Rear beam bushes

[onemanandhispuma]

hi all, this is my first post so please go easy lol, just had my 1.7 puma lowered 40mm and about a week on it sounds like a family of mice are living in my nearside wheel arch and its DRIVING ME INSANE!!!! LOL :-( after squirting lube nearlly everywhere underneath i`ve narrowed it down to the rear beam bushes are squeeking when i push them so looks like they need replacing, does anybody know how much of a job this is and how long roughly does it take, many thanks, james.

 

[Dal]

Hi James and welcome along

The rear beam bushed can be a right pig to get out to be honest. The easiest way I've heard is to get the central bit out by drilling the rubber, then hacksaw through the bush outer metal skin to allow it to be removed. You could be there for an hour doing it, or 4 depending what access you have and your luck.

Personally I'd let a garage do it.

Have you checked your nearside rear wheel bearing?

How old is your puma and how many miles has it done? Got a picture?

 

[red]

Welcome along. I've heard of all the bushes the rear beam are the hardest to change and sometimes have to have a blow torch set on them :shock:

Thats way to much hassle for my liking.

Let us know how you get on though k:

 

[DradusContact]

Hoping to get mine done, front and back before the year is out. I will be getting a garage to do mine i think after Dal and Red's advice.

 

[onemanandhispuma]

hi ya all, yeah checked the rear wheel bearing and that is fine, had it down the garage this morn up on the lift and the rear bushes are fine which is pin pointing it down to the top rubber mount squeeking on the body so come saturday, i shall be greasing the top mount to see if that works lol oh its a 98 `R` reg and only now on 56,000 miles with fsh, lol its only had 1 lady owner since new, picked it up 5 weeks ago and already done 2300 miles in her haha. pics will come soon

 

[Peter]

So long as you have a bit of patience removing bushes isn't as hard as it seems. Most of the trick is in jacking and supporting the car suitably.

The best way to do it is as Dal says, drill through the rubber, remove the central metal part, then hacksaw through the outer metal sleeve. You don't need to cut all the way through the sleeve, just enough at either side, then you can drift it out with a suitably sized hammer.

If you're going to go to that trouble, you might as well replace them with some Powerflex items. They're reasonably priced and will never need replacing again. Plus they're a cool colour.

 

[AndyW]

When Pumaspeed did mine, they said the best way was to drop the rear beam. They did them in 20 minutes!

 

[VorTeX]

Hello and welcome!

It is a good job it isn't the rear beam bushes as they are a bugger.

Luckily all of mine were done by the ford mechanic that owned it previously just before I picked her up!

He had to use a blow torch to remove them, so it could be a bit of a tough job to do by yourself!

Hope you get your squeak sorted!

 

[C.B.Autos]

Rear Beam Bushes, Are easier enough really, if you have a powered hacksaw they can be done just as quick as burning them out. its all down to preference really. I personally like the burning touch...

However if you have the correct tool, which we don't lol you can actually remove the bush complete.

If any of you are around norwich/diss area come see me il do some for ya lol

chris.

 

[red]

k: cheers Chris

 

[davewaerofoils]

theres a bloke on eBay selling a removal tool for the rear beam bushes at around £60 and I have ordered one so will let everyone know how well it works !

 

[jacko]

cool! iv used an air chisel before.....! and some, er.....'powder that releases energy when ignited' (!!!!) that got the little sod out with minimal fuss; its the way ahead!

seriously tho unless uv got some mega kit i wouldnt bother & let a garage do it....id rather strip a gearbox than do bushes again!

 

[YOG]

Tremona Garage took the rear beam off and used a press to remove mine.
If you remove the beam yourself and take it to a machine/engineering shop, they can press them out for you. This would then give you the option to have new Ford ones pressed in (some people find the Powerflex rear bushes noisy).
The Ford ones should be cheaper and help offset the press costs.

 

[Peter]

Burning the rubber out is a *very* bad idea. The fumes that are given off are extremely toxic, and depending exactly on the makeup of the rubber itself, burning it can release hydroflouric acid. This is very nasty stuff, and if you get it on your skin it will melt its way through in a matter of minutes. Stick with drilling and sawing.

 

[C.B.Autos]

unless ive got exceptionally tough skin... burning them out is fairly harmless 2 your skin apart from if you actually burn yaself doing so. it does smell rather. to behonest now doing the bushes in my workshop with out the gas torch,

Step 1. Support the Rear axle in middle of axle. and undo the 4 13mm retaining bolts holding the front of tha axle to the chassis of car.

Step 2 unclip Handbrake cables from each side of the axle, (the thin piece of metal holding the cable 2 the axle. lower the axle down so it pivots on the rear shock retaining bolts.

Step 3 Remove the long 15mm headed bolt, with 19mm nut if i remember which bolts throught the actual bush

Step 4 Mark which way round the bush fits in place.

Step 5 with a about 9mm ish drill bit, drill out the rubber holding the metal centre insert of the bush in place,

Step 6 using a hacksaw/air cut a slit in the outer casing of the bush. using a hammer and chiesel/ air chiesel push the bush out.

Step 7 clean up any burrs in the metal on the axle where you might have knocked it with your chiesel

Step 7 for standard fit bushes using suitable piece of thread rod and large sockets... Ideally Ford tool. wind the new bush in making sure the bush is in fact in the right way round.

Step 8 refit your front mounting brackets through the axle bushes, jack axle up. refit the 13mm bolts on each side of axle. re-clip handbrake cables in place, and finally fully tighten, the long 15mm headed bolt once the axle is in position.

Please attempt at own leisure.. but remember this is a guide only lol i wont be held responisble for broken vehicles or any injuries occured through following my guide lol.

chris.

 

[red]

Thanks Chris k:

 

[davewaerofoils]

Hi all !
As mentioned earlier I bought a rear beam bush removal tool from a bloke on eBay and I changed one of the bushes in around and hour and a half and that included on the passenger side having to remove the bracket the bush is bolted through as the exhaust is too close to get the bolt out and expect the passenger side one to be quicker yet as there is enough clearance to get the bolt out as theres no exhaust there ! will post some pictures etc soon aswell as details of my crazy Rotordisc front disc brakes and EBC pads I have fitted.

 

[red]

I look forward to these pictures