Ls400 Rear Carrier Arm Bushing Replacement...do You Need Pics?

[new2mud]

Pishta,

I think the carrier arm bushings, the round ones connecting to the frame will take up any vibrations and my lexus dealership said lexus doesn't even make replacement rear carrier arms bushings anymore and they used the ones we used.. the ADUS 505 bushings, so really you don't have any choice, but don't worry about vibrations, this is a good fix for about 2 hours of your time and only $66, lots of bang for the buck here.

Well, found a set on craigslist for 40 bucks for 2 pair, left and right. Cheap enough to not pass up, even if I don't NEED them. I got them in the mail, and I am really dissapointed that these cost more than about 10-15 bucks! I mean, if they do the job, great, but SOMEONE can make these for pennies on the dollar and still clean up at 15 bucks a side. Allow me to point out the basics:

1. They are polyurethane, that means they are made of skateboard wheel material, and the old soft style at that! Around 80a durometer as fas as I could tell by squeezing them.

2. The pin is just Turned steel, I don't think the diameter or wall thickness is special, but the length and bore must be through bolt close and strut rod yoke wide.

3. Get yourself 4 48mm 81a solid skateboard wheels, ( bust out those old skates in your closet!) no deep dish or fancy insides, about 15 bucks shipped on Ebay. You can even get pretty colors! Turn them down and drill them out like my dimensioned drawing on a lathe with a wicked sharp bit.

4. Find some pin material, like spacer stock or thick wall hollow rod (metal supply or make your own) Make sure its diameter is 22mm or larger than the bearing race in the wheel. Drill the id to the bolt diameter. You can make the diameter any size that is convenient, just match the bore of the bushing material with a snug fit.

5. So: Get a machine shop to make you about 20 pins, buy 5 sets of skateboard wheels and spend an evening behind your lathe and sell each set for 15 bucks. Then move on to other LS bushings, simply, no?

6. Want it cheaper, buy 1 ADUS 505 bushing set. Make some plaster or silicone molds of the ADUS bushing and buy some 2 part polyurethane casting resin. At 75a, its very close to the ADUS softness (maybe a little softer) Pour a few dozen and get your pins made and bag'em in sets. Sell to all members of us.lexusownersclub.com!

Well, maybe not that easy, but why are these so expensive??? They really are not that special, but if they get a 45,000 dollar car (new) back to factory ride, maybe we are not the people to talk to about penny pinching....

Follow up:

Installed both sides today and OMG! Now this is what the car is supposed to drive like! Rear is completely stable. No more !Removed! wagging when you go over a bump in a turn. The rear does not sag anymore. I think my shocks are actually good! Noise over lane bumps is much quieter. This repair has really helped this car. I am impressed again, and to quote myself, "they really are not that special" I was wrong. They ARE special in the way that they make the car drive again, but they still are not that physically special.

The old ones were so soft, only 1/2 inch of rubber at the core of these bushings, the rest is void. My control rod could twist with light hand pressure, now it is solid. To appreciate what these bushings do, unhook the rod and move the carrier around, it is fairly easy to do and these bushings basically push the car forward and haul the car to a stop as well as keep the rear wheels tracking true. Lots of forces on this set of bushings.

A few points to stress when you do this job: Use jack stands. Dont bother drilling out the rubber bushing or burning it out or even pressing it out (unless you have a 33mm arbor, not real common) Just Tighten the nut/bolt and twist it out, I drilled the first one and pushed/pulled it out. Took me about 10 minutes drilling and cutting. Saw what it was made like and the second one was twisted out in 6 seconds and left alot less rubber in the there to cut through. Use a sawzall carefully. It is hard to see behind the brake shield on the bottom. I uses a rocking motion with the sawzall to cut down to the iron on each side then flattened it out to watch my progress, worked great. 2 sectional cuts, the piece literally jumped out, and the rest of the bushing pushed out with little more than finger pressure. I used lithium grease to lube the polyurethane bushings as they are impervious to petroleum as stated on the MSDS, no need for 5 buck an ounce grease! They pushed right in and the greased pin tapped in with the butt of a screwdriver, snug fit. Now the hard part, the arm does not want to reach back to the new bushing. I thought I tweaked something, but it was just the way the multi link suspension wants to sit relaxed. You need to muscle the carrier forward and turn the carrier inward to line up the trailing arm. It is difficult to do but I found a real easy way to do it. Dont try and lift it, it does not get it any closer, you need to turn the front part of the wheel inward, that gets it close, then you use a strong screwdriver or my tool, a long tapered punch. Put it in and lever the carrier and bushing to align. All these little tricks were from doing the first side and learning better ways to do it. I started the one side at 1:30 and by 4:30 I was done with that side and wondering if I could even do the other side tonight. Granted I did walk to the corner autoparts store to buy the "special" grease, and look for a few lost tools in my tiny garage. I would say a solid 2 hours for the first side. The second side took my 34 minutes from the time I cracked the lugs to the tire back on the ground and that was including some sawzall blade issues. I could do the next pair in under an hour, time me! Flexy video!

