Mechanic jargon

putanything said:
Just need to sort out a good brand for the hub mounts and then Im good to go I think. cheers for the advice.
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Go for OEM (lemforder) buddy, or Meyle

ECP should be able to help you out for a good price.
 
may as well change camber arm bolts too whilst there as they may well have to be cut out anyway to fit the new bushes.
 
Ok guys time for a quick update. Also thanks for all the great advice.

So after further quotes of between 90 and 400 for replacing them I have bitten the bullet and decided to have ago myself. Now so far its cost me 75 for the bits I need. Why I hear you all cry in unison how ever only 30 of that is for the supposedly proper bushing removal tool of ebay. The rest is some investment equipment.

Axel stands a steal from halfords £15 for 3tonne rachet ones half price.
A sealey breaker bar and a Silverline torque wrench (I am unsure how good it is how ever its gotten good reviews on amazon and its better than my grandads halfords needle one I hope)

I already have my socket set so thats good.

Can you tell I am starting to build my self a kit of stuff....

Now if you all dont mind I could do with some more advice.

I watch chrisfix on youtube and when he is working on his cars if he is reusing bolts he applies medium strength threadlocker as well as torquing them down. Do I need to follow suite and use thread locker.

Also do my new bushings need some anti sieze stuff like the copper stuff or is that a waste of money or even worse dangerous to apply to bushings.

Many further thanks in advance. Also I am not sure if this is in the right part of the forum anymore.

Also got wheel chocks very important I dont want to squish anything😊
 
Hello all,

yesterday I had a go at fitting these bushings. Nutshell I failed. Here is a little run down of events.

First thing to mention I do all my work on the side of a very busy main road into the city. Not ideal as this makes something as simple as jacking up the car problematic.

What I found out... I need a low profile jack as my trolly jack wont go under the sill. My resolution lift from the other jack point with a scissor jack to raise car enough to get trolly under to raise car enough to get axle stand under.

Got the rear wheel off and found that the tyre place had buttered the wheel nuts with a load of copper lube stuff. Not sure if thats good or bad. seems to be bad I have since found as it changes the torque settings of the bolts.

Anyway I had a look at the bushing and it was at such an angle if i had tried to take it out then I would never have gotten the bolt back through. Unfortunatly I could not get the suspension to sit level either with a crow bar or a jack under the arm raising it up. Ok I didnt go mental with the jack even though I gave the car a good shove to.make sure it was stable on the axel stands the way I had it supported just didnt look sturdy enough to me.

So I replace the wheel without breaking the bushing bolt so I can still drive it untill I think of another solution.
 
Take it to a garage doing work at the side of a busy road is likey to end in something getting squished :wink:
 
It's not a popular job with mechanics for good reason, bolts invariably get difficult and bush removal sometimes requires a hefty press and can result in component damage. Not an ideal roadside job TBH.
 
As others have mentioned your location is not ideal and if you want to do it yourself I'd see about borrowing a mates driveway if possible.

Regarding the jacking issues, I have the same since lowering my car at the weekend... simple solution is to have a couple of bits of wood, (I use cut down planks from a pallet) insert these in front of the wheel/wheels or which ever corner or corners you're trying to lift and drive onto them, you'll then get a trolley jack under the jack pad and you're away! :thumbsup:
 
Something squished is high on my priorities of things to avoid.

I think my old wise head is getting the better of me and rightly so. 10 years ago I thought nothing of swapping my front shocks on my mondeo using wind up jack. Ive tempted fate enough with things falling I think.

That being said Ive not given up on swapping these myself. But I am thinking 3 car ramps and a jack stand then all 3 of the other wheels are on something solid. A lot safer. Also a mates garage as recomended.....
 
Only use silicone grease on rubber. Other types can degrade the rubber or cause it to swell. Copper grease is an anti seize not a lubricant so avoid on rubber.

