Rear bushings

[bratboy]

Crazy question, I never see anyone talking about replacing the gen 1 rear bushings. Looking around online makes them tough to find and they are always pricey. Do they not fail?

[akstonbreakfast]

Assuming you're asking about FWD rear bushings, the big chunky bois that locate the trailing arm/twist beam axle assembly. I have an AWD, but I built a trailer on a used FWD rear suspension that I use to haul steel and have used to haul gravel, which I have to imagine exceeds any extreme use case that an FWD Vibe would see. I haven't noticed any wear in the bushings.

The bushings in my AWD rear suspension, however... they are quite sad.

[Bagnew12]

I powder coated the rear axle beam replaced the rubber bushings in it with the polyurethane bushings from Energy Suspension on my 03 GT about 3 months ago....$100. After taking the axles beam off, with the beam standing at its tallest vertically, bend the inner metal sleeve for the rubber bushings inward toward the center of the bushings with a hammer and punch. After you've done that, soak it with PB Blaster between the axle beam frame and the sleeve you have bent inward. You can also drill several large holes in the rubber bushing around the center for more workability of the bushing. Once you think you've done enough prep....with it still standing vertical, start pounding on the center of the bushing where the metal bolt sleeve is. The first one took me a while because I had to figure it out. The second one took about 5 minutes to pound out bc I knew how to prep it. The new ones are very easy to put in with very easy to follow instructions.