to jack everything back up again. The cause of my problem was that I placed the jack stand on a part of the trailing arm which would not allow the arm to move into the correct position when the body was lowered back down onto the rear axle. The rear axle then did not sit properly and the body just pushed the bushing out about one inch or so. The top of the bushing should sit in a shallow recess on the underside of the body. I repositioned the jack under the axle stub the next time and, as the body was lowered back down, the rear axle carrier moved into the right position.

I don't think that the lubricant is the problem since bolting the thrust strut to the body throught the rear axle carrier prevents any one part moving independent of the other. However, you might want to also check that the long bolt is fully home. If the knurled part at the top of the bolt does not seat properly, the bolt will move and will allow movement of the bushing. Let us know what you find.

Regards

Alex Lynch

I replaced both beer can bushings on my 1990 735iL about a month ago. Today I looked under the car to see what was causing a squawking noise and found that both bushings had backed out and that the body was sitting on top of the subframe. I suspect that what I did wrong is that I used an industrial rubber lubricant and didn't allow enough time for it to disperse before putting weight on the bushings. Am I going to be able to shove the bushings back into the subframe? If I do, will they stay there?

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