Saturn Ion Trailing Arm Bushing replacement disaster (GM Delta Platform)
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- Опубліковано 27 січ 2020
- Miserable job complicated by rusty car, bolts breaking, and having to cut through the floor. This video should convince you not to try this on your car.... This is part of my ongoing quest for 400,000 miles though so I did it.
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I am so glad I watched your video before changes out my daughter's "04 rust belt Ion.rear swing arm bushings. Her bushings were so bad that if you pushed on the rear of car sideways the rear tires would move forwards and backwards most of and an inch total. Around corners it felt as if a tire was flat and the rear wanted to steer all on it's own. I got a Dorman kit that included both bushings and 2 new center bolts with self-locking nuts for around $50.00. On jack stands, I removed the rear tires, hooked a come-a-long from the rear axle to a front cross member so as to limit rear axle movement and left the brake lines, shocks and springs attached. I did not attempt to remove the swing arm mounting brackets from the body. Way to rusted up ! I then cut the old passenger's-side bolt in two to get it out. The drives side bolt was no problem. Then placed a bottle jack below each coil spring and rotated the axle around the still-attached shocks just enough to bring the bushings below the body while not over-pulling on the brake flex lines. Then sawed and chiseled old bushings out. I then drilled out the brand new bushing bolt holes from .482" diameter to .500" and used 1/2-13 NC all thread with longer 1/2-13 coupler nuts and plates and a special spacer bored to 2.78" ID to allow the smaller end of the new bushes to finish "pressing" at around .165" pass the outsides of the swing arm. ( I have a lathe in my garage. My bad) Amazon sales a swing arm bushing removal-install kit for about $130.00 with shipping. I lowered the bottle jacks so the swing arm reentered the body brackets. I then shortened one new bolt by .375" and sawed off a hidden corner of the front edge of the passenger bottom rear wheel well just enough to install new bolt on the right-hand side. Then jacked the swing arm up to ride height before torquing bolts.
I think your procedure is better than mine was, I still have PTSD from my experience. Good Job!!
Very close to how I’d of done it
Honestly I had too cut/drill holes in my back seat same two bolts didn't come out and it was a flaw by manufacturer for some reason the have little holes next too both bolts if they would have sealed it, then no elements no rust presto stoopid nut would have worked.
Although the more I took apart more I found I had too replace going too see how much for complete control arm while it's apart and not worry for another 110,000 miles. Love this car but few dumb engineer designs but that is life
Thanks for posting this. The info about cutting in the floor really helped. I had to cut the floor and weld the nuts solid a couple of times to get the bolts all the way out
Glad it helped you and thanks for letting me know.
OMG... Had this video come out a month sooner, I would not have attempted this on my 07 saturn ion. I pretty much went through all the nightmare you went through, except that I did not have to cut and weld. "Lucky" for me only one of the three bolts were stuck for the bracket, which was the front bolt, and I used an air hammer to break the nut cage from outside after cutting the bolt head off then I push the bolt into the frame and pull it out from the existing big hole. Removing the old bushings was another disaster. The through bolt was rusted to the center part of the bushing and I had to cut both the head and tail of the bolt to get the bracket off. The bushings cannot be pressed out. I had to cut the bushings and remove them in pieces. Pressing new ones in also took a lot of improvisation. Now for the rear brakes, had to take the whole drum brake apart just to remove the emergency cable. Then bleeding valve was not coming off. Had to get new wheel cylinders. During those days working on this I kept asking myself why the heck did I do this. After all that I took it to a shop for alignment, but they said the rear is a solid axle and cannot be aligned. But I'm pretty sure the distance between the bushings would not be exactly the same as before. So is there not a way to "align" the rear wheels?
It is bad of me to take some small joy in knowing I am not the only one that suffers through these stupid repairs on a car that would be best served visiting a crusher....
I am not an expert on the alignment, but from what I can tell, the only way you could change the alignment would be to loosen those bolts on the brackets and then move the rear end slightly and tighten down again. I don't think there were really any slots to allow for this though, so you probably can't really move it enough to make any difference.
