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Rear Upper Control Arm Bushing
Replacement
1. Jack car up safely,
and put jackstands underneath rear subframe. |
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2. Remove rear wheels. |
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3. From inside the vehicle,
loosen top strut nuts with a 12mm wrench. CAREFULLY loosen
these nuts making sure you do not drop these down behind
the rear strut tower. Those with nimble, smaller hands
may be better for this task. On S14’s, access to
the top shock nuts is gained from the rear seat and parcel
tray.
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4. Remove the lower
shock nut with 17mm socket, and drop the shock out of
the way.
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5. Loosen the rear upper control arm
outer bolt and inner camber bolts with 17mm and 19mm sockets
and wrenches (the inner bolt is your eccentric camber adjusting
bolt and is designed with a special offset washer welded
on one side and grooved washer on the other). |
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This bolt rotates on a cam to pivot
the upper arm back and forth for camber adjustment.
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6. Loosen the rear front traction link
arm bolts with 19mm sockets or wrenches.
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Next, soak the arms
in a bucket of very hot water for 10-15 minutes. This will
help the metal-encased stock bushings to release from the
arm easier in the press. If you are pressed for time or
water, you can lubricate the arms up with WD40 or solvent,
but this is a messier method. |
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7. In a shop press
with proper dies, press out the stock bushings. The stock
bushings are metal enclosed with the rubber poured in
place This is a good time to clean up the arms and repaint
them with a good anti-rust paint or have them stripped
and powder coated.
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8. Lubricate
the rear arms and insert the SPF1638K purple or KCA347
yellow urethane bushings by hand.
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9. In a shop press
or in a vice, insert the metal inner crush tube. Note:
If you are installing the KCA347 rear eccentric camber
bushings, at this point you must decide which position
you require the center eccentric metal crush tube. Most
people are trying to reduce rear negative camber, so you
need to lengthen the rear arms in length where they attach.
To do this, position the rear crush tube so that the hole
is near the end, making the arm “longer” |
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Replacing a 2nd
set of bushings on the hub side:
If you have purchased 2 sets of SPF1638K or KCA347 bushings
for your vehicle, you must continue to remove more components
to gain access to the rear hub.
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10. Remove rear toe
link adjusting outer arm bolt.
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11. Remove rear
axle cotter pin. |
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12. Remove the crown
washer and carefully peel off the rubber isolator washer.
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13. Using a 36mm impact
socket, loosen off the main axle nut with an impact wrench.
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14. Push the axles
back through the hub and slide the long splines out to
remove each axle. Note: often the axles can be galled
and stuck, so you may have to use a sledge hammer to pound
on the axle ends to loosen them. To do this though, you
need to have the rear upper control arm and toe link arm
still in place, so it may be a wise idea to do step 14
prior to removing the bushings out of the control arms.
A proper ball joint tool can also be used to properly
loosen the axle from the hub.
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15. Rotate the rear
hub assembly away from the car to expose the lower ball
joint and remove the cotter pin to gain access to the
ball joint nut. |
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16. Remove the lower ball joint nut
with a 22mm socket.
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17. Using a ball joint tool, loosen the
rear hub from the lower control arm. Note: if you do not
have access to a tool, you can use a pickle fork. This will
require the hub to be attached with the upper control arms
so that the hub does not flop around when being struck with
the hammer. PDM Racing does not recommend use of pickle
forks, as they are hard on the ball joint rubber boot and
ball joint itself. If the arm is being replaced with a new
one, then pickle forks are fine. Use caution when striking
the pickle fork as to not cause shock and stress to the
ball joint shaft. |
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18. With the hub removed, place the hub
down with the wheel studs facing down and remove the 4 hub
bolts with a 17mm socket. |
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19. Over time, the hubs will become rusted
into the carrier and may require some penetrating oil and/or
force to remove them. |
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20. With the hub removed, the 2 upper
hub bushings can be pressed out using a shop press. Once
the bushings are pressed out, you can clean up the hubs
and have them bead blasted and repainted or powder coated. |
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21. Lubricate the hub
holes with the grease, and insert the SPF1638K purple
or KCA347 yellow eccentric camber bushings. (If you are
using the KCA347 kit, make sure you locate the holes to
position the arms inward, or to “lengthen”
the arm to push the top of the hub outward to reduce negative
camber). |
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22. Push the center metal
crush tubes in place using a vice or a shop press. |
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23. Re-install the hub
onto the lower control arm, lubricating the ball joint
shaft with anti-sieze. Torque down the nut and replace
the cotter pin. |
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24. Replace the front
traction link arm and the rear upper control arm, and
re-install the shock assembly.
Note – ensure you re-align the
rear end once you have finsihed with this installation
procedure. |
