Replaces
Part Details
TRQ suspension kits are manufactured using premium raw materials and coatings for extended service life. Each TRQ suspension component is designed to be a direct, maintenance-free replacement to the stock unit. To extend the life of your steering and suspension components, TRQ recommends replacing components in pairs, sets, or kits. All products are fit and road-tested in our Massachusetts R&D facility to ensure we deliver on our promise of Trusted Reliable Quality.
Product Features
Our steering and suspension components are pre-greased and sealed for long life and do not require the extra maintenance typically required by greaseable versions.
Item Condition:
New
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WARNING: This product can expose you to chemicals including Lead and Lead Compounds, which are known to the State of California to cause cancer, and birth defects or other reproductive harm. For more information, go to www.P65Warnings.ca.gov.
Lifetime Warranty
This item is backed by our limited lifetime warranty. In the event that this item should fail due to manufacturing defects during intended use, we will replace the part free of charge. This warranty covers the cost of the part only.
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Tools used
What's up guys? I'm Andy from 1A Auto. In this video, I'm going to show you how to replace the rear upper outer control arm bushing on this 2001 BMW 325xi. If you need this part or other parts for your vehicle, click the link in the description, head over to 1aauto.com.
We're going to loosen up these lug bolts. I'm going to use a 17 millimeter socket and a breaker bar. Now, I'm going to raise and support the vehicle. We're using a two-post lift. If you're doing this at your house, you can use a jack and jack stands.
Now, I'm going to take the 17 millimeter socket and extension just to take the lug bolts out. Now when I go to take the last one out, I am going to hold the wheel so that the wheel doesn't fall. Take that one out, set it aside and grab the wheel and shake it off.
After I get the wheel off, I'm just going to support the lower control arm because I want to remove the shock and just I'm going to support right here. If you're doing this on the ground, you can use a floor jack, just raise this up a little bit. Once you can get it to move a little bit, you should be able to take the shock bolt out.
Now with the lower control arm supported, I'm just going to take an 18 millimeter socket and an air gun. I'm going to take this bolt out. If you don't have any air tools, you can always use a ratchet or a breaker bar.
Take that out, slide the bolt out. Now I can lower the control arm. It's going to take the tension off the coil spring. Just going to move this brake pad wear sensor wire, just pull it out of that clip right there. Just move it out of the way. That's fine, like that. All right, that's good.
Now, we're to remove this bolt right here. There's a nut on the inside here, so I'm just going to use an 18 millimeter wrench. Hold that nut. 18 millimeter socket and then an air gun. You can use a ratchet if you don't have an air gun.
Loosen that up, get the nut off. Carefully remove this bolt. Oops. All right. Now that can separate. All right. I want to take these three 18 millimeter bolts out, right here. That's of the lower trailing arm, but first, I want to take off some of these wires. I don't want to, I want to give him a little more slack because I don't want to break them when I'm taking those out.
Slide those out, out of the clips. And those are the ABS wires and the break sensor wires, brake pad, sensor wire. Now I'm going to use an 18 millimeter socket and my air gun. You can use a breaker bar if you don't have an air gun.
I'm just going to loosen these up a little bit first. I'm not going to take it out completely. Once they're all loose, then I'll take them out.
Pull that out, that's why I left one of them in. So if this falls, it's not going to hit anything or hit myself. Now, I can support this, take this last one out. There we go. I'm just going to get a pry bar, get underneath this spring. Try to slide this out. Just be careful. You don't want it to hit you. Just like that.
Get the spring out and makes it a little easier to get this upper control arm out of the way. Just take the pry bar and get it underneath here. What I could do, instead of taking the spring out, I could've taken the lower control arm bolt out. I could take this bolt out, but then you're going to mess with your alignment adjustments, which you should have the vehicle aligned anyway after you do a job like this.
But what you can do is if you take the spring out and then you take this weigh bar link off, then you can move this upper control arm out of the way and it's easy to get that bushing out.
On the top side of the bolt, I'm going to use a 17 millimeter wrench to hold the bolt and then underneath the car I'm going to use a 13 millimeter socket extension and an air gun, or you could use a ratchet, then take the nut off.
Oops. Going to take that side off, and then also this other side, right here. There we go. With that loose, we can gain access to this bushing right there. So this is rusted pretty bad, so I'm just going to spray this down with some rust penetrant. Get in there a little bit, let it soak for a little while, that's going to help push the bushing through.
So to get this bushing out what you actually need as a special kit that can push the bushing out and into this cup. So we have a cup that goes on the outside that's bigger than the bushing, and then a cup on the inside that's the same size as the bushing, then a threaded rod with bearings on it, and that's going to push the bushings straight through into this cup. So I'll just do this. This nut on here.