If he was smart he would have cut the bolt and avoided doing all that unnecessary work.
TIP, freeze the bushings right up to the time you install them
Removing the shocks and springs allow you to remove the four bolts that hold the hub and drum/backing plate onto the rear axle. Removing the drums off the axle makes everything easier to deal with. You must remove the clip holding the brake hose and fitting and grind a slot in the bracket so the brake line can be freed from the bracket. No need disassemble the brakes or to disconnect the brake lines or E-brake cables.or to have to bleed the brakes afterward since they're not disturbed except for moving them out of the way. Kudos for the bushing installer tool - I use a press.
It should be noted that, often, there is no noise associated with worn bushings in the Ion. The most noticeable symptom mine had was an unstable feeling when driving on rutted pavement and lane changes at highway speeds and my bushings were just as bad as the ones shown here. White knuckle time.
The brake line retainers will come out if you compress them with some vise grips or channel locks
So glad my ion is a south Florida car its whole life.my 06 has almost 2p0k on it and it looks brand new underneath compared to the one in this video.i grew up in Detroit i didnt start working on my cars till after i moved to florida luckily.i dont know how yall do it up there.just doing brake pads in the midwest would be a pain.
Yes, the rust is horrible, but the long cold winters with lots of snow coupled with high taxes make it all worthwhile....
OMG! I did the exact same thing, including needing to cut a hole in the floor under the seat...
I need to get a few threaded rod unions tomorrow, i shipped the threaded rod today and took a break before continuing....
They are really terrible cars in so many way...
My bushing was in rough shape so the rubber fell right out which made things easier. I used a torch to cut the metal part of the bushing out of the axle, if you aren’t good with a torch I do not recommend cutting with a torch you need to know what ur doing or u will cut the axle! I own a repair shop so I’ve been using a torch 5 days a week for the past 20+ years. If you can get the rubber out easy you can also use a sawzall to slice the metal to get it out and also can use an air hammer.
Between my mac tools master balljoint installation tool and my otc master hub tamer kit I was able press the bushing in. You definitely need to clean the rust out so the bushings go in.
There is an actual tool for these bushings. It’s like a 3 jaw hydraulic puller with some adapters. There also are some universal bushing tools on eBay/Amazon that Also will work just don’t buy the really cheap kits because the threads will strip out. Like I said I was able to use my master balljoint tool and hub tamer to install, it wasn’t super easy but it worked. Last thing I will say any Chevy, gmc, Buick dealership will have the correct factory tools to install these bushings. Yeah I know everyone wants to save money but this job only calls for 1.8 hours so even if u bring the car to have the dealer do the job it’s not going to be super expensive obviously if it’s a rust bucket like this guys car it’s gonna cost more but honestly if ur not very good with cars, don’t have decent tools and ur doing this in ur garage at home on jack stands ur gonna really wish that you just paid the dealer to do the job after ur in ur garage for 2 days and it’s still not done lol. If you know what ur doing, have decent tools, torches and what not u will be able to do it but for the amount of time it’s gonna take it’s really worth it to have the dealer do it, again it calls for under 2 hours labor.
Now you tell me.... Agree that if you don't have patience and some tools, it is not a good job to tackle. I am trying for 400K miles without ever taking the car in, doing all the work myself. Learning a lot along the way, like what a stupid goal this is!
Thanks just about to do mine , not looking forward to it , it looks nasty. Using Dorman bushings ,are you saying to take a measurement between the bushings before removing them ?
Yes, I should have taken the measurement. Measure two points on the bushings before you take them out so you can put back at the same distance apart. If you get them spaced wrong, then they won't fit back up into the brackets that hold them. It is less important to replace in the same position on each side than relative to one another, but if you can do that as well, all the better. If you have the spacing between bushing correct, then the rear end will go back in just fine, but if both are shifted 1/4" to one side, then your whole rear end will be shifted over by that same 1/4"
It also would be good to mark the bracket positions before removing them. I had so much rust that the position was pretty obvious. I don't remember if there was slop so that you could change your rear end alignment or not, but no harm in marking them to be sure you get it back together the same.
