you better take your car somewhere else. sounds to me he does not know what he is talking about. Have you read the haynes manual? look at the pics in there and compare to your car. I find it difficult to believe anyone would tack weld a bushing. What for? So the heat melts the rubber that is already deteriorated? Or did they put the wrong size bushing in and it spun around?

Even so, the bushing was replaced. Did it go bad AGAIN. The things should be good for 100k miles at least...something fishy.

From what I am making out of your issue, I would try grinding them off. I've heard some Bricksters mention that If you buy "cheaper" bushings, the trailing arm bushings might be loose. These bushings are the ones attached to the axle so I too am confused as to why you want to buy new arms.
If your mechanic has any pnuematic muffler cutting tool, he can cut the bushing out then get in there witha file and clean up the tacked welded material that is left.
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'75 Jeep CJ5 345Hp ChevyPwr and two motorcycles: it wasn't Volvos safety , it was Longevity that sold me

This isn't really making sense to me. So you know what the big (rear) trailing arm bushings look like, right? I mean when they are out of the car. So you are sure that they are tack welded in.

I am confused because the rear bushings are not mounted in the trailing arm, they are mounted in the axle. Are the extra trailing arms for something else? Did he mean that he might damage the trailing arms while removing the front bushings? That is unlikely. They are pretty easy to remove + replace with a press.

$100 sounds a little steep for a pair of used trailing arms. I guess it might be worth it, because if you went to a yard, you would have to haul a bunch of tools out there and get under the car and pull them out. Doesn't sound like fun.

If the rear bushings are tack welded in there, it should not be difficult at all to grind off the welds, and it should not take a long time, and there should be low risk of damage to other parts. You just have to hold the cutoff/grinding wheel so that it's face is parallel to the mounting flanges that the bushing sits in. In other words, keep the axis of the grinding wheel parallel to the axis of the rear axle.

So you are sure this guy knows what he is doing? He is reputable? How come he doesn't have his own press? How come you have to pay $25 to the machine shop?

It's also a little confusing because even if you welded the body of the rear trailing arm bushing to the axle, it's not going to fix anything from bouncing around. And if they welded the bushing to the trailing arm, then something would bend or break when the suspension moved.

Can you clear up any of these issues?
Greg