Strictly European Autosport - Features - DIY - Replacing E36 BMW Rear Trailing Arm Bushings



Replacing E36 BMW Rear Trailing Arm Bushings
By: Harold Lambert

Ok, this will apply to the E36 model and since I have been on various other sites and haven't seen any write-ups on this I will attempt to give this a go. Let's see what tools are involved. You will need these items 1. Floor jack, jack stands and wheel chocks 2. 1/2 inch drive ratchet with a 18mm and 19mm sockets 3. 3/8 drive ratchet with a 10mm socket 4. 1/2 inch drive impact gun 5. special bushing press 6. spray paint any color but black and maybe gray 7. Screwdriver and pliers

Here are the products I chose to use......



First, you will need to chock the front tires and slightly jack the rear of the car from the factory jacking point on one side of the car in the rear. Then you will need to paint the toe plate under the car.



Let the paint dry and then proceed to removing the brake line connected to the trailing arm with the 3/8 ratchet and 10mm socket as seen here......


Next remove the toe plate using the 1/2 in ratchet and 18mm socket


When the bolts are removed it will drop down like this and jack the car a little more to gain more clearance.


Now to remove the toe plate from the arm you will need to use the impact and a wrench to hold the other side and remove the nut and bolt and then pry off the toe plate.

Now you can remove the flange from the outer part of the stock bushing by prying out with a punch or screwdriver and then grabbing and pulling with some pliers. Once this is done you can install the removal tool onto the trailing arm/bushing area. The bolt of the tool runs through the middle of the bushing and out the other side. Looks like this.....


Now, I have been to every parts supplier and repair facility and no one is using this tool. I cant believe even the dealer lacks it. They remove the entire trailing arm from the car and use a press to remove the bushing. This tool lets you remove it while on the car. You simply turn the bolt head by hand with the ratchet and 19mm socket and voila its free.


Heres the crappy 30,000 mile stock bushing.


Next you need to clean out the inside of the hole in the trailing arm before installing the new bushings.


After cleaning the hole you can install the new bushings placing the parts in first and then the steel sleeve into them in the arm . Lightly grease the bushings to prevent squeaking.


Now put the toe plate back on.


When the toe plate is back on and the nut and bolt torqued with the impact you can put the entire assembly back up in the hole and bolt the toe plate back up using the paint outline to line up the plate and bolts. Torque those very good and replace the brake line. Now its time to go for an allignment and let me tell you that my car was within the thickness of a piece of paper so no toe allignment was necessary but I got it checked and had the camber and front toe adjusted. This is a must when any suspension repairs are done. Just plan on it. It is better to be safe than sorry.

This entire job took only an hour and certain other bmw only shops wanted to charge me 3 hours labor and who knows what else after removing the entire trailing arm assembly. Needless to say this tool owns all especially when every E36 with stock bushings requires this after every 30k or when the rear starts to wander under accelleration or braking. It's a huge safety issue and needs to be addressed.