V40 rear trailing arm bush fitment

[MickP]

Need to fit new main bushes to the trailing arms on my recently acquired V40 2.0T and on looking at the job it looks straight forward enough(no manual!),any unforeseen pitfulls I should know about before the spanners come out??

[scottishvolvo]

Be warned..it's harder than it looks.
The new bushes are larger and need to be compressed in different directions.
When mine were done on my S40 I had a local independent do them, cost me £60 and it was money well spent, I reckon I would have been days on them.

[Simon P]

Indeed be careful here - I had my bushes go a year or 2 ago, and asked a local independant to change them, they got the old ones out, and couldn't get the new ones back in. The "Special" tool that was required was Volvo proprietary, and Volvo don't supply it to anyone other than Volvo dealers (that's what I was told). In the end I took it to Volvo, and they couldn't refit the new bushes without removing the arms, and the cost of removal, fitment and replacement, was gonna be the same/similar as just replacing the trailing arms. In the end they had me by the short and curlies and cos I was out of the country at the time, and needed the car on my return, I had to OK the replacements and I ended up with a bill well into the hundreds of pounds for new trailing arms.

Be warned. This job, and another occasion where a seemingly simple component replacement resulted in the necessity of replacing the next, connected, expensive component resulted in me losing ALL faith in main dealer servicing - sorry, rant over.

[Clan]

The proper volvo tool enables the bushes to be changed in place fairly easily , just the front end of the arm is dropped down.

[MickP]

Thanks for the warnings,I do like a challenge!!
Im picking up the bushes tomorrow so will spend some time looking over the way they fit and if need be make a tool to fit them.I intend to remove the arms from the car so all should be apparent........he says.....what could possibly go wrong !!!

[Flying Torquewrench]

Mick,

Would you please be so kind to make some pictures and place them on the forum?

My bushes are nearly up for replacement and still deciding if i do it myself or go to the dealer. With regard to all the warnings i am tempted to go for the easy option.

Thanks.

[MickP]

Originally Posted by Flying Torquewrench

Mick,

Would you please be so kind to make some pictures and place them on the forum?

My bushes are nearly up for replacement and still deciding if i do it myself or go to the dealer. With regard to all the warnings i am tempted to go for the easy option.

Thanks.

Well I did the offside one this afternoon,and to be honest the only hard part was taking the suspension arm over to a mates workshop to use his press to remove and install the bush!
We found a large socket that fitted the outside dimensions and placed that on the old bush and pressed it out,then pressed the new one in.....no dramas but it does take two of you as the suspension arm complete with disc still attached gets a bit heavy after a while!!
The bush is just a metal sleeve with rubber inside surrounding a central tubular spacer,very much like the metalastic bushes you see around.
Do take note before removing the old bush as the central tubular spacer protrudes more one side than the other and the rubber is shaped to allow some movement in a horizontal plain so the bush has to be fitted in a position to allow this....a look at the old bush will reveal all.
So really,as long as you can get access to a press there should be no stopping you,its all just nuts and bolts!
I will be doing the other side tomorrow morning so if you need piccys I will have a go.

[Flying Torquewrench]

Thanks Mick,


It sounds straight forward. Shouldn't be to much of a problem as long as you got a press available. Fortunately the garage around the corner has one and they offered to press the bushes into place for a tenner. When they are up for replacement i will do it myself.

Thanks for your help.

FT

[MickP]

Some piccys as promised....
First pic of wheel removed and ready to go,2nd shows the top stabiliser bar pivot bolt you remove,3rd the lower bolt,4th a pic from the back side of the main arm showing two bolts to remove to release this bar.Before hand you would have removed the caliper and unclipped the hose,unplugged the abs wiring,unclipped the handbrake cable from the arm and then finally removed the main bush/arm retaining bolt at the chassis and the whole lot falls out(5th pic).
6th and 7th pic show how the bush sits in the arm with the offset central spacer and the moulded shape of the rubber.8th pic shows the arm you have to lug about whilst getting the bush pressed out being carefull not to damage the abs wiring.
9th pic shows why it was replaced,a split in the rubber which went all the way through allowing excessive movement and knocking sounds over bumps.
10th pic is the old girl herself,much improved ride quality with no knocking!!
Well thats 2 weeks ownership under me belt,I wonder whats going to be next......alls quiet at the moment.....

[Flying Torquewrench]

Thanks Mick,

Really appreciated!