Subframe bushing replacement instructions?
 

I have the bushings (Lemfoerder) and the eBay tool kit to replace the 4x bushings on the rear subframe of my 2001 3.0i E53.

I have searched high and low for instructions on how to do the job. The following video is the closest I can find to something useful (plenty of bad videos, too):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kD8winbz8kE

But I was hoping to get a set of instructions saying how to do it, lubricant for removal and assembly, alignment of bushings if that matters, etc. Found nothing at all anywhere, even from the kit, as if it is so easy and obvious that no instructions are needed. I can make that work, but still was hoping to find something written. Any ideas? :dunno:

It's pretty straight forward. Muffler hangers can be bent out of the way. Torch(even just propane) heat helps with removal. Maybe clean the hole with a flap wheel. I just used some anti-sieze for assembly. Watch the alignment.

I think my Repair manual has the steps. I'm about to do the procedure myself. If it's in there I'll make a PDF for you.

Funny, I had not thought the Bentley would have useful info on this, due to using the special tool. But I looked it up, scanned and attached here.

In there it does have some good, solid info, such as bushing alignment (arrows fore-aft within 7*) and lubricant (Circolight - googled on that for a while, and will probably use dish soap as a substitute). Also pre-heating prior to removal, with a heat gun with < 600*C for < 2 minutes.

Also solid, but wrong is the spec on torquing those M14 bolts. The Bentley says "163 Nm (94 ft-lb)", but those values are not the same. I'll probably go with the 94 ft-lb if they're class 8.8, or 163 Nm if they're class 10.9.

I'll guess how to make the eBay tool work should be self explanatory, or will rely on that youtube linked above. I know none of this is difficult.

But if I were to follow the Bentley literally, I would first drop the subframe 2", which includes a bunch of other things like disconnecting the differential and removing the exhaust. I know those are not strictly required, so I will have to guess what is actually required. I'll probably just try to do none of the extra stuff until I'm forced to.

I've seen many reports of people bending the exhaust hanger to get the required clearance, vs. the Bentley says to remove the exhaust (so you don't need to bend anything). I know my exhaust comes off pretty easily, so that's one I won't mind doing.

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As far as I remember you don't have to remove anything. Do one side at a time and you might have to pry down a bit for clearance depending how bad the bushings are. It's a bit of a work-out though so I would schedule in a beer break ;)

"break". Real men use "beer" as a unit of time. Eg "that will take about three beers to change that out"

Bwahhaahhaa

I did mine with the subframe completely off of the vehicle a couple months back. you can totally do it with the subframe still attached to the car (one side at a time). I had my subframe off for other reasons. As I recall the Bently manual suggested heating the bushing area of the subframe with a hot air gun for a bit to aid removal. As for installation I got some of this:

https://www.amazon.com/IPC-Emulsion-...ct_top?ie=UTF8

It's made for rubber parts, and made pressing the new ones in a breeze.

Good Luck!

Agreed, mine were a workout for sure. First one came right out, but subframe alignment and creating space for the tool on top of the bushing became increasingly difficult for the remaining 3. I was able to use a pry bar for the second one but then had to loosen the bolts on the other side and start to let the subframe down on all four corners and pry liberally.

Put new bushes in the freezer prior to installing them so they shrink a bit and warm the subframe again after removing the old bushes. If you use any lubricant be sure it's water soluble. The connection between bushing and subframe is supposed to be solid soon after installation so any permanent petroleum based lubricant is out of the question.

Depends on the type of exhaust. At least on V8 models the hanger for rear silencers is directly on the way while doing the rear subframe bushes so either remove the exhaust or warm up and bend the hanger out of the way.

I did mine twice. Pull the exhaust from the resonator back. It's not very difficult. Use a jack under the diff and lower the subframe a couple inches like the Bentley says. I used anti-seize. With the tool, removal and replacement is easy. Be sure to properly orient the arrows on the bushings. After they're swapped, raise the diff and bolt everything back up.

In preparation for doing mine I looked and it seemed pretty easy to remove the exhaust back from the resonator. I usually cut/break the bolts when taking off exhaust but those bolts looked like they might actually come off. Were you able to remove yours?

Yes, I pulled them at the back of the resonator. I PB blasted them first. They came off pretty easily. I put anti-seize on them when I put them back and I've had to remove them since and it has been easy. Of course, this is a California car. Your rust mileage may vary. ;)

I did the job yesterday. Went very well. Pretty easy. Some details, kind of in order of doing the job ...

Disclaimer - California car, so virtually no rust anywhere, and YMMV, but here's what worked for me, with little doubts as I went.

The bushings I removed have 199k miles on them, were showing no problems at all, so I was doing this mostly because it sounded like something people need to do. And I'm doing a few things like this on the car before my daughter takes the car away to school. I could have done nothing for many 10k's of miles, I think, at least. After removing, they did not look perfect, but definitely still intact. It could be that this made them easier to remove.

I did put the new bushings in the freezer. No reason not to.

Jacked rear as high as it would go, on jack stands.

Removed one tire.

21mm impact socket to remove the forward bushing bolt. I did all the work using my DeWALT 894 mid-torque impact wrench, which was awesome. Never even switched it to high mode. Bolt came out easily.