All right. So that's looking pretty good, so get that on. If it seems like the brake caliper is in your way, you can take the brake caliper off. It looks like it's going to be okay on this one. So now I'm just going to support, at least hold the threaded rod from spinning. For this tool, it's an eight millimeter socket to use and a ratchet. And then I'm using a 15/16 wrench. Tightening the tool down and tools are going to vary depending on the tool that you get.
And just tighten this down. Should suck the bushing right through. As I tighten this down over here, it's sucking the bushing straight through. I'm just going to make sure this piece right here is smaller than that knuckle right there.
You should know, once you get to that point, if it stops, then this piece probably is too big. As you're pressing this through, just keep in mind the tension on this brake line. You don't want this too tight. You could support underneath this just to keep that loose. Just keep that in mind.
All right, so that's going all the way through and I can loosen up the tool. The bushing is right inside there. And there it is. Here's the old part. Here's the new upper control arm bushing from 1aauto.com. As you can see, the size is the same, they're set up the same, has the same boots. Get yours at 1aauto.com and you'd be ready to rock and roll.
So now I want to set up the tool a little bit different. This was the piece that pushed the bushing through. So you want that to push the bushing in. This is going to go over here and you want it to go over that seal, maybe twist it a little bit, because we want it tight up against this piece right here. So that pushes it in. And then this, you want to make sure this is a little bit bigger than that because you want this to go in and just a little bit further. So get this set up.
Then I'm pretty much just going to do the opposite of taking it off. It's just going to press in. As I push this in, I'm just going to watch this area and you kind of want it exactly how it was when you took the old one out. So just a little bit showing of the bushing.
Once you start getting close, you can loosen up the tool and just check the other side and see how close you are. So I still have a ways to go so we just tighten up the tool again.
Okay, so I will set up the tool and that side looks good and the other side looks the same. So that's good. Take the tool out. Now we're going to install these bolts for the sway bar link. Now, I'm replacing the bolts because the bolts were pretty rusty, so the size is going to be different. Normally, you'd have a 17 millimeter on top and a 13 down below. I have 12 and 12 here, so we'll just put these on.
So I'm just going to use an electric ratchet and tighten these down and then use a wrench underneath. Do the same on this side. Now, I'll just snug these down with a regular ratchet. That's good. Same on this side. That's good.
Take the spring, make sure you have this cone bushing on the bottom, and then open one up top. And now for taking the spring out and putting it in, we had this bolt out right here and then the bolts out for this lower control arm here. That just made this a lot easier to get the spring in and out.
I have seen other people take and put a floor jack in between here and push down on this upper control arm, but I feel like that puts a lot of strain on the rear axle and I feel like it might do some damage, so be careful doing that. Not to say it's impossible to do it that way, but so we'll get this lined up.
Push this in. I'm going to take a pry bar. Try to slide this into position. I'm just going to take a longer pry bar, pry right above the sway bar link in the frame, just pry it down. Just try to get over that piece right there. And push the spring in.
There we go. Be careful with your fingers. And that's good, and that's good down below and it's good up top. We want to get this lined up with the upper control arm. Take the bolt. I put a little copper anti-seize on the bolt so sometimes you could take a pick or your screwdriver, pick works a little bit easier. Get that to line up and then take your bolt. Get your bolt started.
There we go. Then I can just take a 18 millimeter socket, electric ratchet, tighten this down. That's all the way through and we can put the nut on the other side. Get that nut on. Take an 18 millimeter wrench. Just tighten this up. That's good.
Then I'll take a torque wrench, 18 millimeter socket, 18 millimeter wrench, and torque this to 81 foot pounds. Right, now I'm going to raise this trailing arm into position right there and then put the bolts in. Just get the bolts started. You got those other front two bolts in, and now raise this up, get this back one in. I can snuggle them all down with a 18 millimeter socket and the air gun.
I'm just loosening this pole jack, get that out of the way. And I'll take a 18 millimeter socket and a torque wrench, tighten these to 57 foot pounds. There we go. Now take this ABS wire and break sensor wire and reposition these back in the clips. And same with the clips on top. You can get these from above if you can't get them from down below. With a screw jack, I'm just going to get underneath the trailing arm right here.
You could probably put a floor jack underneath right there. I'm just going to raise this up a little bit more so that I can get the shock bolt in, that lined up. Get that started. Then I'm going to tighten this bolt down with a torque wrench and an 18 millimeter socket. Tighten this down to 74 foot pounds.
Anytime you do any kind of suspension work like what we did today, it's a good idea to go down to your local shop and have the vehicle aligned, that way the tires go down the road straight and you don't have premature tire wear.
Now I'm going to take the wheel, slide it in position, make sure the hole is lined up and hold the wheel. I'm going to take my 17 millimeter socket and the lug stud and get one started, then I can grab the other ones.
