id clean the hub housing really well with a dremel sanding drum and brake cleaner. That one end with the bigger lip should hold the bushing in place. Lube it up with marine grease and press that bushing in. What did you use to press the old one out?

 

Just your standard run-of-the-mill bushing press rental tool. The one with the giant C-clamp. I used the 2" receiver cup, but they didn't have anything small enough to press on the bushing, so I used a very crappy, damaged, chinese-made 1-1/8" socket, which fit perfectly. Other than all the 10mm bolt heads that popped right off it was the easiest thing to do. I'm hoping going in will be just as easy.

Oh, and this was from a company called "American Distributors". They are supposed to be in California but the package came from Florida and when I called I spoke to a Brit. The only other company that listed these was Febest. I looked on their site and depending on how you look for the bushing, they list up to 5 different models. When I first ordered I got the one first listed for my vehicle and it was too small. I called to get clarification on which was correct and the sales rep couldn't confirm (and seriously didn't care) which bushing was the correct one. The American Distributors rep was much more helpful.

 

Please add a review and link to source "American Distributor" bushings on the Aftermarket parts review thread when you're done.

Agree, the Febest catalog is a little hard to decipher. I sort of hope that the bushing they sent you was wrong and for a different application. Some Febest bushing diagrams are available on Amazon and Ebay for placement around an RX knuckle.

 

If someone is dropping the rear suspension, how does the differential get disengaged from the drive shaft?

I see the 4 bolts attaching it to the differential, but is there something inside that needs to slide out? Do you loosen the differential and slide it back?

 

There is a flange coupling. Like all others you should mark so that you assemble it the same way you took it out. There is oil seals all around and if the one on the drive shaft is not leaking leave it alone. If it is leaking then have a pro replace it. That nut has to be preloaded and gear lash has to be measured.

Also the shaft needs to be kept together .. at times it is better to unattached both ends. Mark every thing as alignment and balancing of the shaft is critical.

Good luck with the holding bolts of the differential.

Salim

 

I got the flange part, but if someone where to drop the differential, does it come straight down or does it need to be shifted back off the driver shaft?

 

Slide the shaft back. Sue slight leverage if you must. Else you will have to undo the front coupling. Support the coupling throughout. I jury rigged a notched V wood block. Very helpful in putting back shaft.

Salim

 

This is a correction post for anyone who ends up reading this thread before the rear end DIY gets done.

DO NOT try to remove the fuel tank to do the rear suspension. There isn't any way to drop the tank without dropping the drive shaft; there is no way to shift the tank forward enough to get to the forward control arm bolts; you do not need to drop the tank to get the trailing arm bolts installed. It easier to drop the rear carriage.

The Details: When I tested the trailing arm bolts, I must have grabbed the wrong bolts - same diameter but a bit longer. I thought I HAD to drop the tank to get those back on. I tried shifting the tank forward because it looked like there was enough room to do so to get to the forward control arms, but there is something I can't see that prevents the tank from moving forward more than an inch. At this point I grabbed the trailing arm bolts to see if the tank could be shifted just enough while loose to get them in place, which is when I realized my earlier mistake.

Dropping the rear carriage is the only viable solution and it isn't as big a deal as I thought it was going to be thanks to a transmission jack.

 

I need a bit of help. Which way do the forward control arms get installed. The following photos have the old and new arm, but if I flip the arm over on the new one, you can see how different the angle is depending on which side is "up". Anyone know which is the proper angle? Unlike the rear control arm, both angles can be made to work.




#1: Old control arm on left, new on right. Right has been flipped.




#2: same control arms, new on right.

 

Look at the other side and do a mirror image.

Salim

 

That would be a great idea if everything on the other side wasn't off already.

I guess I'll try to play around a bit. Thanks anyway.

 

i wont be seeing our RX300 for another 3 weeks, otherwise i would have checked the angle for you. Glad to see you have had progress on dropping the rear carriage. How hard was it to leverage to get to the subframe bolts?

 

I would think that when you try to insert them they will only fit one (the correct) way. No?

 

No, I can make them fit either way. One way is a little tighter than the other, but I'm not sure it isn't supposed to be the one that is a bit tighter. You can definitely tell the difference with the rearmost arms, but not these.

Each of the old, original arms has a mark on it. Depending on how it is placed the mark is facing front or back. Does anyone have a similar white/pink paint mark on their arms?

 

The sub-frame bolts were super easy, I'm sorry I didn't start with them. They seem to be protected by being up inside the frame. I pulled the inside of the rear out to get to the fuel pump/tank and to see if I could see those bolts. Long story short, I couldn't see the suspension member bolts, but I did see the two rear fuel tank bolts. They looked brand new on the inside and the suspension bolts were in a similar condition when pulled.

My neighbor brought over his transmission jack to lower the carriage. We placed it under the differential bracket and used a 2x4 under the rear part of the carriage frame and lowered it in one shot. This seemed much easier and safer than trying to do it with a standard jack a little bit at a time. I was afraid it was going to topple off the jack as we couldn't strap it on, but it was seated on there very nicely.