Disconnected the left and right rear sections of the exhaust. 12mm, 13mm, and 14mm nuts and bolts (LOL, why so many different sizes). Came off easily, all that hardware is original, last off and on when I did the engine work back in 2018.

The rear bushings on my 2001 3.0i are completely obstructed by the exhaust hangers. No working around them. So you need to either remove the exhaust or bend the hanger out of the way. For me, it was easier to remove. I did not completely remove the exhaust from the car, just disconnected it at the front and rear so it could be moved out of the way.

With both bushing bolts removed on the right side of the car, the subframe dropped slightly, but there was not enough gap above the bushings. I could have tried prying things, but thought of a different approach that would be easier. So I rolled the floor jack under the left-side rear tire (still attached, parking brake set) and jacked it up a few inches. I immediately got a couple of inches of clearance (plenty) at the tops of the right-side bushings. So this 100% eliminates any need to disconnect the diff, etc. as the Bentley says. I will guess that the reasoning may be that pro's would do this on a lift, and they would not want the funny looks from their co-workers when jacking up the tire. :D

Youtube video made it clear which parts of the kit to use, saving me from thinking about things. But all the parts are very obvious - if it fits like a glove, it is the right part, so use it. If it does not fit, you must acquit, so try a different piece. The kit in general is great.

Greased threads of the tool's threaded rod, nut, and bearing. 24 mm deep impact socket with my impact wrench. Came out very easily. No lubricants used on the bushing. On the first one I did, I wanted to overkill it a little, so I did the pre-heating with a heat gun, but after it came off so easily, did not use the gun on the other 3, with no problems.

Inner surface of the bearing carrier was smooth painted steel, probably as good as the day it rolled off the line. I wiped it clean with a paper towel, and anything further would have done no good and maybe made it worse.

For install, regarding the Circolight assembly lube, I found that a more commonly available equivalent is P-80. That's the stuff they use to install golf club grips, handle bar grips, etc. It is a rubber lubricant that allows the rubber to easily slide past the steel, and within an hour or so cures to a paint-like consistency (almost like a glue, but definitely not slippery any more). I did not detect anything at all like that on the removed bushings. If I had some of this already on my shelf, I'd use it but I don't, so I did not use any special assembly lube like Circolight or P-80.

I used a small amount of dish soap for my assembly lube, using even less on the second one, and none at all on the 3rd and 4th ones. All went in very smoothly. The Lemfoerder bushings come with some white powder on the surface that seems to provide some barrier to the rubber binding against the steel.

Again, the tool pressed it in very easily. Used the 24mm deep impact socket again, going in even more easily than it came out. About 2/3 the way through, the deep socket ran out of depth, so I backed it off and used a 3/4" drive socket as a spacer (by coincidence it was also a 24 mm, but not deep, not impact; I got the shortest 3/4" drive socket I had that would still clear the tool's threaded rod). That then allowed me to continue the job using the impact wrench, since I'm so lazy. :rofl:

The bolts are class 10.9, so I went with the higher of the Bentley's two torque specs = 163 Nm, assuming the error is in the other ft-lbs conversion. For further confirmation, page 020-4 of the Bentley lists torque values based on bolt size, for cases where there is no specific other spec. There, a class 10.9 M14 bolt is 180 Nm, and a class 8.8 bolt is 130 Nm. Also, my bolts all looked absolutely new and perfect. Even better confirmation is that nothing snapped off during torquing.

With the car jacked and exhaust off, providing good access to things, today I will see if I can replace the grease in the CV axles and driveshaft back there. (all original at 199k miles, showing no problems, just trying to extend the life further).

I'm in the rust belt but I'm regularly surprised by the lack of rust on my car most of which was in the "made of rust" rear brake lines. I find that exhaust fittings near the engine are usually easier to remove "righty loosy" eg turn clockwise and snap the bolt vs. attempt to remove. Less likely to strip the head if you commit and break them off.

[mention]oldskewel [/mention]

Did you use the teeter trick for the opposite side I seem to have missed something but what great feedback as I'm about to do this same job about 400 miles short of 200,000


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Since I knew I was going to re-grease the rear CV joints (done today), I did not immediately reinstall the right wheel when I was done with the subframe bushings on that side.

And when I did side 2 (left), I guess the new right side bushings were pulling the subframe up on the right side already, a little. So on the left side I barely needed any help and it was easily done with a pry bar. If needed, I could have easily put the right wheel on and re-done the trick for the left side bushings.

I punted on servicing the CV at the rear of the driveshaft. Got easy access to it. With the exhaust out of the way, just 4 sheet metal screws let me pull the heat shield to the side for good access. But it looks more involved than I was expecting, and since nothing is wrong with it right now, I figured it would be a very bad result if I try to do something that is not even necessary and it ends up causing a problem. If it ain't broke, fix it until it is.

I hope your job goes as easily as mine did. It was like working on a new car, even though it has 200k miles.

I've done that CV. It is somewhat involved. Unless it is leaking grease, I would leave it alone. Had nearly 260,000 miles on it when I had to pull it. It looked fine, felt fine and had plenty of grease in it.