I bought the poly ones from FCP Groton so I wouldn't have to buy/rent/fabricate a tool to press out the old ones. These bushings use the old sleeves. I only needed the ones at the axle. All my other bushings looked pretty good.

What a snap! I thought it would be a tough job. I just drilled some holes in the rubber, then used a torch to heat them. Right. As soon as the torch touches the rubber, it ignites. That actually expedites the process. Then as the rubber loosens/softens, you can use a chisel or screwdriver to just push the messy stuff out of the sleeve.

I used a 2" wire wheel on an electric drill to finish cleaning out the sleeves. Since the exhaust is close to the right side bushing, I used a 90-degree angle drill attachment I got at Harbor Freight for $10 or so.

The bushings I had put in the freezer until I was ready to install them, so they would be contracted and easier to push in.

They went in easily, and the center steel was a little more difficult to push in, but the grease that comes with the bushings made it doable.

Now I have no clunk, no driveline vibration, no changing of direction when I apply or lift off the throttle. Very nice!!

2 questions,

1. Can you describe the clunk?
2. Under what conditions did you hear the sound?

I hear a clunk from what I think is the right rear in both my cars when I make a sharp right turn.

Thanks

It would clunk from a stop when I let the clutch out, and when abruptly opening or closing the throttle in lower gears. If your bushings are bad you can see them under the rear axle where it bolts to the trailing arms that lead toward the front of the car.

The bolt should go through the center of the bushing housing. you can actually see part of the bushing if it's really bad, since the axle bolt will be off-center so much.

The clunking comes from the axle bolt moving around inside the shot bushing and contacting metal.

I don't think turning would have any affect on the clunking. It's power application that tries to move the axle around.

Did you do the front trailing arm bushings also or just the rear? I am thinking about doing this too since it seems as simple as you describe.

I only did the rears, since the others all looked fine. I also read on this board that the rears are the ones that typically go bad, while the others are less likely to.

I jacked the car up with a floor jack under the differential, put jack-stands under the jacking points in front of each rear wheel and lowered the axle.

Then I removed the bolts (much easier than I thought it would be) and jacked the axle back up to gain access to the bushings. I did one side at a time, but I suppose you could do both at once.

The poly bushings are a little pricey at over $60 including shipping, but save a lot of time and effort that would've been spent building a bushing tool and going several rounds with the stubborn sleeves.

Good luck!