technoman

I have a '97 Civic EX and my rear trailing arm bushings are about done for. Contemplated doing them myself, but I heard you have to do some press work on them and such. I'm fairly mechanically inclined, but I don't have a press to do the work if that's necessary. How easy would it be to do this replacement myself? Thanks.

b20hatchy

By using the search you can find a write up on this. I myself was thinking about doing this.

technoman

Sweet, thanks, I'll try to look for that DIY.

twinring

I bought the mugen hardend pieces 3 years ago that I havent installed because they are rough to install. I read that one guy used a drill to get the rubber out of it, then torched the metal cylinder and pounded the thing out.

bnuk

yeah that rubber is unbelievably tough and heat resistant. I replace mine with the ES bushing a couple months ago. I think there are two kinds, some that replace the bushing and the sleeve (prothane)(need a 20-ton press to push out sleeve) and some(ES) are just the rubber that pops into the same old sleeve. not sure what type the mugen is. popping the sleeve probably sounds a lot easier, but trust me its not. The ES is also a whole lot cheaper.

A tourch didn't do much for me, although maybe an oxy torch would do better than my benzomatic. what worked for me was to go all the way around the out side with a 1/4" or so drill bit and drill holes really close to the sleeve and eachother. Then go through and start connecting the holes by twisting and prying with the bit, you'll probably break a couple bits, i did, but it works pretty well. once you have the bulk of the rubber out there will be the little strips from between the holes left, I went through with a screw driver and hammer and chiseled them down. whole process probably took me a half hour for each bushing. I tried a variety of grinder and wire wheels and dremel bits but they just get clogged up instantly and start smoking.

If you don't have a decent bench vise you will also want to go to home depot and get the biggest diameter bolt they have and a nut and washer for it (i got a 1"). You need this to press the new bushing in. I got a 5" and a 3" bolt because there weren't enough threads on the 5".

twinring

the Mugen ones are hard as. and they dont have any holes in the bushing, its just solid rubber for the entire diameter. I took the trailing arm off and was going through the motions when I realized that I didnt have enough equipment to do the job. (need to drive my car to work) so I buttoned everything back together and Im going to buy some used arms and install into
those at my leisure.

One thing I might want to mention is that if your car is dropped and you change the bushings, its adviseable to install the bushing on so that the mounting flange is parrallel to the geometry of the drop because they twist when they are on the ground causing unwanted stress to the rubber.

bnuk

from what i read on Honda-tech, honda has changed there OEM bushings to where they are the exact same as the mugen. there are posts there from guys who have had both in their hands and they could not tell the difference.

white_n_slow

this thread is for you. Doable although aggravating.

https://www.honda-acura.net/forums/s...ng+arm+bushing

:edit:You'll have to scroll down a bit to read our solutions to bushing removal and install. I still remember what a pain it was, but seeing as my bushings were shot, I consider it worthwhile.

Also try searching in my name and Bumnah's name... I know we bantered about this crap for like a year.

technoman

Thanks for all the inputs, guys. I'll try this one on a weekend I'm thinking heh. I do have a relative with a 20-ton press, but I didn't want to drive 50 miles just to do this. Guess it might be something to consider now. Thanks again.

19.3secS2K

yeah, something like this, I'd suggest going with the press vs doing it yourself