Instructions for BMW E30 Rear Trailing Arm Bushings (RTABs) - K0002

• Part name: Rear Trailing Arm Bushings
• Part number: K0002 (OEM BMW PN: 33329061945)
• Product page: https://www.garagistic.com/products/bmw-e30-z3-2002-solid-poly-delrin-rear-trailing-arm-bushings
• Difficulty level: 1-10

Tools required:

• Jack (trolley preferred) and jack stands
• Metric spanners & sockets
• 8mm hex (allen) key
• 11mm & 14mm brake line spanners
• Torque wrench
• Either a hydraulic press or a selection of washers, threaded rod and sockets (see below)
• A buddy definitely helps
• Surgical gloves (brake fluid isn't nice)
• Drip tray

Parts required:

• 2x 33329058822 -Trailing arm bushes (or for polyurethane)
• DOT4 Brake fluid - 250ml
• Rubber grease
• Standard automotive grease

Optional:

• Stainless steel braided brake lines
• E30 serrated camber and toe adjustment brackets

Sick of the sloppy rear suspension feel? Want some tunability through adding Rear Subframe Camber And Toe Correction Kit or plan on upgrading to a disc rear for those 4 cylinder weapons? Then you’re going to need to drop your rear trailing arms. The E30 employs a semi-rear trailing arm setup that although can look daunting, is super easy to remove and fit. Below is a figure of the rear subframe and LH side trailing arm, we’ll refer to the numbers on the figure throughout the How-to.

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Removal 

1. Position your E30 on a safe, flat and level area. Crack your rear lug bolts and jack it up referring to this handy picture of the E30 jacking points. Remember to always use chocks and jack stands and take your time. For this procedure it is safer/easier to have all four corners on jack stands. Put the jack stands on the 4x sill jack points so it won’t interfere with your suspension later on.
2. Remove your rear wheels and set them aside. Double-check the security of your car and take a mental image of the rear trailing arms (8). Take photos if you don't feel confident you'll be able to reassemble it as you see it.
3. Use a floor jack to take the weight of the rear trailing arm (8), at the rear beside the brake shield. You need to support the trailing arm to prevent any damage being caused by the coil spring under tension. Remove the lower shock absorber mount bolt.
4. Remove the brake pad wear sensor line from the brake pads and the trailing arm. Remove the ABS signal line if present (13) (14).
5. This is where a friend comes in handy to prevent a lot of up and down action, getting in and out from underneath the car. Mark on the inboard and outboard ends of the drive axle mating faces so they go back in the same position on refitment. Use your 8mm hex bit to first remove the bolts on the differential axle flanges (with your acquaintance holding and releasing the brakes as needed to rotate/lock the axles) then continue to remove the axle bolts on the hub side. It is crucial that the correct size hex is used.
6. One of the trickiest bits of this procedure is the handbrake cables. There are two options depending on the route you're going to go with. Either, a) converting to disk rears or b) just removing and refitting the same trailing arms.

1. Remove the handbrake boot (8) and the two handbrake adjusting nuts(11). Tie a piece of string to each threaded portion of the hand brake cable(10) to help with dragging the new handbrake cables back up later on. When you pull the rear trailing arm assemblies, gently pull through the cables with it. Untie the string when the cables are out of their tunnels and retie to the new handbrake cables of the disc brake rear trailing arm. Then basically reinstall in reverse.

2. Take a picture of the drum/ shoe assembly as it can get very fiddly and the orientation of certain components is vital. Remove the bowden cable (1) from the drum brake shoe expander (5) and pin (6). That's it.

7. A handy tip before removing any brake lines is to air-lock the brake reservoir. Do this by removing the lid, place a glove over the reservoir and resecure the lid. Have a drip tray ready just in case.  Remove the flexible brake line going to the LH rear caliper with your 14mm spanner.
8. Remove the brake hardline from the white clips that secure the line to the rear trailing arm.
9. Remove the outboard rear sway bar mounts (10) from the trailing arms by undoing nut (11).

10. Now you should be left with two bolts remaining, the trailing arm fulcrum bolts (11). Ask a favour of that friend again, have him support the heavy trailing arm whilst you remove the bolts. Lower the trailing arm to the floor.
11. Your pre-existing bushes will be cemented in with 25+ years of abuse. You can use a hydraulic press and said friend however the trailing arm is hefty and the process is fiddly. The easier option at home is to make a special tool to remove/insert the bushings. As you can see below (picture is of the lubricated bushing being inserted) use a combination of threaded rod, sockets, nuts, pipe and washers to pull the bushing. The general idea is that as you wind the hex nut on the wider end of the bushing, it slowly pulls the bushing into the piped section. The same applies for refitment but you're pulling the bushing in until it is snug within its housing. Rubber grease is recommended for the bushing. Grease the threads of the threaded rod as well as it takes a surprising amount of force to pull out the bushing. I do not recommend lighting the bushing on fire to melt it out as it could change the temper state of the surrounding steel, potentially weakening it.

Installation

12. There are no tricks to installing and refitment can be carried out in reverse of the removal. Start with the inner trailing arm bolt first. The rear brakes will need to be bled, especially if the brake lines have been upgraded.
13. Carefully refer to your picture of the drum brakes if you're installing the rear drums. If the disk rear trailing arms are going on, very carefully pull the string and bring the new cables back through their respective tunnels.
14. A wheel alignment will be required.

Torques Nm(ft. lb)

• Lower shock absorber mount 72-87Nm(52-63ft.lb)
• Sway bar mount to trailing arm 22-24Nm(16-17ft.lb) *tighten when car is on the ground*
• Wheel lug bolts 100Nm(74ft.lb)
• Trailing arm to subframe bolts 88Nm(65ft.lb)
• Brake line unions 10-15Nm(7-11ft.lb)
• Drive axles 58-63Nm(42-46ft.lb)

Notes

1. Is this the kind of walk through you were looking for?  I can easily have less or more specific information that you provide.
2. Write-up time ~3hrs. Task completed as requested within 48 hours.
3. With regards to remuneration, this is my first experience with writing guides, is a per article fee the usual or hourly and if so what sort of figures are a ballpark?
4. Can you please give a more detailed summary of each job description and their expected work loads?
5. I currently work shifts of 2 days 2 nights, 4 days off and could produce an article such as this every week, as well as other tasks as required.

Regards

Cameron McLeod

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