Now I'm going to use a 17 millimeter socket and a torque wrench and I'm going to torque these lug bolts in a star pattern to 95 foot pounds. Go right around again, just make sure everything's tight. Good to go.
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Tools used
What's up guys? I'm Andy from 1A Auto. In this video, I'm going to show you how to replace the driver's side rear lower control arm on this 2001 BMW 325xi. Now the driver's side lower control arm is a lot more difficult than the passenger. There's more steps involved, so if you need this part or other parts for your vehicle, click the link in the description and head over to 1aauto.com. I'm going to take the wheel off. I'm going to use a 17 millimeter socket and this air gun that we sell at 1aauto.com. If you don't have an air gun, what you can do is use a breaker bar and loosen up all of the lug nuts before you raise the vehicle. When I go to take the last lug nut out, I'm just going to support the wheel. Just push on it because these are lug studs, not lug nuts, so there's no studs holding the wheel on after you get them all off.
Slide that out of the way and grab the wheel. Pull it off. I'm just gonna take some rust penetrant. This nut and bolt is pretty rusty. Spray that down and then also up here, spray this one down because we're going to take that one out next. I'm going to use a 18 millimeter socket and I'm just going to hammer it on because this one's pretty rusty. I'm going to use that 18 millimeter wrench on the backside to hold the bolts on. Now this bolt has a cam on it, at least cam washers. That's going to adjust the alignment on this vehicle. So after you are done this job, you're going to want to go to alignment shop and have your alignment performed. So try to keep in mind where the alignment cam is, so when you put the new arm on, it's going to be close. But at least keep in mind you have to go get an alignment.
Now I'll take this gun, loosen this nut up as I hold the wrench. If you don't have a gun, just use a breaker bar. So this nut is a pretty badly rusted and it's starting to strip. So I'm actually going to bang a 17 millimeter socket on there. It's going to be a little tight, but it will fit. So this nut's really tight on there so I'm just going to use a breaker bar, loosen it up. Now that it's loose, I can use the gun. Slide that out, can take that cam washer off of there. Just going to use this punch and punch the bolt out. We sell these punches in a kit from 1aauto.com. Make sure you save that. Then from the backside of the bolt I'll just punch it out.
Alright, to take that bolt off the rest of the way, I'm just going to use a pry bar, make sure I don't hit the brake line. Just slide this out, slide the bolt out. There it is. Need to access the bolt right here and it's pretty tight in there. The exhaust is in my way. The differential might be in my way as well, but for starters, I need to move the exhaust. So I'm going to support the exhaust with a screw jack, and I'm going to take these mounts off just at the rubber part right there, and then there's also one right here. So this one is already a little bit loose. I can just take a pry bar, get in there and pry this out. You can use a little soapy water to help you get it off if you want. Same with this one.
Then I can move the exhaust to the side a little bit and then I can access this bolt a little bit better. So next I want to remove this bolt but I can't because I can't even get the socket in there. You can try to get a wrench in there. Obviously this isn't the right size, but you could try to get a wrench in there and see if you can get that bolt out. But I need to move this differential over a little bit. So I am going to loosen this bolt up. I already removed the hangers for the exhaust and pushed that over a little bit. That helped out. So now I'm going to take a 21 millimeter wrench, stick it on this nut right here, and then I have a 21 millimeter socket and a breaker bar and I'm going to loosen this up.
Right so I have this bolt loose, got that nut loose. I can switch to a ratchet. Before I do that, I want to support the rear differential. I'm just going to use the screw jack and place it underneath there. So I'm going to use a pole jack underneath here. I have a rubber pad. You could use a block of wood or something just so that you don't damage anything. That's good, get that supported, you can take this bolt out. That's loose enough. Just take that nut off, right there. Try to move the differential up and down, slide the bolt out. Now I can just move this differential up a little bit, not too much, and it gives me a little more room in there. I can try to get a socket on there.
So I need to access these two bolts right here. There is this plate in my way. I am going to take this out. There's two nuts on either side right there and there's a couple of little smaller bolts that I have to take off as well. So let's take those out. Let's start by taking this shield out right here. I'm going to take take those two bolts out right there. All right, I'm going to take the shield off. I'm going to take these two bolts out and use a 10 millimeter socket and ratchet. Take that one out and take this one out. Slide that off.
So there's two bolts right here, two bolts right here. I'm going to use a 13 millimeter socket extension and a ratchet. Take these out, cut all those out. Now I want to take these two nuts out. I am going to use a little rust penetrant. These nuts are pretty rusty. Now I'm going to take this nut off and this nut. I'm going to use an 18 millimeter socket and a breaker bar. I'm going to do the same on this side. I'm just going to use a shorter socket so I can get above the exhaust. If you're having trouble with the exhaust, you can pull the exhaust down completely out of your way. But I would rather just try to work around it. It's a little loose. I can switch to a ratchet. All right, now these are loose enough I can take those off. Take this one off. Slide this out of my way.
