UKSaabs

Now I do have problems...I think!
While replacing my rear brake pads & handbrake shoes today I found out my lower transverse arm ball joint/bush has gone.
Naffed up my rear tyre too....Not happy.

Im guessing it would be best to replace the upper & lower arm bushes at the same time.
Question is how?
I see WIS says to use the press tool, which I dont have, so can a home DIY mechanic who likes breaking things do this little job, or does the whole hub assy have to come off & the bushes pressed in/out?

PFS are doing these bushes at just over a tenner a pop which isnt bad at all, but the rubbers look as if they could be damaged by some ham fisted lump hammer throwing yobbo like me!



So, whats the verdict guys, anyone done this job at home?
TIA.

i watched as the mechanic did mine.... it looked painful BTW. they didnt have the tool (despite saying they had) and had to resort to hacksaw and and a very large press thing. took the whole arm off to get at the bushes properly. took them three hours, which i said was excessive so i paid for 1 and half hours. that was with the comfort of ramp, roof overhead and air tools.

then a few months later the other side needed doing.... i went elsewhere and though i paid the same, it was a much more reassuring job.

i think you will need a vice, lots of hacksaw blades, a BIG hammer and time and perseverence.
are the proper press tools about £90 ??
doesnt look a nice job from what ive seen.

No no no no no! Your supposed to say "yep, its an easy 10 min job with a rusty screwdriver & a hammer Johno."

Bum, not going to be an easy one this then.
Im not really worried about getting the old one out, could proberbly do that with the arm still on the car, its fitting the new one thats got me scratching my head.
I did try a search on here but I was having computer probs last night & couldnt do the search jobbie.
Im sure I read somewhere that with the special tool (whatever that might be) this is a 10 min job with the arm still fitted to the car, cant remember where I read that though.

Thanks matey, looks like Im in for a fun time of it.

Blimey, just been talking to a guy at the dealers, £25 + VAT for the bush & three hours labour.
Thats £200 odd quid to change a ten quid bush........It must be an ''Censored'' of a job then!

You think that's bad?

I've got poly version of bush '11' that have been in the boot for either 1 or 2 years.

My garage have refused to do them as they are a 'pig', and my ones are not completely dead yet!...

wrighar wrote:You think that's bad?

I've got poly version of bush '11' that have been in the boot for either 1 or 2 years.

My garage have refused to do them as they are a 'pig', and my ones are not completely dead yet!...

Thats what Im worried about too Andy, I thought (& I dont know what made me think this) that these wernt to bad to change on the 95's, & I bet if I remove the arm off the car to change one bush the rest of them will fall to bits also.
I was going to order the poly ones (#11) when I did the rear ARB bushes but I didnt...Silly boy.

I could loan you my press tool if you cover the postage costs

csaab wrote:I could loan you my press tool if you cover the postage costs

Blimey, thats very nice of you, didnt expect that at all.

Ah, not that Im saying you are not nice, Im sure you are very nice....OMG, its all comming out wrong again & this hole Im in is getting deeper!

I assume youve done this on the 95 before then?
Can they be changed with the arm still on the car?
Any tips would be great.

If you could possibly PM me your contact number at some point I'll get in touch when I have the bushes here, I might (if my work pics up) be able to collect & return the tool, work sees me around Bristol/Swindon area quite often.
If not then good old RM will have to do.

Thanks very much for your kind offer, god this place is good!

Cheaper to buy a new/nearly new bottom arm with bushes in situ??

Fliptop wrote:Cheaper to buy a new/nearly new bottom arm with bushes in situ??

Ah, I had thought about that Al, god knows how much a new arm would be, a second hand one would work, but I could end up with the same problems 6 months down the line.
I really wanted to uprate my rear suspension, during this summer, 173k miles & the towing my car has done mean the rear end is now in need of some new parts!
Thinking about it them Konis Si was selling would have been good, wonder what nick the arms on his red breaker are in?