This job would have been much easier if it were not for all the rust problems.
Thanks
thanks posting this video
did you need to cut the bolt going trough the bushing?
was it a dorman bushing you used with bolt ?
I didn't cut the bolt because I thought it was a hardened bolt, but maybe it would have been easier to suffer through that than what I did. I don't remember for sure where I got the bushings, but Dorman sounds familiar. Sorry, memory not so good anymore.
Need to check my 2004 ion. Put a jack stand under the axel. Now I am getting extra clunks when going over bumps. :(.
I have never had a car with more clunks than this thing and it can be hard to tell where they come from. I noticed the clunking associated with my trailing arms was most prevalent when making a hard corner opposite of the last hard corner. It also felt loose on the corners because the rear end was moving, but mine were quite bad.
Best of luck to you.
@@JB_WI_Triumph Mine used to clunk only when pulling over a 4 inch incline to get over side walk into my drive way. I did let the dealer put new struts put on it about 5 or 7 years ago. Thanks for sharing this video. I am reconsidering doing that bushing change myself. Might do the rear shocks. Dealer thinks rear shock change will cost $750.
@@MrRmeadows $750 sounds way high to change rear shocks, they are pretty easy as I recall. If you car is not full of rust, the rear bushing change is doable, but it was miserable for me and my rust bucket.
@@JB_WI_Triumph I miss read their quote. Air Filter $85. Front Struts $740. Rear Shocks $260. And I really don't think it needs struts. I put in a really nice air filter for less than $20. They claim to see a leak in the back struts. I sure don't notice any bouncing. No nose dive when breaking.
@@MrRmeadows Leak in back struts? They are shocks in back and they really aren't even needed. I had original rear shocks at over 300K miles and only replaced them because I had to take them out to fix the bushings. They were totally shot, no resistance either way and had been making noise for years. I never noticed any difference, other than the noise gone, when I put the new ones in. I wouldn't bother replacing them unless they make noise or you are doing some exotic racing events. I know the dealers love to replace the front struts. If they aren't making noise, and the ride isn't bad, and your tires are not wearing uneven, I wouldn't replace them. Check your camber by looking at the front of the car. If you can see something obvious issue, then it would be good to replace struts (or check your strut tower, mine was cracked at on point). All that said, struts are probably easier to replace than the those rear bushings.
I have paid for all my tools, and mistakes made along the way, by working on my own cars!
Will 2 bolts be strong enough
Dammit I was just hoping to do this myself on my ion without disconnecting my brakes. Someone did the job on my old pontiac g5, and I never did get my bleeders off and had air in the system. Is it any easier to do this job with a hoist or will they just suggest new trailing arm all together?
If it's not rusted, it probably isn't that bad of a job. A hoist helps, but not req'd
@JB_WI_Triumph oh mines probably just as , or more rusty than your in your video here unfortunately, no holes in floor but at rockers. Im in Nova Scotia, Canada haha wish me luck
@JB_WI_Triumph id just take it somewhere but my fear is nobody works this hard at bushings anymore and will want to replace the whole thing, or they will meet those issues with getting the bolts out and charge me an arm and a leg.
@@jordanhare935 That's a valid concern. A pro might have better tools than I did though.
I just picked up a 07 Pontiac G5 & now i see all the things they were hiding! I assumed it just needed new tire's but no! It has 4 bent rims, cooling fan does not work, both front lower control arms rear bushings are shot! I replaced the lower control arm on the driver side in the cold, took a better part of two days! Then, I tried the rear bushing bolt on the passenger side & it would not budge!!! I eventually got it to budge just enough to let out a sound & probably turned a 16th or an 1/8 of a turn, screeched as it did so so, I got excited & tried again & my Snap-on breaker bar broke! It snapped the tip off, snapped the tool end in half so, Now I am scared that the bolt is seized within the threads of the nut WHICH IS ENCLOSED WITHIN A CAGE, HIDDEN BEHIND A WALL & NO ACCESS! Everything is so rusty that when I removed the outer tie rod bolt, it seized & the shaft started to spin & of course the outer was fused to the inner tie rod so, more money spent! Ordered new bolts threw ford so, I do have the correct rear control arm bushing bolts, also got some cheap nuts in case I cant use the original! I feel sorry for you MINESOTIAN'S WITH ALL YOUR RUST! At least you have access to a garage!!! I do not!!! I hope that I can remove the strut, knuckle, & axle to gain more access but, The sway bar would still be in the way!!! wish me luck!!! Wish there was a way to cut out the floor on my G5 to gain access!!!
