Rear Lower Control Arm Inner Bushing Replacement
 

Lately I have been addressing some maintenance issues with my 1987 124.133 300D.

The latest is replacement of rear inner control arm bushings. Initially I thought I would just press them out with some sockets / hydraulic press. But once I removed the lower control arm and inspected the thin outer sleeve of the bushing I realized this might be somewhat of a challenge to press them out without proper removal tools / very tight fitting round stock.

So I used my hand held drill and a couple of drill bits to drill out the rubber and remove the inner thicker sleeve. Once the inner sleeve was removed, I used sharp ground punches to peel away the thin sleeve.

The press worked great to install the new bushings. I did clean up the housing bore in the LCA and applied some grease to help installation. I was very surprised at how tight the bushings fit in the LCA. Normally I don't have to use so much pressure to install replacement bushings or wheel bearings, but these were extremely tight.


I took pictures to document the removal.

Additional pictures

Remainder of pictures

I saw someone just tear the middle out with a press, then saw a slot in the outer shell. Then the outer shell came away easier.

That sounds like a quicker way. Just be careful not to saw into the bore of the LCA.
Thanks for the tip.

what was wrong with your bushings? they looked great before you drilled out the rubber...

Yes the bushing in the picture from the LHS of the car was in much better shape than the RHS. The car has been twitchy as if standing in a canoe. Replacing these two bushings helped some, but did not take it all out. This started when the axle boots had torn and had to come out for new boots. Then I examined the wheel bearings with the axles out and they had some wear, so I replaced them. I had to remove the hub assembly to press out the bearings. With the hub off, it was obvious that the RHS inner LCA bushing had play. Much easier to flex the LCA around with the hub removed. Kind of like an avalanche, the deeper I got, the more stuff I found. But it does drive better, so the results were worth the effort. Still looking for that last part that is contributing to the remaining canoe effect.

Did you replace the carrier bushings on the outboard ends?

Sixto
87 300D

[QUOTE=sixto;3017236]Did you replace the carrier bushings on the outboard ends?

Yes, about two months back. They helped some also with the twitchy driving.
Everything I do seems to help a tiny bit, but just not a eureka moment where one thing fixes the entire issue.
Here is what I have done so far in the following order:

1) Outboard rear carrier bushings, both sides.
Some slight improvement in ride. The rubber was torn, but there was still grease inside, so I suspect very little wear had begun.

2)Next:
Front LCA sportline bushings. The sportline bushings are made of noticeably stiffer rubber than the originals and
Front sway bar bushings.
This was a definite improvement. Slightly stiffer ride, little more road noise, but a driving improvement. Still twitchy, but a little less so.

3) Next:
Station wagon rear sway bar links. (had to shorten the lower bushing lengths to fit) and
Rear cradle subframe bushings. Used the two sportline line ones and the two replacement ones.
Took this for a ride and there was a slight improvement. (not worth the effort on the cradle subframe bushings for the slight improvement. While I thought the originals were worn, they were not. But this was not obvious to me until I had them out in my hand)

4) Next:
Rear LCA inner bushings
Rear Wheel Bearings
Axle boots
Dirty Road Axle seals / wheel bearing seals
Again an improvement due to the one bushing that was soft/worn, but still has a little of the highway "twitch".

Up to this point this is the best the car has ridden in the year and half I have owned it. Bought it with 198K miles, it now has 228K miles.

I tugged and pulled on all the remaining links in the rear. No torn rubber, no in/out movement. Easy to flex around without the hub in place, but no sign of dry or worn out rubber.

This is the first 4 wheel independent suspension car I have owned. Are they inherently twitchy with normal road undulations / slight irregularities in the road? Or should it be as stable as a rock under all conditions?

I am beginning to question my ability to diagnose this issue.