Right guys, my rear beam bushes, especially on one side, are banging and crashes over the littlest of bumps. I've got a set of replacements which I was going to have a garage fit for me, but they are booked up, so i'm thinking of having a go myself. Do I need any specialist tools ? I was thinking along the lines of: * Supporting the rear of the car ( with the wheels off obviously ) * Remove brake line clips to give some slack. * Lower rear beam on jack. * Hammer out old bushes * Insert new ones. Have I missed anything ? Seems to easy but I've been told its a pig of a job on the MK4. Any advice would be much appreciated. Cheers. Rich.
All sounds good apart from the 'hammer out the bushes' part, they simply don't 'just' hammer out. I've seen blokes chasing beams around the floor trying to 'just' hammer them out. lol DIY guide here http://www.golfgtiforum.co.uk/index.php?topic=205144.0
Nice little guide there cheers Seems do-able. Would it be worth greasing up the new bushes to help the re-fitting of the new ones ?
Ive done a few before, its possibly my most hated car job. Im doing my mk4 very soon, wanna go 50/50 on one of the fitting tools? The fitting tool is 60 ish, which is pretty steep for a tool youll only use once In fact, wanna make a saturday of it? Do both cars?
I've done the rear bushes on our Toledo, which is Golf MK4 platform. I removed the old and fitted the new bushes using a proper tool kit off eBay. This kind of kit: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GOLF-MK4-...arts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item45f23d0efc It's just sat there on my shelf now; you could most certainly borrow it if you want but you're a fair trek from me (Oxfordshire).
Just seen Matt82's post. It's actually honestly not a bad job when you're using the proper tools. Do you guys want to borrow my tool (ooer!) if I send it in the post?
Just use a decent sized threaded bar with a thickish plate on one end to pull against and the other end will need a cup almost to etc the bush fully through this was by far the worst job i did on my mk4 even more than smoothing the whole bay lol i would advise using copper grease on the axle and bush when pulling the new on in as it will make life much easier removing the old one is easy either burn it out or use a drill with a small bit and drill the rubber out then use a hacksaw to cut the outer coller and release the tension it should just pop out then there is a good guide over on uk-mkivs
Aye I hacksawed the bush once I had the rubber part out Used a drill to break up the rubber first then bashed it out The drivers side is OK But the passengers side was a pain as I left the brake flexi on I marked where the bracket was and remove the bolts To let it drop down to give a bit more space I also fitted Polly bush's to make the job easier to do
when i replaced the bushes on my golf i found two old sockets (old AF sockets are best as they have funny sizes ) that were just slightly smaller than the full diameter of the bush, threaded rod ( make sure its think enough think i used 12mm )some nuts washers and an impact gun..you need to cut a bit from one of the sockets so it sits over the the flanged side of the bush and the other socket at the other side with the threaded rod through all of it with washers and nuts clamping it together. assuming you have lowered the axle use the impact gun to pull the old bush out ....do the same in reverse for fitting with a little wd40 for ease.... but beware as the bushes need to be set correctly or when you lift up the axle back into position they may foul against the car...you can only do it this way if axle is lowered or off the car .
Also, ive noticed that the left side is noticeably louder than the other side, and also, i'm having an issue with brake pads wearing down very quickly on that side ? I changed the pads a month ago, and the left one has worn down already ?
Thinking about it, I now also remember hacksawing out the old bushes. The tool was just used to force the rubber part out, and then out came the hacksaw. Not difficult but just annoying and time consuming.
I've done this three times on MK3 Golfs - needs to be done on my current but have been putting it off as it's a s**T job! Best thing it to remove the complete beam rather than attempt half hanging down on floor. Then bend in the metal lip of the bush with a chisel of some sort then use a drift to hammer the hell out of it. Takes some time to budge but one you have slight movement will pop out fairly easily after that. Yeah Trev - I recall doing this also on the last one I did helps!
Trev - where in Oxfordshire are you ? Mine has just failed its MOT on bushes and I could do with not buying a tool! I'm also Oxfordshire - but South...
