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Trailing arm bushings

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by ononeathome, Jul 6, 2014.

  1. ononeathome

    ononeathome Junior Member

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    She's 10 years old with most of her life spent in AZ. This means that a lot of the rubber she has is dead or dying.

    Is it possible to replace the bushings in the trailing arm or is it true that you have to replace the entire trailing arm?

    Thanks
     
    #1 ononeathome, Jul 6, 2014
  2. Patrick Wong

    Patrick Wong DIY Enthusiast

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    Are you referring to the front suspension: lower arm subassembly? If yes, the repair manual exploded parts diagram does not show that it is possible to separately replace the bushing.

    If you are referring to the rear suspension: rear axle carrier bushings, those are separately replaceable from the axle beam assembly.
     
    #2 Patrick Wong, Jul 6, 2014
  3. edthefox5

    edthefox5 Senior Member

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    No trailing arm. The lower A frame/control arm is sold complete with the lower ball joint which is a good idea to replace at 150K + anyway.
     
    #3 edthefox5, Jul 6, 2014
  4. ononeathome

    ononeathome Junior Member

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    It's the rear suspension.

    I've had two different mechanics call it a trailing arm, sorry about my mistake.

    There are various rubber pieces that the rear suspension uses. They are all shot, along with the shocks.

    I have the KYB replacements for the shocks.

    What are the rubber parts called that are used in the rear suspension? I'd like to replace all of them with silicon so I never have to worry about them again.

    Thanks
     
    #4 ononeathome, Jul 7, 2014
  5. Mike500

    Mike500 Senior Member

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    #5 Mike500, Jul 7, 2014
  6. ononeathome

    ononeathome Junior Member

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    That was incredibly useful. Thank you very much. I always find diagrams help a lot.

    When I was under the car I also noticed a square rubber, I'm going to call it bushing again, that was mounted in part number 8 in the diagram from the link you sent. Is this the "bushing" that is not replaceable? Instead you have to replace the entire part?

    Thanks again.
     
    #6 ononeathome, Jul 7, 2014
  7. Mike500

    Mike500 Senior Member

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    You're very welcome.

    The bushing is replaceable.

    If the bushing is cracked on the outside, where it is exposed to the air doesn't mean that the bushing is bad on the inside.

    You have to apply a lever to the bushing area of the trailing arm to see if there is any play in the bushing.

    If it "shakes," the bushing is bad and need to be replaced.

    A tool can be made of pieces of pipe, plates, a half inch threaded rod and a couple of hex nuts to "push" the bushing out into a "receiver" pipe. The same technique can be used to install the new bushing.
     
    #7 Mike500, Jul 7, 2014
    Last edited: Jul 7, 2014
  8. cgalpin

    cgalpin Junior Member

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    I agree, but could not convince a safety inspector here in VA of this! I have zero play/movement in mine and they still failed it due to exterior cracks in the bushing.

    Do you have any pictures/videos or write ups of doing this? I ordered bushings and a generic bushing replacement kit for cylindrical bushings, but these bushings have a lip and square portion on one side, so to push them put the receiver side is going to have to be custom I think. That or I'm going to cut the square section off with a sawsall first. Installation should be ok (I hope).
     
    #8 cgalpin, Feb 24, 2019
  9. cgalpin

    cgalpin Junior Member

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    Just to follow up on this in case anyone else runs into it, I cut the square end off with a sawsall and could use a generic cylindrical bushing removal tool/kit to remove and press in the new bushings. $100 in bushings, $100 for the tool, and about $50 to update my safety gear, and fresh sawsall blades and cutoff wheels.
     
    #9 cgalpin, Mar 4, 2019
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