The back end of my 240 estate is sagging quite badly. It's covered 160,000 miles and has towed a horse trailer for a few years of its life.
How can I tell if the bushes or the springs are bad? The bushes don't look easy to get at or I'd just do those and see if makes a difference.
Thanks,
David
Replace the bushings first, they commonly wear out, the springs don't. You need a special tool to replace the trailing arm bushings, I built one from plans I found online but then I had access to machine shop so it was easier. You can build one with more basic tools if you need to though or have a shop replace the bushings.
You're not going to find out for sure unless you remove the bolt through that bushing and inspect it, or crawl under a non sagging 240 and measure the length of the spring, and compare it to yours. Sagging springs are quite common.
Even if the bushes are worn, they don't make the rear sag. We're talking about
1/2 inch if all the rubber in the bishing is gone. More likely the springs are worn out - fatigued. Having dragged caravans for the past 20 years, I have had to replace springs a few times. There are springs that are harder, however, that may have an impact on comfort when driving without load on the rear. The alternative is to mount pneumatic shockabsorbers that can be adjusted automatically or manually./ Johan
Sure they do, my 240 was sagging pretty noticeably, replaced the trailing arm bushings and torque rod bushings and it fixed the sag. When they all go out the axle not only rides up but rotates a bit and the effect is the back end of the car sags down quite a bit.
The alternative is
Due to their offset mounting this solution is not very kind to the axle bushings
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