Replacing bushings

[RonNBama]

Almost a horror story (and may still develop into one). I noticed a "clunk" sound a few times when driving home from my last trip. A closer look revealed one of the rear trailing arm bushings completely gone!

The coach has twenty of these bushings. They require a hydraulic press to seat them in the arms. I was advised to only remove one are at a time to keep the alignment from shifting. The nightmare is still in front of me.

Any advise on dealing with this project will be appreciated. I successfully removed one of the easy-to-reach arms, so I know it can be done. The cross member (above the axle may be another story though).

[JimM68]

Assuming u are going to do this yourself, I would go to harbor frieght or northern tool and buy a 20 ton press for a couple hundred bucks. Get the job done one arm at a time. Then craigslist the press for half what u paid for it

[RonNBama]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JimM68 Assuming u are going to do this yourself, I would go to harbor frieght or northern tool and buy a 20 ton press for a couple hundred bucks. Get the job done one arm at a time. Then craigslist the press for half what u paid for it

Sounds like a plan! I "think" I have access to a 20-ton press where I used to work, if the machinist will give me a little leeway. Might be easier (and cheaper) to just buy one though.

[ronspradley]

Harbor Freight came to my mind also. That is what I use them for. Buying a tool for one time use. And in this case, sell afterwards.

ronspradley

[RonNBama]

Found a nice 25ton press on craigslist this morning. Got that covered and should not lose any money when I pass it on to the next owner. Now to find the right socket and breaker bar.....

[RonNBama]

The press works perfectly. However, the bushings supplied are 3" wide and the mounting flanges on the axle are 2.8" wide. Read a nice write-up on how to do the necessary modifications but bought too small a power tool (4-ton spreader) from Harbor Freight. Now to see if they will take it back and let me apply that toward the purchase of a 10-ton unit. Actually found that a bolt with a couple of washers and nuts (and a lot of wrench turning) can be used to spread the flanges apart. The saga continues but the Christmas trip has been cancelled.

[JimM68]

Rock on Ron, you got all winter to get-er-done!

[sc3283]

take that rig and have it checked for alignment and have a thrust angle alignment after bushing replacement. With you opening up the mounting flanges, you have no control of which flange moves further. This can create a different angle of thrust due to rear end not being perfectly 90 degrees to center line of frame

[RonNBama]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sc3283 take that rig and have it checked for alignment and have a thrust angle alignment after bushing replacement. With you opening up the mounting flanges, you have no control of which flange moves further. This can create a different angle of thrust due to rear end not being perfectly 90 degrees to center line of frame

Good point. Still cannot figure out why the bushings are manufactured a bit too big. Source thinks the flanges have been forced inward from their original 3" spacing by the torque on the 7/8" bolt. Could be that after the old bushings disintegrate, the flanges are pulled together a bit.

I am not an expert on anything suspension/alignment related (other than the application of band aids to skint-knuckles) but I am going to give this thing the opportunity to prove it needs realignment after I get the components reinstalled. My plan is to have the flange-tweaking completely and exactly reverse itself when I re-torque the bolts with the new bushings installed.

[walt2137]

Ron are you planning to do all 20 or just the ones that have slack, would you give us a report when completed? Good luck on getting the job done.

[RonNBama]

Quote:

Originally Posted by walt2137 Ron are you planning to do all 20 or just the ones that have slack, would you give us a report when completed? Good luck on getting the job done.

I had Source over-night me two bushings when I was under the impression that I only needed one arm done before a planned trip. I ordered the remaining bushings, front and back to be delivered via standard shipping. At the recommendation of Source (and my own personal Guru Of Monaco'ism, also known as Rex) I plan to replace all bushings.

A closer inspection reveals that the bushings are completely gone on one end of each of the rear arms! The front all appear to be intact, but I am sure their time is limited. I am finally on a learning curve (rising). The first few days my learning process was "flat-lined". I may yet encounter a completely insurmountable obstacle and have to punt though. Will know this week as my remaining bushings should be delivered by Wed.

"All I want for Christmas (other than World Peace and Universal Love and Tolerance) is all my bushings replaced".

[walt2137]

Thanks for the info Ron , The bushing problem is something else for me to check but I do know of one 94 Dyn owned by Fred Hingle that has over 200,000 miles on it with no problem that I am aware of and Bill D 94 Dyn with close to 150,000. I have close to 70,000 on my coach, what is the mileage on your coach?

[Pusherpilot]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RonNBama I had Source over-night me two bushings when I was under the impression that I only needed one arm done before a planned trip. I ordered the remaining bushings, front and back to be delivered via standard shipping. At the recommendation of Source (and my own personal Guru Of Monaco'ism, also known as Rex) I plan to replace all bushings. A closer inspection reveals that the bushings are completely gone on one end of each of the rear arms! The front all appear to be intact, but I am sure their time is limited. I am finally on a learning curve (rising). The first few days my learning process was "flat-lined". I may yet encounter a completely insurmountable obstacle and have to punt though. Will know this week as my remaining bushings should be delivered by Wed. "All I want for Christmas (other than World Peace and Universal Love and Tolerance) is all my bushings replaced".

Ron,

Is your chassis a RR8S? If so how many miles are on it? Mine is a 2004 Imperial on a RR8S with 87k on it. I'm having trouble visualizing the arms and amconcerned for the condition of mine!!
Thanks,
Ron

[RonNBama]

Quote:

Originally Posted by walt2137 Thanks for the info Ron , The bushing problem is something else for me to check but I do know of one 94 Dyn owned by Fred Hingle that has over 200,000 miles on it with no problem that I am aware of and Bill D 94 Dyn with close to 150,000. I have close to 70,000 on my coach, what is the mileage on your coach?

My '98 currently has just over 70K on the clock. I don't recall the name of the poster, but Rex sent me a very precise description someone had written about this experience on his '98 with around 65K miles. His experience was similar in that the rear was toasted.

The handling will kind of sneak up on you. Thinking back, this bushing failure has probably been going on for several thousand miles. The coach drove poorly in the last 800 miles (trip to MS and back) but there was a side wind the entire time, so my gut-feeling didn't raise alarms. Last week when I pulled out into the street and the coach rolled over a 6-8" swale at an angle and I heard this "CLUNK", I knew something was amiss.