steve_a Posted January 6, 2007 Share Posted January 6, 2007 I thought this was going to be an easier job than it turned out to be, took me a full man day to do the radius arms. No removal of old bushes, the polybushes just came right out, the metal inserts fell out as soon as the arms were clear, so there was a bit of wear Took me 1/2 hour to get arm off, 5 mins to put new bushes in, and the 3 hours to get the thing lined up - in the rain A quick tip which would have saved me about 2 hours is to get a couple of old bolts, probably progressive sizes up to the radius arm bolts and then cut the ends to a wedge shape. You can then hammer the wedged start bolt in and it will drive the arm to the right spot, switch up a size so it aligns some more and so on till you get to the old bolts that are the same size. If you are lucky i guess you might be able to just slide the new bolts in after that, otherwise you can use the new bolt to hammer out the aligner and leave it in place. I think this would work great on the near side, it works fine on the off side front bolt, but the rear one is very tight for clearance, i have the aligner in but can't get the new bolt in place, I was getting tired of being wet through though. I think having a second person to rock the truck would help a lot in getting those front arms aligned. I think I had mentally blocked out the trauma of doing my brothers range rover last feb... So any other tips for how to align the holes? I can't believe i didn't think of grinding the wedge onto some old bolts earlier, would have cut the job right back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hybrid_From_Hell Posted January 6, 2007 Share Posted January 6, 2007 Trolley Jack underneath the curve for up, BIG pry bar for moving about and a big and then even bigger phillips screwdriver to line up does it for me Nige Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simonb Posted January 6, 2007 Share Posted January 6, 2007 So any other tips for how to align the holes? I can't believe i didn't think of grinding the wedge onto some old bolts earlier, would have cut the job right back. Do one side at at time so that the axle has less chance to move. When I did mine had the same problems. I had bought new nuts and bolts, so in the end I ground a taper on the end of the old bolts and used them to pull it into line with trolley jack to push it into the mounting lugs. If you asked, you could have borrowed them as I still have them in the "useful things" drawer of the tool box... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve_a Posted January 6, 2007 Author Share Posted January 6, 2007 Pretty much what I did Si, learnt after doing the range rover that taking both sides off made life harder. And the taper is what I did with some spare bolts I had in the garage. Drivers side is just so short of clearance that it is a right PITA to get a hammer in and knock the bolts in. Just wondered if there was more than a brute force and luck method I am pretty sure that the lift is making things harder as the axle looks like it just needs to rotate a little to bring the rear bolt in line, which would be in line with lift rotation. I even chocked all 4 wheels before starting to try and stop any movement of everything. I know the front are the hardest having the two holes to line up, the rear ones shouldn't be too bad when I get to them. Next question - what do I do when I drive the car and it goes in a straight line, I'm gonna have some more time on my hands so was wondering what everyone else did Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simonb Posted January 6, 2007 Share Posted January 6, 2007 Pretty much what I did Si, learnt after doing the range rover that taking both sides off made life harder. And the taper is what I did with some spare bolts I had in the garage.Drivers side is just so short of clearance that it is a right PITA to get a hammer in and knock the bolts in. Just wondered if there was more than a brute force and luck method I am pretty sure that the lift is making things harder as the axle looks like it just needs to rotate a little to bring the rear bolt in line, which would be in line with lift rotation. I even chocked all 4 wheels before starting to try and stop any movement of everything. I know the front are the hardest having the two holes to line up, the rear ones shouldn't be too bad when I get to them. Next question - what do I do when I drive the car and it goes in a straight line, I'm gonna have some more time on my hands so was wondering what everyone else did Time to buy another LR! Oh forgot you have 2 already.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Posted January 6, 2007 Share Posted January 6, 2007 i find swearing loudly at the truck while levering things about with screwdrivers/crowbars etc helps. oh & not doing the chassis mount up till the axle bolts are in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Se7enUp Posted January 6, 2007 Share Posted January 6, 2007 I did my front bushes recently - a complete pain in the a*** to get them lined up! Managed it eventually after lots of tears, swearing and blood. I used a jack under them, a really big lump hammer and a pointy tool made from an old (big) screwdriver. The trouble is I need to do the rears next. Anyone got any tips for replacing A frame bushes? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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