No, what I am going to do is right now the differential is supported so I was able to take that bracket out. This whole lower sub frame is bolted in, in the back side as well, but I don't want this to fall down anymore. So I'm going to take those nuts and I'm just gonna stick those right here and right here because when I take these bolts out, the sub frame might fall down. So rather than having it go all crazy, I'll just put those back up and just remember I have to take those back off before I put that bracket back on. Now I'm going to take a 18 millimeter socket and a breaker bar. I'm going loosen these bolts up. I'm just going to switch to a ratchet and the same 18 millimeter socket.
So I didn't take these bolts out. I just loosened them up about an inch of clearance right there, which is going to be good. I can just position the rear differential up a little more. With those loose, now I can go up with this and just take a pry bar and just position this out a little bit just like that. So you have more clearance in there. You can pick, take a block of wood or something. Just be careful. Don't pry too much, you don't want to mess up the axles. And then I can get in there with my 18 millimeter socket and breaker bar. Loosen up that bolt. Once that's loosened with the breaker bar, I can switch to a ratchet with an 18 millimeter socket. And then once my ratchet gets a little too tight, then I'm going to use my gear wrench, 18 millimeter. And that's all the way out.
This is basically the nut that goes on the backside. It's not actually a nut, it's just a little cam type thing that the bolt threads into and this prevents it from spinning, so you don't actually have to put a wrench on the backside or anything. So that's good that that's out. So now we're ready to pull the bolt out. Take a pry bar and try to pry it out. And it's almost there. I could still use the ratchet wrench a little bit. Just don't want to get the ratchet wrench stuck.
I am going to use a long pry bar. Get in here and pry so that I can slide the lower control arm down a little bit. Actually before I do that, pull the cover off right here. Slide that out of the way. Now I can pry this out, slide that down like that. Now I should be able to grab this bolt and slide it up and there we go. Got it out. Here's the old part. Here's the new rear lower control arm from 1aauto.com. The length is the same, the bushing is the same, it's got the same shape, has the same tabs for the alignment cam on the back. Get yours at 1aauto.com, you'd be ready to rock and roll.
Now I'm going to slide this in with the curve on the bottom part of the lower control arm. Slide it in right here, slide that in position there, take the bolt, get the bolt lined up. So I do want to put this on the back side. I want to pull the bolt out a little bit and then over here, take this, this is going to slide on the front side and just try and get the bolt threaded on that. That's good. Once that's started, then we can tighten the bolt down. Before I tighten that bolt up, I actually want to put the bolt in for the lower control arm over here. I'm going to take one pry bar right here, I'm gonna take another pry bar right here. Try to get this in position. I'm going to have to push it, push the arm a little bit, and then just try to separate it. Get that to line up. That's lined up and I can take the bolt and the bolt's going to go from the front of the control arm towards the back.
Just try to slide this through. We can put this cam washer on and then the bolt. Now this cam on this side was the opposite of the passenger side. This cam take a 18 millimeter wrench. Just going to twist this. So this cam was in this position when it came off, so we'll tighten that up like that. Just take a 18 millimeter socket and ratchet or a ratchet wrench. Snug this up. Put a 18 millimeter socket and ratchet on the other side. Just make sure this turns pretty good. That's good. Looks good on both sides. Just snug that up for now.
Okay, at this point before I tighten two bolts up before I torque them, I'm gonna take a screw jack or a pole jack and try to get the suspension where it would be if the vehicle was on the ground. You just got to be careful when doing this. Ideal would be if you had some ramps, if you were driving on some ramps and then you could tighten those bolts. But obviously that's not the easiest thing in the world, so I'm just going to move it as close as possible. That way the bushings that are in the arms will last longer versus they won't twist as much. So try to get it as close to right height as possible.
I'm just going to use a ratchet wrench. Tighten this bolt down and then I will torque it with a torque wrench. Now I'm going to use my 18 millimeter socket and this torque wrench. We actually sell this out 1aauto.com. I'm going to torque this bolt to 81 foot-pounds. And right here while the screw jack is still there, I'm going to take a 18 millimeter socket and ratchet on the backside of this cam bolt and torque this nut right here to 81 foot-pounds. Keep in mind putting this cam washer, how it was when it came off, if it was twisted a little bit, and try to get it roughly the same area. That way, when you go to have it aligned, it'll be closer.
