Trailing arm bushings, Tutorial? Options

[Porschef]

There’s a pretty good chance I may be removing these on Labor(!) day, is there a recommended/preferred tutorial for this procedure? I’ve seen a YouTube video or two, but they’re not as descriptive as I’d hoped for. This’ll be my first rodeo...

I don’t know what’s happened to the search feature but it ain’t what it used to be.


Thanks in advance all.

[76-914]

I can't even remember what I had for breakfast but I'll try. I basically duplicated ER's tooling except I made some longer rods. I can tell from these pic's that the 914rubber isn't nearly as stiff as the ER product. After mistakingly installing the urethane bushings I didn't want to take a chance so I went with the ER product but with the bushings only. Another member gave me the dimensions of the tools and I turned some scrap 6061 round stock with small variations. Look at the pics for dimensions. The rods are the same diameter as the shaft. 1st install one of the bushings in the trailing arm w/o any lubricant on the outer part. The nemesis here is that the rubber bushings grab and want to tuck inside with the shaft. No sense in lubing the outside which would only make it easier for the bushing to move inwards. Now insert the copper (or whatever material you have) tube in from the other end. It's wide enough to slide over the shaft and with the end shaped as an octagon it covers the thickness of the bushing. Ideally you would turn some stock with the same I.D. as the shafts O.D. & the shafts O.D. the same as the rubber bushings O.D. The length of this copper tube is important. When the octagon end is butted against the bushing that you just installed into the drop arm the other end will be flush with the edge of the drop arms sleeve. Next Lub the shaft and inside of the bushing then place the drop arm on the bench press with the shaft pointing up and the other end of the copper tube on a flat plate. Press the shaft in adding lube as needed. Once it has about 4-5" remaining out flip it over and place that little "bullit" nose cone on the shaft with that short extension and install the other bushing. The inside end of the bushing should just come to rest on that little bullet piece so it won't fall off when you flip it over. The metal plate has a hole drilled in the center and it's diameter is just a 1/16" larger than the shaft. Place that plate on your bench press. Now put the 2nd bushing on it and continue pressing the shaft until it protrudes through the hole drilled in the plate. You may need to press the shaft from one end and then the other to get both bushings flat and not bulging out . The fit is so tight that when I installed the drop arm on the car and tightened it down I positioned the drop arm at the 1/2 way point of it's travel. I don't know and I'm not an engineer but I believe the grip of these rubber bushings, when installed, is a key part of this cars suspension. The big round barrel piece and the long slim rod are the pieces supplied with the bushings. Neither one of them were much use to me. Maybe if the fit was more loose they'd have been fine.