I'll tell you what I can about the original bolts. There were two types of bolts, four of each.What is the spec for the bolt? I want to find them locally, but no one has answered the elusive spec question. M14? I know it needs to be Metric grade 10.9 or better, just need the length and width for certainty.
I'm not an expert, but I believe what you've described is the self-locking feature of the nuts used in this location. The replacement nuts I got from 4x4parts were visibly elongated, i.e. a slightly oval shape, and the way it works is that as the nut is tightened, it deforms to a more circular shape which holds it in place.atraudes wrote:Something else I noticed about the new and old bolts was that the first turns of the nut onto the bolt were very simple and could be done by hand. At one point, though, it got much tighter, and I needed wrenches to continue tightening it. I imagine it's to discourage the bolt from just falling off if it loosens, but avoid cross-threading when first putting the nut on.
This is basically what I did when I changed mine. Didn't drill much, instead built a vice-held press (metal plates/washers, threaded rod, sockets) to press the inner sleeves out from the rubber. Used a thin chisel to scrape some rubber from the outer sleeve, then used a $23 reciprocating saw from Harbor Freight to cut the outer sleeve. A few taps with a chisel/punch, and the sleeve slides out. I didn't have any issues with cutting into the trailing arm...just gotta know how to handle your tool. But, I took the same approach atraudes mentioned by cutting towards the reinforced area, just in case.atraudes wrote: I had to do the same thing on my lateral arm bushings and used a drill to punch a bunch of holes in the rubber, then used a saw to cut between the holes so I could knock the center piece out. The drill bit cut close enough to the ring that I could see it and used the hacksaw technique on it.
Did you still need old trailing arms? I'm about to take mine out today.EdBwoy wrote:Awesome thread! For those of you who have replaced your arms, what do you do with the old ones? Anyone willing to sell me their old ones so I work on that while the truck is still on the road?
Old faithful has 285K miles and while the replacement parts will probably outlast the vehicle, the ride is currently really crappy.