Now that those bolts and that nut is torqued, I can loosen this up. Now I can loosen the rear differential, loosen this screw jack down a little bit, pole jack, slide this bolt in back here. I might have to push the differential forward a little. Take a pry bar, push it forward a little bit. Or you could snug up those bolts a little. But we want to get all the bolts in before we torque them down. There we go. Slide that in. Take the nut, install the nut.
From the front side, I'm just going to take a 18 millimeter socket and ratchet. Just snug these up, not too tight. Just snug this one up as well. With those snug, I can remove the screw jack and then I'm going to torque those. Now I'm going to torque these two front bolts with a 18 millimeter socket and a torque wrench to 70 foot-pounds. I'm just going to use a 21 millimeter socket, a ratchet, and a wrench. Put a wrench on the nut and tighten up the bolt. Then I'm going to use a torque wrench and I'm going to torque this to 128 foot-pounds.
All right, now I'm going to take these nuts off that were holding this cradle up. I'm just going to leave the screw jack underneath here just in case anything decides to fall or shift. Take those off and I'll take this bracket, get this bracket lined up. Just like that. Get these nuts started. Now before I tighten those up, I'm going to take these four bolts with my 13 millimeter socket and extension. Just get these all started. Once they're all in, then I'll just snug them up with a ratchet. Then I'll tighten up these nuts. I'll just use a 18 millimeter socket and a breaker bar. Tighten them up. Make sure they're snug.
Take this plate, get it lined back up. Take the two small bolts, get them started, one here and one goes right here. Get those bolts installed. Then take a 10 millimeter socket and ratchet and tighten them down. Snug that up. Now we'll take this cover, slide this in position there. They'll just lock in place. Now we can remove the pole jack. Slide that out of the way. Right, so I'm just going to use the pole jack to help me with the exhaust. Slide this exhaust hanger on in position. Just make sure this one's out of the way as well. We can start this one first. Just going to use a pry bar, pry this on. You could also use a little bit of soapy water. You really don't want to use any type of lubricant. Slide that on there. If you had to take the vacuum line off this rear actuator that actuates the exhaust valve, reattach that. This vehicle, it doesn't have it.
Slide this side on and that's on, so loosen this up. Take the wheel, put the wheel back on, slide it in position and just hold it, hold that on. Just take the lug bolts, get those started. Now I'm going to use a 17 millimeter socket and this torque wrench we sell at 1aauto.com. I'm going to torque these lug bolts to 95 foot-pounds in a star pattern so that it torques the wheel down evenly. I'm just going to go around again, double check.
Thanks for watching. Visit 1aauto.com, your place for DIY auto repairs, for great parts, great service, and more content.
Tools used
What's up guys? I'm Andy from 1A Auto. In this video, I'm going to show you how to replace the rear lower control arm on this 2001 BMW 325XI. If you need this part or other parts for your vehicle, click the link in the description and head over to 1AAuto.com
I'm going to loosen up these lug bolts. I'm going to use a 17 millimeter socket and a breaker bar. Now I'm going to raise and support the vehicle. We're using a two post lift. If you're doing this at your house, you can use a jack and jack stands.
Now I'm going to take the 17 millimeter socket and an extension just to take the lug bolts out. Now when I go to take the last one out, I am going to hold the wheel so that the wheel doesn't fall. Take that one out, set it aside and grab the wheel and shake it off.
I want to pull this bolt out, this nut and bolt. There is a cam in here that is to adjust the alignment so after you do this repair, you're going to have to go to an alignment shop and have your alignment performed. Now I will take some rust penetrant, just get it on there. It's really rusty so spray it down, let it soak for a little bit.
Take an 18 millimeter wrench, put it on the backside of the bolt then I'm going to take a 18 millimeter socket, just going to, because this is rusty, just take a hammer, tap it on there real good. Then I can either use a breaker bar or I'm going to use this air gun. Loosen this up. We actually sell this air gun at 1AAuto.com. Make sure you're in the loosen side. Because that nut was really rusty, I couldn't the 18 millimeter socket to work, it was just spinning so I'm using a 17 millimeter socket, I'm just going to hammer it on there, try again. There we go. Loosened it up. Take it off by hand. And there you go.
Now I can tap the bolt out. You don't want to hit it too hard, you don't want to mushroom it. Just tap it a little bit. I'm going to use a punch and drive this through. We actually sell a punch set with these punches at 1AAuto.com. Take that washer off, we're going to have to reuse that. You can kind of judge when you put the new arm on, kind of how the washer was. If it was to the side or to the other side, put it on the same way.
Just be careful when you punch this bolt out. Punch that out just like that. Just going to push the lower knuckle and slide that out. The knuckle's just going to slide in a little bit. Just be careful. You don't want this arm to hit you or anything. Next, we want to pull this bolt out right here. On some vehicles you may have to remove the axle to get the bolt completely out. I'm going to try taking the bolt out first but my assumption is, I'm going to have to pull that axle out. I'm going to use an 18 millimeter socket and breaker bar and break it loose.