Fantastic...thanks to all for sharing tips/advice and especially the time-saving ones!

[melon]

I am not good at DIY but I try to stay on top of maintenance and repairs for my LS.

I, too, was recently told from the dealer that I needed new rear carrier bushings for a very expensive estimate.

Can I get this done at a local mechanic shop? In other words, is this considered a simple task that is easily done by non dealer trained mechanics?

[pishta]

I am not good at DIY but I try to stay on top of maintenance and repairs for my LS.

I, too, was recently told from the dealer that I needed new rear carrier bushings for a very expensive estimate.

Can I get this done at a local mechanic shop? In other words, is this considered a simple task that is easily done by non dealer trained mechanics?

Buy the bushings and swing by my house over a sat and Ill do 'em for you for 60 bucks. That is less than Lexus rates by about 90% PM me if in OC, So. Cal. ---------Melon, check your PM.

[melon]

Pishta, thanks for the offer! I pm'ed you back.

[dashan]

you can also find them here http://www.l-tunedparts.com/model/struct.p...=2&cat_id=7

Does anyone know the discount code for the Club Lexus or LexusOwnerclub at the I-tuned parts website?

Thanks.

[Murphys]

Ok...Here are the instructions from left to right, top row to bottom row. pictures are 1-12.

1) this picture is taken from beneath the car and shows me with a wrench on the nut and a socket wrench on the bolt. bolt will screw out. This was AFTER i loosened the nut with a breaker bar. these things are on at 136 ft/lbs. THEY ARE HARD TO GET OFF! step on the breaker bar or hit it or something to get it moving.

2) This is a picture of the old bushing before i pressed it out using the tools borrowed from Pep boys (see Jzz30s protocol if its unclear how to do this with the 2 jaw puller). This part is easy and when you pop that metal center out, it is a good feeling and you can see how rotted it was.

**Also notice how these metal-sleeved bushings are different from the ones that you will put in. First of all they have a metal sleeve that you see me about to sawzall in the next pic. (The new ones don't have this). Also notice that on the old bushing there is no rubber on the outside of the housing which will be there with the new bushing (see pic 12). This made me nervous when the manual and others said it needed to be torqued to 136 ft/lbs because the strut rod "clamp" or "cuff" was pushing against metal in the old bushing and now it is squeezing the rubber. I'm curious what others think, but however you do the new one torque it on tight!**

3) Getting ready to sawzall. BE CAREFUL AND TAKE YOUR TIME!!! If you have a 33mm circular piece of metal like the punch that jzz30 made, use this. I had nothing that was 33mm and would work. sawzalling will work fine.

4) Here i've made the cut and am placing a screwdriver between the old metal sleeve and the carrier arm housing. i first used a smaller screwdriver and hammered it between them. Then i took the bigger screwdriver (pictured) and pryed it out. Very easy once it is freed.

5) here is the old metal housing. See how it's been pryed? wish i'd taken a picture of the inner metal tube with cracked rubber all around it, but you get the idea.

6) time to get the new rubber bushing in! Grease them first (rubber and metal in and out) as well as the carrier arm housing where they will go in. I used Green Grease. It was expensive but is supposed to be waterproof and good stuff. I want to keep these bushing for a while. here is a far away picture so you can get a perspective of what i'm looking at. now to zoom in...

7) push the rubber in on one side and then on the other

8) same pretty much as 7

9) holding one end of the rubber (see my fingers), slide the metal center from the left to the right (in picture) until it's centered. easy.

10) now things get slightly trickier. see how the strut and carrier arm don't exactly line up? yeah, I had to really push to get these back together. if you can, wedge yourself in the wheel well between the back on the wheel well and the carrier arm/brakes. It seem counterintuitive, but you're going to kind of push down and forward on the carrier arm assembly while simultaneously holding that bolt in the proper place (see pic 11) so that when they line up, the bolt goes right in and secures them together. This my friends, takes a little muscle and effort, but luckily for me was the hardest part.

11) this is me positioning myself in the wheel well and aiming the bolt to slide in while i pushed. See step above on grunt work.