Good luck and well done for giving it a go.
I tried to do my drop links and gave up as didn't have the tools. On order now.
 
when i did the drop link I found 2 different brands on. one came of nice and easy and went back on easy. the other was the type with the alan key thing in the middle. siezed on I didnt stand a chance. so that was done by the garage.

Ive just booked this in for the bushings to be done next week. I keep thinking about it and i havemt got enough time to spend a day doing it and a further day swearing at the bloody things.

I will however be doing the shocks all around in a few months. that will be fun. my swear box will be over flowing with pounds by the end I will be able to afford an e89 😂
 
I was thinking of getting all the rear bushes done in one go. But I will let a garage do that by dropping the whole of the rear subframe. Could do the rear diff oil at the same time.
Toying with new springs and shocks, just approaching 100k so can only assume they're past their best.
 
I think Hobbs these kinds of jobs are funny really... you get into a stage where youre finding new things to do all the time. While the sub fram is down doing the diff oil.... may as well do this while we are at it and that. oh the wheels and calapers are off maybe do the discs too. New bolts new this that and the other. and before you know it youve rebuilt half a car when all that needed doing were 8 or 10 bushings. I am sure I will be guilty of acting on that train of thought one day. probably when I get a garage.

I had an idea the other day that may be a bit out there but could be fun. Collective zed repair days. or any car repair days. could be fun at these meets. a bunch turn up for a couple of days with some work that needs doing and as a collective team getting to work and fixing or improving problems we may have.
 
Temprature rather than force is your friend when changing bushes and bearings . Bearings and bushes usually just drop in and snug up with nothing more than a few taps with a rubber mallet if you get it right .
 
So let me take you on a journey of events that finally got my upper hub mount bushings done.

I dropped my car into the garage this morning after agreeing a price for them that I was happy with. A BMW specialist place near me. I went for some breakfast, I had just finished a particually bad shift in work the last thing I wanted was more problems.

So after 2 hours I went back to collect. It was still on the ramp and he had a pry bar. He told me he had changed them but in his opinion there was nothing really wrong with the ones he took out. He had had a look at the other bushings and said that they all seemed fine apart from the RTA ones that had a bit of play in them but he didn't think it was serious enough to get done asap.

Now I have had the tracking done at my local tyre place about 5 or 6 times since I bought the car. Both toe and camber apparently. This specialist showed me didn't just tell me that in his opinion the camber arms hadn't been adjusted at all in a good few years essepically not this year like I had been told had been done. He told me that he had never seen the RTA cassettes moved out to the extreme by such a large amount. I paid and thanked him for the advice and left. He had given me the number of a landrover specialist that was very good at alighnment in his opinion. But who would be reluctant to do anything untill all the bushings were bob on...

I passed by Kwik Fit on the way home and thought just to get roughly back in line again. They put it up on the ramp and started 45 all done I thought fine it gets me through the next 4 or 5 months. 15 mins later he came in and said he could only do a half arsed job on the toe as they didn't have the 'special tool' for doing z4 alignments. thankfully he didn't charge me anything so I left.

So I went of to this garage I had been recommended. I asked what he thought and he instantly looked irritated at my existance and lack of knowlage as if he expected every customer to have all the knowlage he had gained, and a bottemless pit of money. I decided enough was enough I needed to think about this more. I decided to leave. Got in the car.

Starter motor died. Or at least it wouldn't turn the starter motor.

I managed to get them to give me a push after banging my head against the steering wheel for about 10 minutes.

And here I am without a working car after un necessarily spending 90 notes on a job that didn't need doing.

Sorry for the rant. It has not been a good day.
 
Sorry to hear about your troubles,just a thought where are you based maybe someone could point you in the right direction to a tried and tested alignment place and also a mechanic that knows his way around a Zed.
 
Sorry to hear about your troubles,just a thought where are you based maybe someone could point you in the right direction to a tried and tested alignment place and also a mechanic that knows his way around a Zed.
 
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