When going up and down the driveway, or driving on bumpy roads at slow speeds, I get a lot of kinkade kank in the rear end. I also get clanks when the gear shifter goes into first gear. The car has 87,000 miles on the body. I wanted to replace the 6 common pillow ball bushings and the rear toe links.

I've already removed the toe links and gotten as far has removing the dust covers for the pillow ball bushings. Need to go pick up those special pliers to take out the locking rings. I am able to wiggle the pillow ***** with my fingers pretty easily. If i turn the pillow ball away from center, is it supposed to center back automatically? Or is it normal for the pillow ball to stay in place?

Thanks for all your help

 

if you can easily move the pillow ***** with your hands they're probably bad. and really, if they're original with 80k+ miles on the car from the early 90s they're probably bad.

i'd also change the diff bushings.

just about every bushing on these cars is bad if they're still original, from what i've seen.

 

usually its the noise, if you use a prybar before taking it apart, they will have play (source of the noise...), and then if you can easily wiggle them by hand its not a good sign either.

oh and some cars were klunky right off the showroom floor, so 80k is pretty good.

 

With my lower control arm to hub pillows I noticed a big clunk every time I cam to a stop. I was able to locate the bad bushing by putting the emergency brake on and pushing/rocking the car back and forth while putting my hand on each component of the rear suspension. When I removed the control arm I wasn't able to visibly see any slack in the bushing, but it was relatively easy to move the bushing around by hand.

Be sure you install new seals on any new pillow bushing you replace.

 

New pillow ***** are very hard to move around with just your hand. Worn pillow ***** can be moved around with your pinky finger very easy. You can also test the pillow ball by holding it with your thumb on one end and index finger on the other and move it back and forth. You'll be able to hear and feel a clunk caused by the worn liner inside. It sounds like your pillow ***** are worn based on your description of how easy you can wiggle them around. Pillow ***** are not self centering.