So I am mechanically inclined, but I don't have the time or place to actually replace these myself, given the chance I think I could do it though.

The local shop where I usually get things done, and isn't typically outlandish as far as labor/parts costs goes wants $550.00 to replace both lower trailing arm bushings on my wife's 2000 civic EX. I feel like this could be somewhat high. They did ALL of my belts, water pump, fuel, brake, and transmission system flushes for about that price around a year ago.

They quoted me $79.99 each for the bushings, which I see I can get online for about 30.00 each shipped. ****ER/RAYBESTOS Part # 5791027 {Professional Grade} is what I was seeing. There were others that were cheaper, but they seem really too cheap.

I'm wondering what a fair price would be for the replacement service to be performed on that particular honda. I'm really not a honda guy so I truly have no idea and hope some of you experts here can steer me in the right direction as far as what i should be looking for in costs.

Thanks!
Zak

 

you just need to shop around! that price sounds high to me, but thats because i do my own work! i would get the bushing you found on the internet and have them put them on! and if they dont like that i would find another shop! that would save you almost 100 bucks!

 

Yes, in any event I was planning to buy the bushings myself, probably from RockAuto online, because I know I can get the pair for about 60 bucks shipped.

It's the work I am concerned with really.

 

I think 99.9% of shops will completely remove the trailing arm to press the old bushings out, and press the new ones in. This isn't quick.

There is a tool you can buy that allows you to press the bushings in/out with the arm still on the car; can't speak for it's effectiveness, but I'm considering it when I replace mine.

Here's a write up.

 

Also, is anyone able to tell me the OEM lower bushing part #

 

The OEM # is P/N 52385-SR3-000 for 88-00 civics. About $42 each at MajesticHonda.com.

I installed the Energy Suspension (P/N 16.7106G) ones this weekend. I got them for $22.40 for the pair on Amazon. I'll tell you it takes a hell of a lot longer to install these than the OEM style because you have to remove all the old rubber out of the OEM metal sleeve and shaft and then press the new ones in. The instructions showed using a hacksaw, but I tossed the old ones in a campfire for 20 minutes and the metal parts came out clean as a whistle. The cheapest OEM style ones (dorman) were about $30 each, so the ES will save you about $40 but take quite a bit more time.

I don't have any pictures but wanted to post a few notes:

The special tool you can buy to press in/out the bushings for $150 or so may be slick but it's not necessary. You can do the same thing with a mallet or just a regular old hammer. It doesn't even take a lot of muscle, just tap around the edges hammering towards the outside of the car to remove.

Make sure to mark the orientation of the center shaft before removing the old bushings, and to line the new ones up along that same line.

I took the trailing arm completely off rather than trying to screw with it under the car. Not a big deal, especially since I timed the repair to coincide with replacing the shoes/hardware and flushing the brakes. For me, it wasn't an emergency repair since the bushings never completely failed so I was able to plan ahead.

The best tip for removing the parking brake cable from the brake backing plate is to slide a 12mm wrech up the cable to release the clip.

I read somewhere before I started to invest in a 10mm flare nut wrench to remove the brake line and found that to be very true. I tried an open end wrench and the nut started to round so I had to run out and buy one. $18 at Sears. $12 online at Sears if I had heeded the warning before my car was in pieces in the garage. Auto parts stores had them for $16 for a chinese-made set but I'd rather have one good wrench than a set of terds.

Pressing the ES bushings into the OEM sleeve was not easy but I used the method in their instructions (a bolt through the center with large washers on either side). Make sure you install the sleeve into the trailing arm before you try pressing the bushing into the sleeve! I found a 6" piece of threaded 1/2-13 rod at Lowes but couldnt find washers large enough so I used old edger blades that I had. It took a few tries with the first one but the second one went right in. Just crank it down and it'll pop in. I believe the side with the writing was smaller by 0.030" or so but I'm not sure since it's hard to get a good measurement on soft materials. I also had a 1/2" drive socket in the ID of the bushing to align the bolt in its center a little better and prevent the thing from cocking to the side as much when first tightening.

Don't crossthread anything when putting it back together. There's more tendency for this to happen since it'll be a struggle just to get the bolts though the trailing arm with the control arms all wanting to go their separate ways but you just have to fight with it until the bolt is nice and squared up before trying to thread it.

Good luck.

Honda Civic Trailing Arm Bushing Replacement

 

Actually that is the old part#. The new part# is 52385-S21-003, from what I have heard, don't think of using the old part#, use the new part#. Simple decision.

A quote from HondaDNA of D-series; "Honda realized sometime in 2000 the trailing arm bushing for older models were failing so they designed a newer stiffer rubber bushing. 52385-S21-003 is the p/n for the new stiffer bushing(it is rumored theses are the same as Mugen and PIC/Hardrace) "

See http://www.performanceforum.com/wesv...ing/report.pdf

EDIT: Oh wait, this later bulletin (http://www.ozhonda.com/forum/showthr.../page6&post#63) shows that 52385-SR3-000 is the replacement part #! So confusing.

But both bulletins say that the 'failed part' is SR3-000 for the Civic so that is common to both. Just the older bulletin says S21-003 is the replacement. So the question is why the new bulletin doesn't.


Better just get a hard rubber hard race RTA bushing and call it a day. Hopefully it'll last longer than OEM with no compromises.