[Jack Houpe]

Yes sir night and day difference in driving! You got my respect doing that job yourself. I chickened out on that job and took our coach to Josam in Orlando, changing the bushings and all wheel alignment was $2800 if I remember right.

[[email protected]]

Well..  I just did my tag bushings..  THEY WERE SHOT!!  I had noticeable tire wear.  Worst part was getting the giant bolts out. We had to hear, and use a torque multiplier to even budge them. 

Took it for a trip today and it rode and tracked much better. 

My back, shoulders, and knees hurt

Wow, those were bad. I need to get mine done. I think I am going to bite the bullet and get them done. I just found I have a leaking (new) airbag on the driver side tag, so I need to fix that anyways. I already have the bushings, thanks to Jack! Now I just need to find a five gallon bucket of ambition!

[[email protected]]

Well I started this project this weekend. I am also checking the tag wheel bearings, the disc brake slide pins and airbags.

There is a video in the making but I tell you it’s hard to film when working on this stuff, not to mention the heat I am working in. You will have to hear the hum of fans in the background.  

Here are one set of my old bushings, not near as bad as Dennis’s but they were due. 

   
   
   
   
   
   
   

[Richard]

You are going to be very happy with the improved handling.

[markkitch]

This is great information, I need to check my tag bushings.

[[email protected]]

You are going to be very happy with the improved handling.

Hopefully so, it’s a job that’s for sure.

[[email protected]]

Well my tag axle bushings replacement went off the rails a bit. I have successfully removed all the old bushings and installed the new ones but on the passenger side I was having trouble getting the bolt started, well once I thought I had it started it was turning very hard. I pulled it back out and looks like I damaged the threads. So now I am waiting on a tap and die to clean up the bolt and the nut. I do not want to damage anything further than I already have. No pics of this debacle as I was a bit frustrated as you can imagine. It does not help that I am working in 90 degree temps with 100 percent humidity. 

So my bushing removal and install process was similar to Richard’s but I did a few things different. I was able to remove the big bolts on the inside with my 3/4” Milwaukee impact. They came loose with ease, the drive shaft was not in the way for me, maybe this had to do with the fact that I had driven up on ramps which lifted the drive axle, happy accident. 
The outer bolts did not come free with the MW impact, no joy. I pulled out one of my torque multipliers and it would not work because I did not have a 1” drive socket to go with it, so I went to a different style torque multipliers that I have. I used it and I used my 3 ton floor jack to push on the handle to give me the leverage I needed. This got the bolts moving and then the MW was able to do the rest. 

So I have already removed the wheels and I also wanted to remove the brake caliper and hub as well so that way the swing arm would not be so heavy. Well the caliper top pin came out fine but the bottom pin I could not get the locking pin to budge. So I was able to swing the caliper on the bottom pin. Next problem was I did not have the right size sockets for the hub locking nuts. So I ended up just leaving all of it on the swing arm. Held the swing arm up with a couple of jack stands. I then put my floor jack under the swing arm and pried down on it with a long pry bar, slowly it came down, having to pry on each side to keep it from getting cattywompus, technical term. 
I was able to just drop the swing arm a bit below the mounts to give me room to work. I then used a spring compressor tool I have and a 3” rigid electrical conduit coupling to remove the old bushing. The 3” coupling gives you just enough space to pull the old bushing out, the last little bit you can just pull it out by hand. 
The spring compressor tool I used was an OTC 7045B, I already had this tool and had previously used it to do the same type of bushings on my Wanderlodge. The nice thing about this tool is its an ACME style thread and it also has a thrust bearing on it that makes it fairly easy to turn. Not much force is needed. The install is the reverse of the removal, with a little more fiddle time making sure the new bushing is going in straight. 