Calling sABBOTTage..........Come in please......Over!

johno wrote:Thinking about it them Konis Si was selling would have been good, wonder what nick the arms on his red breaker are in?

Calling sABBOTTage..........Come in please......Over!

Buy the arms, swap out the bushes with new ones and then put the refurbished ones on your car. Keeps the car off the road for the least amount of time.

Robert wrote:

johno wrote:Thinking about it them Konis Si was selling would have been good, wonder what nick the arms on his red breaker are in?

Calling sABBOTTage..........Come in please......Over!

Buy the arms, swap out the bushes with new ones and then put the refurbished ones on your car. Keeps the car off the road for the least amount of time.

I like that idea, good advice Robert.

I am here! I am not much good at this stuff! The bloke who took the Koni's off will know more! I know that he will read this soon. So, we'd better wait for his advice!

I could take some pics tomorrow and show you. The car had done 121,000 miles before it died. It didn't have a tow bar either!

SaABBOTTage wrote:I am here! I am not much good at this stuff! The bloke who took the Koni's off will know more! I know that he will read this soon. So, we'd better wait for his advice!

I could take some pics tomorrow and show you. The car had done 121,000 miles before it died. It didn't have a tow bar either!

Nice one Si, sound likes its rear end has had an eaiser life than mine.......Oooooerrr!

Done loads of the tranverse link bushes, 10 mins each with an air gun and the tool, bit longer if your spannering, but still absolutel doddle of a job, all done in situ, just pop the bolt out, push arm up/down and your in.
I also have the required tool if anyone needs a loan.

Murphwiz wrote:Done loads of the tranverse link bushes, 10 mins each with an air gun and the tool, bit longer if your spannering, but still absolutel doddle of a job, all done in situ, just pop the bolt out, push arm up/down and your in.
I also have the required tool if anyone needs a loan.

Well thats great news (more along the lines of what I wanted to hear) Mr Murphwiz Sir.
I knew Id read somewhere that it was an easy enough job with the tool, but a right PIA without it.
Thanks for the info matey.

johno...Please send me your email address! I.E. keeps throwing me out when I try to post pics.

Cheers matey!!

I will try this way!

Time for a quick update on this one, with some pics of course.

Now, I received a PM from our own super mod Robert, he told me not to go for the cheapo bushes as they wouldnt last 5 mins, so just for fun I ordered one bush from a seller on Ebay who does them for a fiver each just to see how bad they really are...& they are bad.



Bad one on the left, good one on the right.

There was a spring clip missing off one of the rubbers & when I pulled the rubber off the bush looked like this.



Dont think thats quite right, theres more play in this one than the failed one Im taking off the car!

Anyhow, I ordered the rear rose bushes from Turners Hill Garage via their Ebay shop.
Very good price for the propper Saab jobbies, £50 all in for the four bushes.
My local dealer wanted quite a bit more than that & didnt have any in stock anyhow, morons!



The only problem is how am I going to remove the old ones & fit the new ones?
Ha, UKSaabs comes into play once again here, a very nice man, Carl (csaab) offered to lend me his press tool which looks like this.



Brilliant, what a gent.
So I set about removing the old bushes.





What a mess that one was. Totally goosed up my rear tyre too.

So, here I go with the spanners & Carls tool.





Things were going so well until..............



Oh eck, now Ive gone & broke Carls tool!
To be fair he did warn me this could happen, & after a quick dash to my local tool shop (Laser Tools stockist) I managed to replace the goosed threaded bar & two nuts for 12 quid.

Out with the old & in with the new.....









Job done, all four rose bushes replaced. Not the nicest of jobs I have to say.
Many thanks to Carl, helped me out no end there matey.

Next suspension job.......



That looks like a fun job too.
But thanks to Nev, I have here a brand new set of Powerflex trailing arm bushes waiting to go in!
Cheers matey.

Things were going so well until..............

Oh eck, now Ive gone & broke Carls tool!

been there and broke my bush tool as well