Ford focus rear trailing bushes

I have not had to change them, but: little thread on it here:

seems you can just get the arms easily enough. replacing bushes alone is beyond (most) home mechanics, but it could save you a few quid.

Thanks for the post MrCheerful.

Seems it would be easier for me to just replace the entire arm. I called to ford parts and they said the arm £57.72 per side which seems ok £115.44 which is a saving from the £280 the garage would h to charge which doesn't sound that unreasonable. Now to have a look underneath to see how exactly it has to come out.

After some googling, some say the rear subframe should be dropped to do it easily but thats when replacing just the bush. I'm doing t the whole arm for simplicity as he bush is already pressed in as I read many have damaged bushes and the sleeve it goes in trying to replace just the bush.

Thanks

Just had a poke around underneath at the offending bushes. Like the adviories said no excess movement just perished. Still doing its job. I gave it a go checked and definitely no excess momvement. I took a few pictures of the passenger rear side the other side is much the same.

from looking at those photos apologies for the quality my camera is not the best would you say I should change the arm or leave them till next MOT and see how it goes and possibly expect a fail ? or change the arm. I had a look whats connected to it and bolts etc looks fairly invovled but doable on the drive to change the arm. Famous last words :)

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if there is no movement then leave them alone till they fail. I have another focus in tomorrow, I'll have a look at that and see what the sp is for changing them.

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The trailing arm is the big lump with the hub attached good picture is here:

It would not be usual to change that whole lump (4a493) I imagine it would cost a small fortune the bush that attaches to the body work (5A638) would be the only part you could describe as a trailing arm bush.

From the above image you can see that the more commonly replaced bit is 5500 A

None of the above parts is that hard to change from what I saw underneath today, as to actually changing that bush in the front of the arm .......? Most garages should have a press, or there may even be a Sealey tool to change them in situ, but it would be out of the scope of most home mechanics.

I would still leave it alone until it starts clonking or fails the mot, even massive failure of the rubber bush would not make a huge difference to the handling or safety since the bolt through the middle would restrain everything.

[...]

According to Mr Haynes, none of the rear suspension arms have replaceable bushes; they are bonded in, and replacement means changing the arm.

+1

Chris

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Thanks for having a look and passing the valuable info along. I will take your advice and wait till it actually fails. I spoke to a mechanic at the local ford specialist as I was usually press them out but pressing then in can damages theyon a job nearby and he say the rubber if not done right so sometimes they opt for changing the arm. Aparantly this bush is a git and usally needs a torch on it to get it out cleanly.

When it does go I think I'll leave it to the garage to reknew.

Thanks again for the post(s) they have been very helpful.

Adam

Yeah sounds like it could be a a bit premature changing it it now and shelling out on a fairly expensive repair. I'll be prepapred come next MOT that it could fail on this and have a bit extra put by just incase.

Although I'll leave them to fix it :) ... looks a little too involved for me. I have the tools, just lack the experience/confidence to remove that much. Maybe it would be good for me to have a go only way to learn is to have a go. Time will tell on that one.

The MOT tester did not one other advisories, stepping on the offside tyre inside edge. He said it was due to my tyre changing shap/warping ? neer heard of this but he said it was fine to drive on and run it down then change it.