Hands On
Words Paul Wager
Photography Michael Whitestone
The Sharp End
E36 suspension getting soggy? Invest an hour and Ł20 in a
sharpening up your 3-Series rear end.
When BMW debuted its Z axle in the Z1 and properly. In extreme cases, if you rock the driveshafts and hubs  to the point where the
later in mass production in the E36 cars, it car with the handbrake on, you ll be able to potential costs involved frighten you away
brought in a new era of sharply-handling see the wheel move back and forth slightly. from even paying someone else to do it.
BMWs and meant an end to the semi trailing It s a quick and easy job with basic tools  It s not that difficult though, and can easi-
arm drama which had held up the company s even quicker and easier if you have the spe- ly be done with the trailing arm on the car.
rear ends for so long. cial tool. You might think that rules it out for Even if you ve never done it before, you ll
To a large extent it meant the end of an enthusiastic hands-on BMW owner, but easily replace both bushes in a couple of
replacement rear suspension bushes on an ever since the days when service lights had hours and if you don t fancy getting your
annual basis, but if the rear end of your E36 us bemoaning the birth of the  throwaway hands dirty, here s what you re asking your
is starting to feel a little soggy, then spend- car , the aftermarket has provided the tools specialist to do.
ing Ł20 on a couple of replacement trailing to take apart what BMW invents.
arm bushes will sharpen things up again. In the case of the E36 suspension, the
Contact
The symptoms of worn trailing arm appropriate tool is made right here in
bushes are easy to spot: a generally soggy Britain by Auto Service Tools, who can sup- AST Tools
feeling from the rear and sometimes a ply a wide range of BMW special tools and www.asttools.co.uk
clunking, as if a rear door isn t closed electronic diagnostic gear. You can easily
Euro Car Parts
buy them from this very magazine through
0208 956 5190 www.eurocarparts.com
Euro Car Parts and GSF. Yes, the job can be
German Swedish & French
What It Costs
done with a basic puller and a Jubilee clip,
0208 917 3899 www.gsfcarparts.com
but it s nothing like as simple.
Trailing arm bushes (pair) Ł20
Powerstation
AST4464 E36 suspension bush tool Ł191 Read up on this job in the workshop manu-
01242 238400
als and you ll find pages and pages of instruc-
Prices include VAT
www.powerstation.org.uk
tions on dismantling the entire trailing arm,
TOTAL BMW DECEMBER 03 77
Hands On
02
01
Safety
05
The first rule of working on cars and using tools of any kind is
don t take risks:
" If you re using power tools, protective gear is essential.
" Never work under a car without supporting it, using axle
stands first.
" When cars catch fire, they burn fast. Always have a fire
extinguisher to hand.
" If you re not completely confident in your ability to complete
any task safely, don t even start it. Leave it to the experts.
The advice and guidelines given in Total BMW magazine
are given in good faith and neither Total BMW nor A&S
Publishing can take any responsibility for injuries sustained
while carrying out the described tasks and procedures, or any
consequences arising from them.
08 09
Because the suspension arm is still under some tension from the spring, you ll
The AST tool: the difference between being able to do this job on an easy
3need to support it before you release the bolts. A trolley jack is ideal, and allows
1Sunday afternoon and being stuck with a car in pieces. Like most suspension
you to gently lower the arm afterwards.
bush tools, the kit consists of a heavy-duty threaded shaft, a locknut on one end,
a force nut on the other end and a selection of bridging pieces and spacers. The
Before you do that though, you ll need to release the flexible brake pipe from
conical sleeve is crucial, as you ll see.
4the arm. Just unbolt the small retaining bracket and then...
Before taking anything apart, carefully measure the distance from the trailing
...you can lower the arm all the way to gain access. Here you ll see the mounting
2arm to three fixed points on the bodywork. This will make it easier to align
5cage, which is bolted through the bush.
the wheel accurately afterwards. First task is to unbolt the trailing arm cage from
the floor of the car. BMW calls this a  console , but on closer examination there is
no trace of fake plastic wood or 1970s Radiomobile tapedecks.
78 TOTAL BMW DECEMBER 03
03 04
06 07
10
Removing the cage is a simple matter of unbolting it, although you ll find it Compare the old bush you ve just removed with a brand new part and you might
6will need plenty of force. You can see that we ve used Total BMW special tool 9be surprised to find it doesn t look that worn, but as with most suspension
No 001a (lovingly crafted from a 78 mm length of planed square edge pine) to hold bushes, it can be pretty knackered and still look perfectly fine. These slotted bushes
the arm clear, while a strip of duct tape protects the paintwork. are a revised part introduced by BMW in 1998 to make replacement easier.
Now you re ready to extract the bush. The tool is assembled and bolted Without even a pause for a cup of tea, it s time to fit the new bush. You ll
7finger-tight to the arm and then... 10have noticed that the new bushes are slotted and so need to be compressed
to fit into the trailing arm  this is where the AST tool is particularly neat. The
... with everything lined up properly, all you need to do is wind in the force sleeve provided in the kit is tapered internally, so that the bush is compressed as
8nut with a 23 mm spanner and the bush is drawn out. You ll be surprised by it s pressed into place. If you don t have the tool, you can use a big Jubilee clip to
how little force is required if the bush is past its best. compress the bush as you push it in, but expect a bit of a struggle doing it this way.
TOTAL BMW DECEMBER 03 79
Hands On
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13
Tooled Up
Continue pressing the bush into place until exactly 2.5 mm of the metal part of the bush protrudes
11 from the trailing arm and you ve got it spot-on. Now it s just a case of...
There s not much you can do to modern BMWs
without having the proper tools, and the inde-
... bolting the cage through the centre of the new bush, torqueing it to 82 lbf.ft and lifting the trail-
pendent specialists get theirs from people like
12 ing arm back into place. Before finally tightening up the bolts to 57 lbf.ft, use a lever to ensure the
AST in the West Midlands. The firm was formed
mounting cage bolts are lined up with the previous marks. Double-check against the measurements you
in 1990 and supplies everything you need to work
took earlier and if all s gone, well you ll have got the wheel alignment pretty accurate. It s still sensible to
on the suspension of a modern BMW, right up to
get it checked properly, but for now you re finished: no more clunks and a tighter rear end.
models like the E39 5-Series and the current 3-
Series. AST can also supply the crucial tools for
No matter how careful you were to align the mounts to their original position, you still want to get
engine servicing, including camshaft locking sets
13the wheels aligned properly by a specialist who knows their stuff, as just a small movement in the
and special Vanos wrenches, as well as a wide
position of the mountings can make a big difference to the rear wheel toe. We took our car to local experts
range of electronic diagnosis equipment. Find
Powerstation in Cheltenham who can offer a full four-wheel alignment using the same Beissbarth system
details of their range at www.asttools.co.uk and
that your BMW dealer uses. As it turned out, we had managed to get the alignment pretty close, but the
order them through the usual trade distributors.
front needed attention anyway. If you re in the Cheltenham area, give them a call on 01242 238400.
80 TOTAL BMW DECEMBER 03