12) You did it! Now get your torque wrench and put it all together. See how the rubber is now on the outside of the carrier arm housing and the strut rod cuff unlike the factory bushing (picture 2)? This made me a little nervous torquing it so tight. I didn't get quite to 136 ft/lbs, but it was on there REALLY tight and the rubber seems to have survived. (Knock on wood it holds...) Really didn't want to tear it but maybe my concern is not valid. Factory specs say 136 ft/lbs. so do what you think.

Hope this helps people! take those $525 dollars of profit and buy yourself something nice.

Need i suggest you MUST have your car on jack stands NOT JUST A JACK FROM THE TRUNK? Do this job only if you feel comfortable. Most importantly don't hurt yourself and be safe when working under your car!

Thanks for the details. I just followed your instructions and all when well. I still have the vibration so I am still trouble shooting.

I found using a 2 foot pipe clamp between where the control arm joins the body of the car and the strut made steps 10 and 11 pretty easy.

[dashan]

What is a two foot pipe clamp? Could you please post a pic of the clamp?

Thanks.

Ok...Here are the instructions from left to right, top row to bottom row. pictures are 1-12.

1) this picture is taken from beneath the car and shows me with a wrench on the nut and a socket wrench on the bolt. bolt will screw out. This was AFTER i loosened the nut with a breaker bar. these things are on at 136 ft/lbs. THEY ARE HARD TO GET OFF! step on the breaker bar or hit it or something to get it moving.

2) This is a picture of the old bushing before i pressed it out using the tools borrowed from Pep boys (see Jzz30s protocol if its unclear how to do this with the 2 jaw puller). This part is easy and when you pop that metal center out, it is a good feeling and you can see how rotted it was.

**Also notice how these metal-sleeved bushings are different from the ones that you will put in. First of all they have a metal sleeve that you see me about to sawzall in the next pic. (The new ones don't have this). Also notice that on the old bushing there is no rubber on the outside of the housing which will be there with the new bushing (see pic 12). This made me nervous when the manual and others said it needed to be torqued to 136 ft/lbs because the strut rod "clamp" or "cuff" was pushing against metal in the old bushing and now it is squeezing the rubber. I'm curious what others think, but however you do the new one torque it on tight!**

3) Getting ready to sawzall. BE CAREFUL AND TAKE YOUR TIME!!! If you have a 33mm circular piece of metal like the punch that jzz30 made, use this. I had nothing that was 33mm and would work. sawzalling will work fine.

4) Here i've made the cut and am placing a screwdriver between the old metal sleeve and the carrier arm housing. i first used a smaller screwdriver and hammered it between them. Then i took the bigger screwdriver (pictured) and pryed it out. Very easy once it is freed.

5) here is the old metal housing. See how it's been pryed? wish i'd taken a picture of the inner metal tube with cracked rubber all around it, but you get the idea.

6) time to get the new rubber bushing in! Grease them first (rubber and metal in and out) as well as the carrier arm housing where they will go in. I used Green Grease. It was expensive but is supposed to be waterproof and good stuff. I want to keep these bushing for a while. here is a far away picture so you can get a perspective of what i'm looking at. now to zoom in...

7) push the rubber in on one side and then on the other

8) same pretty much as 7

9) holding one end of the rubber (see my fingers), slide the metal center from the left to the right (in picture) until it's centered. easy.

10) now things get slightly trickier. see how the strut and carrier arm don't exactly line up? yeah, I had to really push to get these back together. if you can, wedge yourself in the wheel well between the back on the wheel well and the carrier arm/brakes. It seem counterintuitive, but you're going to kind of push down and forward on the carrier arm assembly while simultaneously holding that bolt in the proper place (see pic 11) so that when they line up, the bolt goes right in and secures them together. This my friends, takes a little muscle and effort, but luckily for me was the hardest part.

11) this is me positioning myself in the wheel well and aiming the bolt to slide in while i pushed. See step above on grunt work.

12) You did it! Now get your torque wrench and put it all together. See how the rubber is now on the outside of the carrier arm housing and the strut rod cuff unlike the factory bushing (picture 2)? This made me a little nervous torquing it so tight. I didn't get quite to 136 ft/lbs, but it was on there REALLY tight and the rubber seems to have survived. (Knock on wood it holds...) Really didn't want to tear it but maybe my concern is not valid. Factory specs say 136 ft/lbs. so do what you think.

Hope this helps people! take those $525 dollars of profit and buy yourself something nice.

Need i suggest you MUST have your car on jack stands NOT JUST A JACK FROM THE TRUNK? Do this job only if you feel comfortable. Most importantly don't hurt yourself and be safe when working under your car!

Thanks for the details. I just followed your instructions and all when well. I still have the vibration so I am still trouble shooting.

I found using a 2 foot pipe clamp between where the control arm joins the body of the car and the strut made steps 10 and 11 pretty easy.