I tackled the rear trailing arm bushings this week and thought I'd share.

The car is a 89 245 with 189k miles and original bushings in the rear suspension. The right rear of the car sagged a bit and driving was becoming a bit scary. The car was feeling unstable and wanted to wander.

The first thing I did was build the bushing tool as shown at http://www-ese.fnal.gov/People/wilcer/volvo_trailing_arm_bushing_tool.htm. The only change I made was to use 4 washers instead of 2 and grease between the washers.

I bought the BOGE rear bushings and the Poly front bushings from FCP Gronton. First time buying from FCP and I'm very pleased with them.

I supported the car using jack stands under the rear jack points and a floor jack under the diff. The removal/installation of the trailing arms was done per the Bently manual. Once the trailing arms were out, the bushing tool was used to remove both rear bushings. The left one was pretty tough to remove. I had to scrape off all the road grime and undercoating and use a couple of breaker bars and a hammer. Once the bushing broke free and started to move, it came out ok. The right side was a lot easier to remove and that bushing was in really bad shape. Most of the rubber between the inner/outer sleeves was gone and I could remove the inner sleeve by hand. The new bushings were coated with dish soap and installed very easy. The front bushings were in very good shape so I decided not to change them, I'll have to see if FCP will take them back.

After everything was back together, I jacked the car and placed the stands under the diff housing. This loaded up the suspension and after bouncing the car a couple of times, all the bolts were torqued to spec.

I drove the car to work last night and I can't believe it's the same car! The car tracks better and doesn't want to wander or grab the road defects. Most of the interior squeeks and rattles are gone and the noise level is way down.

I used hand tools, a floor jack and a pair of 3 and a half ton jack stands. I would say it took about 3 to 3 and a half hours for the left side and just under 2 hours for the right side. Air tools would have been nice but hand tools were fine. A floor jack was a big help, pretty much a must have. All in all, not too bad of a job and the results are huge, the car drives SO much better.

Cheers.