I do take comfort in someone else feeling this pain... I know about the rear bolt on the (front) control arm. I went to take it out on my car and it was stuck as yours is. I think I heated the nut up, seemed like you could get access to heat, but I can't recall for sure. Anyway, it came out a ways, but the metal sleeve in the bushing had rusted onto the bolt shank. It would turn, the bushing was shot, but I couldn't take the bolt out to get the control arm free. The bolt with sleeve stuck to it would not fit through the control arm hole. I ended up getting a sawz-all in to cut the bolt off between top of control arm and floor. It sure seemed like it was a grade 8 bolt as it took forever and a small fortune in blades. Maybe this is something for you to look forward to :)
Angle grinder time baby!!
Was this bushing clunking or rattling try to solve a rear end hard clunk new shocks back there already thank you.
I can't remember how bad the clunking was anymore. What I really noticed was the car would wander on the road, if you shift lanes on the freeway quickly, then you could feel the back end go over too far and you had to counter steer it back to the middle of the lane. I think you can get a pry bar in by the bushing and see a lot of movement if yours are bad.
Great thank you for quick reply. I Put new shocks in rear and it is quite loud still. I have a bar on them cannot get much movement but bushing looks worn. Not Looking forward to dropping those brackets I have sprayed the bolt going to dive in tomorrow after letting the soak.
@@JBMOTORSMORE If it handles OK and you can't get any movement with a bar, I would make sure there is no other problem before trying to change these bushing. Have you made sure it isn't anything in the Drums or even Muffler banging around?
Mine had 1 bolt do that
So I am doing this job now and it is a pain would I be able to purchase a tool similar or the same to what you made so I can do this job successfully
I think you can still buy the special tool, but it really isn't that bad to do without. If you have someone that can help hold things, that helps a lot. A c-clamp can work too if you have the right size.
Oops, I thought you were commenting on the brake shoe replacement. What are you have trouble with? Pressing the bushings in?
Yeah I did this all on the ground and I removed the springs to roll the axle arms down I didn't remove the trailing arm retaining brackets from the frame because I didn't want to snap those bolts and that was before I watched your video so I'm glad that I watched it afterwards but getting the old ones out was about the same process you did the only difference was I used a reciprocating saw to cut out the rubber internal and make relief cuts around the inside of the bushing housing to knock out the old bushing and that worked pretty good and the new bushing has gone in all but the last quarter inch that I need for it to fit inside the bracket ears so I used a 2 and 3/4 clutch pulley from the back of the bushing to give equal pressure while pulling it in so as to not snap out the center pin because I didn't have the steel around to make the tool you made I have seen purchasable tools for that job online but none that are specifically for that car and I've noticed small differences in other trailing arm bushings as in size and build structure so they're not as universal as the tool says they are
@@stormlang9298 Do any of your local auto parts stores have the free loaner tool program and a bushing install took/kit? Otherwise, maybe you can find a socket or pipe that fits around the perimeter of the bushing and you can try to drive it in. By driving on the rubber bushing though, instead of the solid part, it is going to be tougher. If you can only hit the outside edge though, there isn't a lot of rubber to compress before you get to the steel bushing carrier. Another idea is 4 C-Clamps and try to draw it in evenly. That's all I can think of so far.
@JB WI none of the stores around here have any kits for that large of a bushing
doing it on my shitty saturn construction car my sons a mechanique changed out two rear shocks in 30 minutes and dropped complete rear axle in 35 minutes i dont know why this guy wont use a plumbers torch and or torches heat the goddam thing a good solide punch or air hammer and voila its out the bushing is shot anyways reverse to reinstall 1hour and 20min to install all back in bingo bango