You will have read the article (HERE) about the problems I found with my trailing arms - so now on with the story of how to refurbish them.

Replacement bushes are available from Suzuki, for each trailing arm you require two axle end bushes and one body end bush.

The part numbers are:

Axle end: - 42682-81A00
Body end:- 46213-65D00

Be aware that originally Suzuki would only supply the complete trailing arm, they would not supply the bushes separately. Some dealers still think this is the case, simply quote the bush part numbers to them!

The picture below shows the new bushes. As you can see they are encased in a steel sleeve which is a real pain when it comes to pushing the old ones out.

Will I ever get back off-roading!

My Jimny has gained a significant clonk when letting up the clutch, there is also a lot of drive chain "shunt" and rubber "squeaking" whenever the back axle is exercised in any way.

I have crawled underneath and pushed and pulled things.

So the loud clonk (see HERE ) has been located.

I took off the wheels and removed the rear trailing arms. At first the arms looked ok, whilst the rubbers show signs of wear they are certainly not worn out. However a glance back at the mounting point showed the real source of the problem....

 

When I returned from Avon Dassett the other week my rear wheel bearing had failed.

I have replaced the wheel bearing and just taken the car for a test drive.

There is a lound "Rub Rub Rub" noise, consistent with the rotating of the wheel. Its loud enough to almost be a "Clunk Clunk Clunk" noise.

The noise stops when I gently apply the brakes whilst driving.

I have stripped the drum off and I think I can feel some sort of "Rub" in the system as I rotate the axle shaft by hand.

I have also taken this video of what looks like a wobble, but perhaps the centre ring is not straight anyway?

Is the axle shaft bent? Is the axle housing bent. Strangely enough when I had the shaft out I did think I saw a slight twist in the splines.

http://www.bigjimny.com/images/phocagallery/videos/axle.mov

So now I have had a quick look