Now I'll use a 18 millimeter ratchet wrench and try to get it out. Just spraying a little rust penetrant on here, make it come out a little easier. That's completely loose. There is this little thing right here that's like the little nut. It's nice, it has this little ear that prevents it from spinning so you don't have to put a wrench on that side. Just slide the bolt out. Let's see and it just made it out so I don't have to pull the axle which is nice. But, if you have trouble and you can't get the bolt out, pull the axle out.
With a pry bar or a screwdriver, take this little plastic cover off right here. Just like that. I'm just going to spread this control arm apart a little bit, slide it out, just like that.
Here's the old part, here's the new part of 1AAuto.com. It's got the same shape. It's got the same mounting locations. It's got the same bushing on the other side. Get yours at 1AAuto.com and you can do it yourself.
All right, take the arm, we want to install the arm with the flat part on the top. The bottom part has the curved part just like that. Get that lined up. It's easier to put the bolt in now. Get that in or at least started. Before I completely put that in, I want to put that other piece, this piece in. This lined up. On the backside and just get this started. With that started, we can line this up. We can spread these out a little bit. Just be careful not to spread it too much, you don't want to bend it. Just like that. We can take the pry bar, be careful not to hit your brake line. Line it up. Pull the head out.
All right, now we're going to install this cam bolt. Remember the location of how you took it out then your alignment will be closer. It's still a good idea to go have the alignment adjusted afterwards. Go a repair shop, have that done. We'll slide this in on the backside first. And that's good. Lined up, slide this down and just get that lined up there. Watch your fingers. Be careful. Once you get it kind of lined up, grab a hammer and tap the bolt in while you pry it out. There we go.
Holding the bolt from the backside, I'll just tap it a little bit. Then we'll take this washer, slide this on and with a wrench I can try to position this kind of how it was. My 18 millimeter wrench, just get the nut on. This nut was stuck in the socket. It's an 18 millimeter socket you used for this but this one I'm using a 17 millimeter because it's rusted. Little bit smaller. Take a ratchet, get this in position. On our vehicle it was pretty much straight up and down. Make sure that's good on the other side. We'll snug this up. Now before I torque this nut down, I just want to take the load off the suspension. You kind of want to get the suspension in the same position it would be while you're driving down the road. If you have the ability to do that before you torque this nut and same with this bolt over here. If you can do that, would be good. Just be careful.
Now with my 18 millimeter wrench on the backside, 18 millimeter socket on this nut and a torque wrench. We actually sell this torque wrench from 1AAuto.com. I'm going to torque this to 81 foot pounds. That's good. And with the suspension still raised up, I'm going to use my ratchet wrench, tighten this down, then I'll use the torque wrench and torque this to 81 foot pounds as well.
After you're done getting the arm on, just take this plastic piece. It's just a little trim piece and slide this in position. Just locks in place. Lock the top part in first and then just rotate it, get the bottom part in. Now I'm going to take the wheel, slide it in position. Make sure the holes lined up and hold the wheel. I'm going to take my 17 millimeter socket and the lug stud and get one started. And I can grab the other ones. I'm going to use a 17 millimeter socket and a torque wrench and I'm going to torque these lug bolts in a star pattern to 95 foot pounds. Go right around again, just make sure everything's tight. And you're good to go.
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Tools used
What's up guys? I'm Andy from 1A Auto. In this video, I'm going to show you how to replace the rear trailing arm bushings on this 2001 BMW 325xi.
If you need this part or other parts for your vehicle, click the link in the description, head over to 1aauto.com.
I'm going to loosen up these lug bolts. I'm going to use a 17 mm socket and a breaker bar.
Now I'm going to raise and support the vehicle. We're using a two-post lift. If you're doing this at your house, you can use a jack and jack stands.
Now, I'm going to take the 17 mm socket and extension just to take the lug bolts out. Now when I go to take the last one out, I am going to hold the wheel so that the wheel doesn't fall.
Take that one out. Set it aside and grab the wheel. Shake it off.
After I get the wheel off, I'm just going to support the lower control arm because I want to remove the shock, and I'm going to support right here. If you're doing this on the ground you can use a floor jack, just to raise this up a little bit. Once you get it to move a little bit, you should be able to take the shock bolt out.
Now, with the lower control arm supported, I'm just going to take an 18 mm socket and an air gun. I'm going to take this bolt out.
If you don't have any air tools you can always use a ratchet or a breaker bar. Take that out. Slide the bolt out. Now, I can lower the control arm. It's going to take the tension off the coil spring. Just going to move this brake pad wear sensor wire. Just pull it out of that clip right there. Just move it out of the way. It's fine like that. That's good.
