Rear trailing arms help!

[Corycarlo]

has anyone replaced theirs or removed theirs to change the bushings?? It looks like I can just unbolt everything from the inside, backside, and then the single bolt towards the front where the bushing is. Mine are rusted out. I've googled and was very surprised to find to results as to anyone else doing it. Also....I need fog lights! The whole assemblies. Any word on a super cheap set? I don't care at all what style they are. Pic to show the part. I need to do both left and right

 

[D Hook]

Fog lights are available on ebay, about $42 for a set shipped.

 

[michael loibl]

The trailing arms are super easy to replace one bolt at the body and three or four bolts where it meets the wheel.

If you have ever had to replace a rear wheel bearing on one of these, you were 90% of the way to taking out the trailing arm.

 

[Corycarlo]

That is great news! I thought it looked that easy, but the garage that failed me for them wanted to charge me $1200 to replace them so I was second guessing myself. Ordered them online for $225. They should be here mid next week! Thanks again! And also I will check eBay for fog lamps

 

[Explorer_PL]

Fog lights are plenty on ebay or anywhere for 30-40 like D Hook said.
You may want to invest $2 into 3 short pieces of 1/2 inch PVC pipe to release the 3 tabs on each light.
The trailing arms just bolt on, no rocket science there.

The 4 Gen suspension is much better designed than 3rd Gen when it comes to repairs.

 

[Corycarlo]

Ok, I thought they looked like a simple unbolt, remove job but another garage I had look at them said it's a two day job, saying everything would need disassembled. I normally do all my work myself and will be with these. It's sad that garages will lie straight to my face without even flinching.

 

[Explorer_PL]

Like Michael said above, if you ever done rear bearings, you were almost done. If I can disassemble the rear suspension in about 45 minutes to get the knuckle out on the driveway with just impact gun, on my knees and on my back, then shop can do it quicker. Yes, it's said that lots of shops will try to sell a total BS to a customer looking straight into your face.
2 days, my gosh, you can replace an engine and tranny in 2 days on these cars with a lift .....

 

[Corycarlo]

Never had to do the rear bearings on the explorer, many front but no rear, but the trailing arm just looks like 3-4bolts on on end then on the other just the one bushing bolt. I've been spraying the bolts every couple days with wd40 and will until the parts come in. And the two day thing, I know, total bullshit. I've changed maybe 15 motors and 10 trannys in my life and have done countless other jobs on my vehicles. Just put a mini blower on my 68 nova maybe 4 months back. I checked in with you guys here bc I didn't know if I was missing something with how the garages acted like it was a huge job but yea, just two lying garages and I hate myself for even taking it to a second garage that charged me another $28 to look at it, but inspection was up and was just trying to get a sticker so I could repair it myself next week, anyways, the parts will be in next week and I'll be good to go. Thanks again guys!

 

[michael loibl]

The only possible difficult part if I recall was one or two of the bolts behind the wheel were somewhat obstructed it by the boot of the CV joint, But I just got a longer half inch drive extension and was good to go

 

[Corycarlo]

Awesome. I'll keep spraying penetrant oil on them until the show up next week. Thanks again

 

[Explorer_PL]

I had one of them give me some trouble as well but a breaker bar took care of it, after that a cheap HF 1/2 inch gun finished the job.

 

[dacaur2]

I haven't completely removed mine, but I have unbolted it from the knuckles to change out the rear differential. There are 4 bolts at the knuckle, but you have to undo one extra to get to one of them, you will need to remove the bolt connecting the lower control arm to the knuckle.
You will need a 24mm socket, as well as a wrench to hold the nut on the backside, (you wont have to hold the one on the lower arm becuase it has some sort of tab on the nut) You also need a 21mm socket for the three bolts connecting the trailing arm to the knuckle. Not sure what the forward bolt is as I didnt remove that one.

Dont think you are going to be able to use a breaker bar on all of them. There simply isn't room. Maybe if you had it up on a lift you could, but trying to do it from above, not happening. You will need an impact gun and some wobbly extensions. Normal extensions wont work because you have to misalign the gun for some of the bolts. I used a ryobi one+ 18v impact gun and it worked ok. One side was a total *****, requiring me to find my best battery and make sure it had a full charge for each bolt, partly because of the misalignment. It took quite a while to get it done and my impact gun overheated twice. The other side took about 5 min because all the bolts came out super easy.

One last tip, wd-40 isnt all that great for breaking rusted bolts loose. Once you try PB blaster, you wont use wd-40 again. The one plus of WD-40 is you can use it indoors because it doesn't have a strong odor. DON'T use pb-blaster on anything indoors. I used it on bedroom door hinges once, and the (terrible) smell lasted weeks.....
Good luck

 

[Corycarlo]

I used the name wd40 as a generic. I actually use what me and my father have always called 'pink spray'. It's real name is 'aerokroil'. I have never seen a better penetrant, ever. I have seen stuck bolts/nuts be doused in everything stay stuck until sprayed with this stuff. It's really great, but many people have never heard of it, that's why I said wd40. Buy 1 can and you will never buy anything else again.

 

[Bill MacLeod]

The 3 bolts into the knuckle have a thread sealer on them from the factory. I had to use a propane torch to heat the bolts and soften the sealer. easy to then remove them.
And I second the aerokroil.

 

[Explorer_PL]

...aerokroil third vote. Learned about it when trying to remove broken plugs on one of my cars. Oh, wait, that would be my Explorer