Here is the OTC tool:
OTC 7045B Front Coil Spring Compressor - Compatible with Most Late-Model Rear Wheel Drive Domestic Vehicles with Coil Springs Between the Upper and Lower Control Arms https://a.co/d/0cfkGmIu

Here is a video I made doing the Wanderlodge tag axle bushings, I am working on a video for the Newell but I am still in process:

https://youtu.be/UHGfXJqBipw?is=LM8Zas0uLGXMiQr7

[whited44]

Well my tag axle bushings replacement went off the rails a bit. I have successfully removed all the old bushings and installed the new ones but on the passenger side I was having trouble getting the bolt started, well once I thought I had it started it was turning very hard. I pulled it back out and looks like I damaged the threads. So now I am waiting on a tap and die to clean up the bolt and the nut. I do not want to damage anything further than I already have. No pics of this debacle as I was a bit frustrated as you can imagine. It does not help that I am working in 90 degree temps with 100 percent humidity. 

So my bushing removal and install process was similar to Richard’s but I did a few things different. I was able to remove the big bolts on the inside with my 3/4” Milwaukee impact. They came loose with ease, the drive shaft was not in the way for me, maybe this had to do with the fact that I had driven up on ramps which lifted the drive axle, happy accident. 
The outer bolts did not come free with the MW impact, no joy. I pulled out one of my torque multipliers and it would not work because I did not have a 1” drive socket to go with it, so I went to a different style torque multipliers that I have. I used it and I used my 3 ton floor jack to push on the handle to give me the leverage I needed. This got the bolts moving and then the MW was able to do the rest. 

So I have already removed the wheels and I also wanted to remove the brake caliper and hub as well so that way the swing arm would not be so heavy. Well the caliper top pin came out fine but the bottom pin I could not get the locking pin to budge. So I was able to swing the caliper on the bottom pin. Next problem was I did not have the right size sockets for the hub locking nuts. So I ended up just leaving all of it on the swing arm. Held the swing arm up with a couple of jack stands. I then put my floor jack under the swing arm and pried down on it with a long pry bar, slowly it came down, having to pry on each side to keep it from getting cattywompus, technical term. 
I was able to just drop the swing arm a bit below the mounts to give me room to work. I then used a spring compressor tool I have and a 3” rigid electrical conduit coupling to remove the old bushing. The 3” coupling gives you just enough space to pull the old bushing out, the last little bit you can just pull it out by hand. 
The spring compressor tool I used was an OTC 7045B, I already had this tool and had previously used it to do the same type of bushings on my Wanderlodge. The nice thing about this tool is its an ACME style thread and it also has a thrust bearing on it that makes it fairly easy to turn. Not much force is needed. The install is the reverse of the removal, with a little more fiddle time making sure the new bushing is going in straight. 

Here is the OTC tool:
OTC 7045B Front Coil Spring Compressor - Compatible with Most Late-Model Rear Wheel Drive Domestic Vehicles with Coil Springs Between the Upper and Lower Control Arms https://a.co/d/0cfkGmIu

Here is a video I made doing the Wanderlodge tag axle bushings, I am working on a video for the Newell but I am still in process:

https://youtu.be/UHGfXJqBipw?is=LM8Zas0uLGXMiQr7

We had trouble getting one of the inside bolts to start too.  Had to the tap on the bolt to fix up the end thread a little.  I guess ridewell stocks that giant bolt in case someone really boogers one up.  

It's not a fun job.  That's for sure

[Richard]

I think I used yet another bottle jack to fine tune the hole alignment.

[[email protected]]

We had trouble getting one of the inside bolts to start too.  Had to the tap on the bolt to fix up the end thread a little.  I guess ridewell stocks that giant bolt in case someone really boogers one up.  

It's not a fun job.  That's for sure

Good to know they have the bolt, unfortunately i think the nut is boogered up too and i hope i do not have to try to replace it.

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I think I used yet another bottle jack to fine tune the hole alignment.

That's a good idea. I think i have it aligned now, i used my floor jack. The bottle jack will come in handy if i need to push down on it.