Now, I'm going to remove this bolt right here. There's a nut on the inside here, so I'm just going to use an 18 mm wrench. Hold that nut, 18 mm socket, and then an air gun. You can use a ratchet if you don't have an air gun.
Loosen that up. Take the nut off. Carefully remove this bolt. Oops.
Now, that can separate.
I want to take these three 18 mm bolts out right here. That's of the lower trailing arm, but first I want to take off some of these wires. I don't want to ... I want to give them a little more slack because I don't want to break them. I'm taking those up. Slide those out of the clips. And those are the ABS wires and the break sensor wires. Brake pad sensor wire.
Now, I'm going to use an 18 mm socket and my air gun. You can use a breaker bar if you don't have an air gun.
Just going to loosen these up a little bit first. I'm not going to take it out completely.
Once they're all loose, then I'll take them out.
Pull that out. That's why I left one of them in, so if this falls, it's not going to hit anything or hit myself, and I can support this. Take this last one out. And there we go.
Now, I'm just going to get a pry bar to get underneath this spring. Try to slide this out. Just be careful. You don't want it to hit you. Just like that. With the spring out, it makes it a little bit easier to get this upper control arm out of the way. Just take the pry bar and get it underneath here.
On the top side of the bolt, I'm going to use a 17 mm wrench to hold the bolt. And then underneath the car, I'm going to use a 13 mm socket extension and an air gun. Or you could use a ratchet. I'm going to take the nut off. I'm going to take that side off. And then also this other side right here.
The tension on the brake hose is somewhat concerning to me. So, what I want to do is remove this clip right here. I'm just going to take some needle nose pliers. Pull this clip off. Or I'm going to take a screwdriver and slide it in here. Try to slide the clip out. Just pull that clip out. Slide the hose, and now, there's a little less tension on the hose so I can tip this down so that we can access this.
I could actually put a block of wood under here, and that would keep this from twisting. I'm just going to take the block of wood and stick it right there. Just be careful. You don't want it to damage the gas tank. Ideally, if you could get a block of wood to go this way, this would be better. But you don't want it to fall on you too while you're working on it.
There we go. Right there is good. Just going to spray this down. Spray the bolt down with a little rust penetrant. Let it soak for a little bit. I'll spray the bushing down as well while I'm there because that bushing was pretty bad.
I'm going to use an 18 mm socket and an air gun. Loosen this up. And the nut's spinning on the back side. So, I'm going to have to use a wrench to hold the nut. I'm going use an 18 mm wrench on the back side. Same 18 on the front.
Take that nut off. Slide the bolt out. Slide this bracket off.
So, this is not the exact tool for this job, but this should work. They do make special pullers and installers to use for this, but we should be able to get it out with this.
This is a ball joint tool. It has multiple adapters. So, if there's any extra stuff, just slide that off. Slide a cone. Seems like it'll fit. Tighten this up. It's a good idea to wear safety glasses while you're doing this. And what you want is you want something that's bigger than the bushing on this side so that the bushing will slide into that and something that's smaller than the bushing, so it pushes it through on this side.
So now I'm just going to tighten this up. You could just use a hand ratchet if you want. We're just going to use a gun.
One thing about using a ratchet, you can tell if it's binding up. If you start using a gun, you're not really going to notice it starts binding up.
It's on there. Pretty good. What I'm actually going to do while there's tension on it, I'm just going to take the air hammer and give it a couple of taps right there. That might loosen it up a little bit.
So, sending the bushing through that way really isn't working for me. So, I set the tool up the other way around. So, when I'm pushing on this screw right here, it's going to pull the tool and pull the bushing towards me, and the bushing will get sucked into here. So we'll give that a try and see how that works.
So, I didn't like the way the tool was working or wasn't working. So, they do make a special tool for this that you can use. I don't have that. So, what I'm doing is using some threaded rod, and I'm just going to use some adapters from some other tool sets. One to push the bushing out from the inside and one so that the bushing fits through there.
So, let's make this work. Sometimes you got to get creative when you're doing something like this.
So, I'm going to hold a wrench on the nut on the back side, and I'll tighten up the front side. And if it works right, it should suck the bushing right into there.
It's getting easier. So, think it's working pretty well. There we go. Pull that off. There's the bushing right inside there.
All right, now I can take the tool apart, and there's the bushing. It's all rotted away. Good time to change it.
Here's the old part. Here's the new rear trailing arm bushing from 1AAuto.Com. If this one was not badly corroded, the shape would be the same. It has the holes in the same location. Same the rubber. Get yours at 1AAuto.com, and you'll be ready to rock and roll.
