Yes I believe @John Anthony has done it and @Sidney also and hopefully they can help you.

 

Sorry for the late reply but I have never done it nor has my mechanic friend done it on my 2008 Corolla, he might of done it on other makes and models of cars if that is possible but not on my Corolla.

 

Yeah, a lot of people have used the tool for this.
Since I wanted to put in polyurethane I used a chisel and hammer to fold the bushing sheet metal in and hammered it out.

The tool is especially good if you want to do it all with the axle still partially installed on the car.

 

Yes I have the tool (the cheap one made in China). It should be fine for a DIY person, but if you're a pro who's going to be using it all the time I'd suggest the top quality model which can be used with impact tools. You're not supposed to use an impact with the cheap one. I can't remember how much I paid for the cheap one (maybe $160??). The high quality tool made in Taiwan is around $600.

Here's a quick video I made:

https://rumble.com/v3thjem-gen-9-corolla-removing-rear-axle-beam-bushing.html

 

For those that have done it.... Did you replace the bushings due to a specific symptom? Or was it more time/mileage based?

 

For my car with well over 400K miles at the time, I didn't yet have symptoms, but there was some cracking in the rubber. I probably could have waited, but I had some brake noise and I wanted to rule out the bushings being the problem. I used an aftermarket brand and this part was supposed to be the premium line of that brand. It installed OK and does work fine, but the size of the bushing was not 100% the same as the OE. If I had to do it again, I would get the OE bushings.

 

Was this the tool?

Yes, same seller as well. It was in September of 2023. By the way, I had good customer service from that seller because I needed to replace one of the threaded long bolts/rods and I was able to purchase the rod from her (the lady who was the rep at that time) as a separate part. IIRC, she's based out of California USA.

Don't use a power/impact wrench with this tool. Just do it by hand like how I show in the video. Make sure to put a good grease on the threads. I used black moly brake grease. There's a video online showing how the tool is installed on the axle. The video is from a shop in Taiwan. No talking, just showing the mechanic doing the work, but the video is very clear. He uses power/impact wrench on it and I'm sure he's using the top-quality tool which is a lot more expensive.

 

@LJ78

I haven’t done it yet, but…
One of mine is cracked.
As for symptoms, I have whst feels like rear instability in heavy cross winds or when behind a semi. Hoping this fixes that. Just replaced shocks - which helped, but it’s still there.

Yes, that needs to be replaced.

 

@LJ78 ,

This is the video from the shop in Taiwan showing how to use the tool. It's an excellent video with no useless talking or dumb music in the background.

 

…on the bushings that is. Rock Auto has a few options. If I don’t want to shell out for OE I’ll at least try to avoid brand you went with and found less than perfect.

At the time I got the bushings, RockAuto had only one option. It was the Mevotech "Supreme", not the Mevotech "regular grade" (which ironically costs slightly more than the "supreme" currently). Of the choices I currently see on Rock Auto, I'd go with the Delphi brand (but as I said, if I were to do this again I would go with OE Toyota bushings).

 

The bushings currently on the car, and presumably, the replacement ones you’d get from Toyota, look to be rubber AND metal - but the aftermarket ones from RockAuto look to be all rubber? Does it just look like that because it’s all painted the same color?

None of the aftermarket bushings are all rubber.

 

Dang, if I'd seen this I would have saved the control arms from the car I stripped!

 

A little Never Sieze or grease on the threads of the pressing tool would sure prolong the life of the tool.

 

did you check with Autozone to see if they loan the tool.

 

Dang, if I'd seen this I would have saved the control arms from the car I stripped!

This is the rear axle carrier bushing we're talking about. See my video in post # 4 or the video in post #11. There are no control arms on the rear of the 1ZZ-FE Gen 9.

A little Never Sieze or grease on the threads of the pressing tool would sure prolong the life of the tool.

Yes it's a must, especially with the cheaper tool. In fact, I wouldn't use "a little". I put it on nice and heavy. Same for my single-action spring compressor.

did you check with Autozone to see if they loan the tool.

AutoZone is not going to have this particular tool. I'd be shocked if they did because it's too model-specific (only for Corolla, Camry, maybe a Sienna).