Subframe Bushing R&R Tool Rental

[davintosh]

Originally Posted by cncmastr

Thanks for offering this! It looks to be a lot easier when you have the right tools!

What were your symptoms? My X has 115k and I don't think they've ever been replaced.

I knew the bushings were bad when I bought mine; there was lots of thumping from the rear end when accelerating in the lower gears, and since mine has a manual transmission it took a light touch on the clutch to keep things quiet. Alos, when the bushings are bad, the rear end likes to help with the steering, and it will wander a bit on its own. Inspecting the bushings is fairly easy; remove the bolt and stopper from the front bushings and have a look at them. When I did that on mine, the center section of the bushing fell right out.

[theblue]

way overdue thanks to lost camera cable I present picture from my turn with the village bicycle:

[davintosh]

New brakes too; rides and stops better now I'll bet. Well done!

I hope to give my garage floor a similar finish one day; does it clean up well?

[Ricky Bobby]

hey theblue, how many miles on your truck and which replacements did you use? Febi?

Nice garage floor coating too, looking to do mine maybe next year, did you use rustoleum brand?

[theblue]

My X5 has 175k (or close), I forget what brand, I think I got them from blunt tech for like $120. You're right on the rustoleum brand, did it maybe 2 years ago and has maybe 1 more before I have to redo. PREP IS EVERYTHING, gotta get the floor as close to prefect if you want good results. the painting take no time and is the easy part.

[Ricky Bobby]

i hear ya on the floor, prep is everything with paint of any kind.


wow 175k, they must have been worn as hell! i only have 66k on mine but its mostly city life, next time i have the wheels off when i do my caliper painting i'm going to remove the front stopper and bolt and see how worn that center section is (or if its in pieces like yours!) then i'll know if i need to tackle this.


part of me just likes to replace these things with rubber (bushings and such) on the car just due to age, since the car is 9 years old and has been in the salty northeast and endured city driving, time also takes its toll on these components, not just mileage!


I learned that firsthand as I dropped my car off with my mechanic today, at 66k my tension arms are completely shot to hell, along with the wishbones and ball joints most likely.

you would expect longer mileage from components like these on other cars.

[theblue]

if you use a flashlight and look at an angle you don't even need to remove the bolt if they are bad enough... 3/4 of my centers were broken clean.

[romeokc10]

Originally Posted by theblue

My X5 has 175k (or close), I forget what brand, I think I got them from blunt tech for like $120. You're right on the rustoleum brand, did it maybe 2 years ago and has maybe 1 more before I have to redo. PREP IS EVERYTHING, gotta get the floor as close to prefect if you want good results. the painting take no time and is the easy part.

Did you give any thought to using the PowerFlex polyurethane bushings, they will outlast the vehicle?

[epdarks]

Originally Posted by romeokc10

Did you give any thought to using the PowerFlex polyurethane bushings, they will outlast the vehicle?

$500 subframe bushings on a $2000 truck doesn't make a lot of sense.

Those are Febi brand, FYI.

My question about subframe bushings is this: Do worn/failed bushings pose a safety risk? I would think at worst case you could end up cracking the subframe, which is bad indeed, but hopefully you would notice before it killed you. What other parts are stressed when the subframe bushings have failed?

[theblue]

yeah... I expect these bushings to outlast the truck, either way I win. I wouldn't recommend paying 5x as much for anybody, it's a horrible value unless there is some reason to believe these cheap ones are extremely flawed.