Torque Rod bushing replacement

[Whistler225]

I discovered that my torque rod bushings are basically gone, so I've ordered new ones from Majestic. What I want to know is, can they be replaced without loosening the bolts on the center beam under the engine? The OSM specifies that the torque rod bolts be tightened before the center beam bolts. Does it matter if you're just replacing the torque rod bushings? Also, will it suffice to simply support the engine on a jack while I do this? I guess what I mean is will the engine fall towards the front of the car when I take out the torque rod bolts? It looks like the front engine mount should hold it up, but I'm sure someone here has done these bushings before and can provide some insight into potential pitfalls.....

[88Accord-DX]

I'm fixing to get ready to do my torque rod bushings soon. From the looks of it, you basically need to put a socket on the front to hold the nut. Loosen the back nut. Take the font nut all the way off. Then unbolt it from the lower control arm.
The way I plan on putting it back on, is to put the bushings on the back part of the strut rod, slide it up in the frame, start the bolts on the lower control arm. Then put the bushings on the front part on the other side of the frame. Tighten the bolts that go on the lower control arm. Adjust the back nut to where it needs to be. Tighten nut on front part of strut rod. Then I plan on getting an alighnment.

[Whistler225]

I think you might be talking about a different part. The torque arm is the "dogbone" arm going from the firewall to the engine, on the top of the engine, passenger side of the carb.....it has nothing to do with the struts or lower control arms as far as I can tell. It keeps your engine from flexing too much when you put it in gear.

[88Accord-DX]

LOL, yeah, that is top motor mount(dog bone). Haven't messed with it. I call the strut rod bushings on the part of the "radius rod" (strut rod) under the car.

I doubt there will be much forwards movent when you take it off. Shouldn't need to worry to much about that though.

[Whistler225]

yeah...I was thinking it shouldn't be a huge deal. I'm replacing them because the bushings are pretty much gone and the car "clunks" when I put it in gear....my gf's brother was watching when I did it yesterday and he went "holy shit, your engine just about jumped out of the car!"

So I probably need new front and rear mounts as well, but one thing at a time is all I can afford....I'll get those as soon as I can.

[truetune]

torque rod bushings are easy to replace not a big deal like you expect. the torque rod will make a big improvement youll wanna take a look at your front motor mount aswell.

[Whistler225]

yeah I kind of figured that after reading through a few threads about vibration. Seems like alot of people are finding the front motor mount goes bad and causes alot of vibration..... Now that one I'm sure you have to support the engine to swap. Hopefully it's not much more complicated than that though.....anything have to come off the motor to swap the front mount?

[88Accord-DX]

The front motor mount is just bolted to the frame. Just need to jack the motor up over the bolt & slide it out. It's liquid filled type of mount. They run about $45.

Since your checking out motor mounts, check the bottom rear motor mount out as well. Mine was busted, cost me $37..

[lostforawhile]

LOL, yeah, that is top motor mount(dog bone). Haven't messed with it. I call the strut rod bushings on the part of the "radius rod" (strut rod) under the car.
I doubt there will be much forwards movent when you take it off. Shouldn't need to worry to much about that though.

while we are on the subject has anyone found a dog bone off of a civic or something that is a bit stiffer? I can make adaptor plates to make it work as long as it's not too long.I found all my motor mounts at nappa,they seem to be really high quality. watch the side one by the timing belt,mine was broken in half and you couldn't tell by looking at it,until it was out.

[truetune]

I had to unbolt all of my motor mounts front, rear, and side useing two jacks to get the motor high enough to clear the new front motor mount. there was like a 1in diffrence between the higth of the old one and the new one asside, from the fact that my old front mount was completly torn in half.

[Whistler225]

well, my new bushings arrived today. I took them out thinking I might be able to install them in a few minutes, but was unable to break the nut on the front bolt free. I hit it with some PB Blaster and tried again, still nothing. I noticed that the outer ring of the rod sits a bit forward (in other words, it isn't centered around the bushing), so I wonder if the engine is settled forward against it. Has anyone swapped these out before? Do I just need a longer handle on my wrench? I don't want to get the nut off and have the engine roll forward on me....

[Strugglebucket]

while we are on the subject has anyone found a dog bone off of a civic or something that is a bit stiffer? I can make adaptor plates to make it work as long as it's not too long.I found all my motor mounts at nappa,they seem to be really high quality. watch the side one by the timing belt,mine was broken in half and you couldn't tell by looking at it,until it was out.

i put the bushings from an automatic into mine since they have a big void in them compared to the manual's. then i filled them with urethane. now you can yank on it and it won't move at all.

[B16KILLA]

It's really not that big of a deal. You dont have to support the engine. Just undo the two bolts pull the dogbone out and replace the bushings. You might need a breaker bar, and you'll definately going to need a torque wrech so you can tighten it to spec. It only takes like 5 minutes.

[bobafett]

i put the bushings from an automatic into mine since they have a big void in them compared to the manual's. then i filled them with urethane. now you can yank on it and it won't move at all.

i also filled my mounts (all of them) with 3m window weld. the car shakes like CRAZY at 'idle' now, but damn my motor is not going anywhere.

highly recomened mod

[Whistler225]

lol.....I'm replacing the bushings partially to get RID of the shaking...