To install this, you want to kind of remember the way the old one came out. If you don't remember the way the old one came out, these rubber pieces generally go like this. They don't go up and down, so we'll reassemble it that way. And then I'm just going to take this tool. This is similar to the tool I just used and then take a bigger cup on the backside so when I press this in, it has some room to go in there. Put this nut on the back side, just like that. Get this lined up.
Oh, and one thing I forgot to mention, when you had the old one out, you could take some Emery cloth or some sand paper and just stand around on the inside of the trailing arm just to smooth it out. You don't want to take too much material off, but just take some of the rust off, and we'll just take a socket and a ratchet that fits the tool and just tighten this up. As I tighten this up, it's going to suck the bushing right into the trailing arm.
There we go. That one's in there just like the old one was. I can take the tool off.
Now, we can put this bracket back on. You want to make sure that you have the two mounting holes going towards the front of the vehicle, the single hole towards the back.
Slide that in position just like that, and then I'm going to take the bolt ... I put some copper anti-seize on there so that in the future if I ever have to take this out again, it'll come out easily. Put the nut on the back side. Then I'll take an 18 mm wrench on the backside and an 18 mm socket and a ratchet on the front side. Tighten this bolt down. Make this a little quicker. I'm just going to use the gun.
Alright, so you want that kind of level too when you're doing that. We'll use a torque wrench and a wrench on the backside. Tighten this to 81 foot pounds. Then we'll take the brake hose and reposition that into that bracket. All right, now just reinstall the clip. Slide that in position. You can take a little hammer, give it a tap. Tap it in. Just make sure that locks in place. Now it looks good.
Now, I'm going to install these bolts for the sway bar link. Now, I'm replacing the bolts because the bolts were pretty rusty, so the size is going to be different. Normally, you'd have a 17 mm on top and a 13 down below. I have 12 and 12 here. So, we'll just put these on.
So, I'm just going to use an electric ratchet, and tighten these down, and then use a wrench underneath.
Do the same on this side.
I'll just snug these down with a regular ratchet. That's good. Same on this side. That's good.
Take the spring, make sure you have this cone bushing on the bottom and then the open one up top. Now, for taking the spring out and putting it in, we had this bolt out right here and then the bolts out for this lower control arm here. It just made this a lot easier to get the spring in and out. I have seen other people take and put a floor Jack in between here and push down on this upper control arm, but I feel like that puts a lot of strain on the rear axle, and I feel like it might do some damage. So, be careful doing that. Not to say it's impossible to do it that way, but ... So, we'll get this lined up. Push this in. Take a pry bar.
Try to slide this into position. I'm just going to take a longer pry bar. Pry right above the sway bar link and the frame. Just pry it down. Just try to get over that piece right there, and push the spring in.
There we go. Be careful with your fingers. And that's good. That's good down below. That's good up top.
Now we want to get this lined up with the upper control arm. Take the bolt ... I put a little copper anti-seize on the bolt. So, sometimes you could take a pic or a screwdriver pick works a little bit easier. Get that to line up, and then take your bolt. Get your bolt started. There we go. Then I can just take an 18 mm socket electric ratchet. Tighten this down.
That's all the way through. Then we can put the nut on the other side. Get that nut on. Take an 18 mm wrench and just tighten this up. That's good. Then I'll take a torque wrench, 18 mm socket, 18 mm wrench and torque this to 81 foot pounds.
Now I'm gonna raise this trailing arm into position right there and then put the bolts in. Just get the bolts started. I got those other front two bolts in, and now I'll raise this up. Get this back one in. Then I can snug them all down with a 18 mm socket and that airgun.
I'm just loosening this pull jack. Get that out of the way. Then, I'll take an 18 mm socket and a torque wrench. Tighten these to 57 foot pounds. There we go.
Now, I'll take these ABS wire and break sensor wire and reposition these back in the clips and same with the clips on top. You can get these from above if you can't get them from down below.
With a screw jack, I'm just going to get underneath the trailing arm right here. You could probably put a floor jack underneath right there. I'm just going to raise this up a little bit more so that I can get the shock bolt in. Get that lined up. Get that started.
I'm going to tighten this bolt down with a torque wrench and an 18 mm socket. Tighten this down to 74 foot pounds.
Anytime you do any kind of suspension work like what we did today, it's a good idea to go down to your local shop and have the vehicle aligned. That way, the tires go down the road straight, and you don't have premature tire wear.
Now I'm going to take the wheel and slide in position. Make sure the hole is lined up and hold the wheel. I'm going to take my 17 mm socket and the lug stud and get one started. And I can grab the other ones.
Now, I'm going to use a 17 mm socket and a torque wrench, and I'm going to torque these lug bolts in a star pattern to 95 foot pounds.
Go right around and again, just make sure everything's tight. And you're good to go.
Thanks for watching. If you want the parts to do it yourself, check out 1AAuto.Com, the place for DIY auto repair.
