Subframe bushings

[sadarahu]

My cat makes noise while going ove the bumps and I located the area. I have Forester 2007. I wanted to replace subframe bushings. Have a friend retired mechanic. He ordered 2 bushings but they seem to be of a different kind. We lifted a car and the bushing on the right side seem to be a bit different from one on the left. After removing bolts going to the floor frame, I noticed that on the left the bushing is in close contact with the little plate (like a washer) and the plate resides on the bottom of the floor. On the right side however there is a 1/2 inch space between top of the bushing and the washer. I suspect this might be the cause of the noise.
It seems that previous owner serviced this and somebody installed wrong bushing.
Now the new bushing which was delivered (and the vendor claimed this is for Sub-2007) seem to exactly the same as the one on the right (which is rather incorrect).

The inner metal piece where the bolt goes through extends above the top of the rubber about 1 inch and when we unscrewed the frame I was not able to put the washer on top, so it can press against the rubber (like on the left).
We were hoping to remove the subframe but two main bolts around the shaft are so rusted there is no way to remove them.
The idea then is to replace those bushings with the frame just loosen and tilted.
We will have a special bushing removal tool delivered in 2 days.

My question is: anybody knows or has and idea where to get the right bushings ?

 

[remy6908]

With the amount of rust you have that has eaten away at the frame rail, I have a strong feeling bushings are not the only issue. That mount where the bushing is, is probably flexing quite a bit since there isnt any support for the mount.

 

[sadarahu]

It is rusted, that's true but the thread underneath the bushing is in quite good condition.
The matter is where to get the right bushing ? I'm also considering cutting out inside metal piece that sticks out to make it flash with the washer.

 

[remy6908]

I would call the local dealership with you vin# to figure out the correct bushing should be instead of the whole trial and error approach.

 

[sadarahu]

Thanks, but this is something you do't really need to educate me on. I have talked to Subaru dealeer/shop. They said there is only one subframe for this year/model and the metal piece comes with the bushings and those are not replacable. Obviously after looking at my car this isn's true, so it just convinced me I cannot trust them at all. The entire frame with the bushings with shipping and tax qwyould be $600-700 --- Insane !