I'm entertaining suggestions on who has the best price and shipping deal on rear trailing arm bushings. So far I have volvoworld.com at $13.44/rear bushing and $6.17/front bushing.

Sounds pretty good compared to local.

Thanks,

Justin B.
83 244 Turbo

It's worth repeating, DON'T SHOP BY PRICE the el cheapo $14 bushings I put in my '88 failed within a year, the torque rod bushings started slipping out and clunking within a month. As bad a job as this is even on a no rust CA car I'll never again use anything but bushings from Rusty over at RPR or direct from Volvo.

To paraphrase Alex, "your time, your money your busted knuckles"

Dave Shannon
Spring Valley, California (San Diego area)
'84-245 200K+
'85-244Ti 200K+
'86-740 230K+
'88-240 180K+
www.volvo2.homestead.com (Opens new window)

I made "the tool" two months ago as per the webpage instructions..worked FANTASTIC...

BE SURE to hacksaw the extra coupling in half and wedge it between the two rear trailing arm bushing flanges that are welded to the axle..if you forget this, you will, at a minimum, bend the flange, and at worst, break the flange weld at the axle...either will ruin your day.

Yeah, I will probably use both halves hose clamped in there!

I get all my mechanical parts (including my rear bushings) online from Autohaus Arizona. I can't say that they are better than the others, but I have been very satisfied so far for both Volvo and BMW parts.

The homebrew trailing arm bushing tool removes and installs the bushings. I made smaller versions of the same tool to do the other bushings. When the instructions tell you to by a hardened bolt - believe it. If you cannot find a hardened bolt long enough, buy several standard bolts, because you will break them.

Yeah, I ordered two of the 8"x1/2" grade 8 bolts and finally ordered the bushings from FCP Groton. Maybe next weekend, if the weather is decent, I'll take a stab at changing them...

Unless you're getting a Volvo or IPD branded rear trailing arm bushing, I wouldn't shop by price.

A while back I asked on the sbricks list if the aftermarket RTA bushings were okay. Not one person thought they were worth the savings. Various complaints of the bushings lasting less than a year, being able to be pressed in by hand, etc. Your car, your time, your call.

- alex

'85 244 Turbo
'84 245 Turbo

FCP Groton:
http://www.fcpgroton.com/volvo240rearsuspension.htm
$12 each. You know you'll need either THE tool or a homemade copy of the bushing tool to drive the new ones in. I used an air chisel to crush the old ones and force them out- worked NICELY- without it I would have struggled for hours. Might be best to take that to a shop if you don't have means to drive them in without trailing arm damage.
--
Rob Bareiss, New London CT ::: 86 244DL, 87 244DL, 88 744GLE, 91 244: 808K total

I'll check 'em out. I went their first and didn't see anything listed for rear suspension.

I have the pieces-parts for the homebrew tool just gotta "fabricate" it someday when I get bored. ;-) You mentioned punching the old ones out with an air chisel, I thought the "tool" was for removal also, guess I'd better read the article again. I do have an air chisel if that is what is needed, my bushings looked pretty hammered, what I could see of them...

Thanks,

Justin

The tool I just used was an 8-inch straight chisel that was a muffler removal tool. It was somewhat narrower than most I've seen- maybe 3/4 inch wide and straight the whole length. After removing the bolt and jacking the axle up out of the way, I pulled out what was left of loose pieces of the inner sleeve and rubber. Mine were REALLY bad on my 87. I can believe they were original. The inner sleeve came out in 4 pieces. I hit the bottom inboard edge of the bushing with the chisel in 2 places to collapse it. You want to avoid marking up the axles flange - you don't want any high spots when reinstalling.
Then hit it from the side (well almost directly up from underneath- the side of the bushing outer sleeve) to crunch the tube down a bit more. It was starting to loosen up at this point. Access wasn't great but the more you can jack the axle up the better off you would be. Then finished up by hitting the outboard end of the bushing with the chisel- collapsed it and started to drive it inward toward the differential. They install from the inboard side. The bushings are tapered so you're not going to get them in backwards. Once loosened up they basically came right out.
THE TOOL consists of a puller bolt, a big nut at each end, a big end cap that fits over the bushing on each side, a spacer that's just bigger than the bushing OD, and a big half-round spacer with clips for keeping the two axle flanges straight. The spacer is exactly the width between the two flanges, and it's ID is about the same as the bushing OD. 2-inch pipe would work nicely. The spacer tool has metal spring clip fingers to keep it in place- tie wraps would work great if you were making one yourself. The puller spacer is just a 3/4 inch long piece of 2-inch ID round steel. The washer/cap for each end is pretty fancy, because it is designed to stop the pulling operation when it bottoms out on the flange. Careful use of a flat washer arrangement would achieve the same thing. Look at the old bushing carefully and note how deep it's seated.
I have to say, the puller made installation a snap. Took longer to assemble the parts than to drive the bushing in. But it's a simple tool- good results can certainly be achieved if you have access to some of this hardware and hacksaw/grinder/drills.
Note also when installing: the bushings are marked with an arrow DOWN for orientation. Have fun with this one!
--
Rob Bareiss, New London CT ::: 86 244DL, 87 244DL, 88 744GLE, 91 244: 808K total

fcp groton has 'em for $12/$7 i believe