Any way to tell when the arm is actually bent, other than having the alignment people tell you so?

Has anyone posted a good step-by-step instruction on installing the trailing arm or does the Haynes manual pretty much cover the operation?

It always seems that the unwritten stuff is what holds up a job. After you do the job it's a piece of cake the next time, but seldom the first time.

So, on average how long would it take the first time?

I'm hoping not to be up on jack stands next weekend when NorCal has a premier event down at the Marina (great surface).

No real easy way to tell if a arm is bent. I have been kicking myself for years for not putting together a jig for testing arms.

Remove axle from tranny.

Remove brake line

Remove Ebake cable.

Remove inside 7/8 nut (I forget the metric number)

Remove three bolts from the alignment shim area

Support control arm.

Remove shock nut on top.

Swing the shim plate/arm down away from the tub.

Pull arm out of inside ear.

Be prepared.. they are not light.


B

mine had the paint flaking off where it was bent. pelican has a good how to, but they say the heat exchanger has to come off to do the drivers side. NOT. i'll find the link.

2 hours with the proper tools. pbblast the 12 point cv bolts a few times before you start and clean the holes out real good.


why do you think it's bent?

this how to is for the wheel bearing , but it will get you almost there. good luck. the hardest part is to START.

Randal,

feel free to stop on by tommorow, I'll be doing this on two cars this Sat.

(actually, one car is already taken apart, I'm installing a set of roller bearings on it)

The other car, is getting new plastic bushings, but we have to R&R the trailing arms.

The alignment shop couldn't get the setting to match side to side, so they concluded that the arm was bent.

These people are susposed to be the best around, but I don't have enough experience or alignment knowledge to make a judgement.

I can't remember the numbers, but it was something like .25 of a degree off side to side.

I like Brad's idea of a jig to check the trailing arm "straightness." If this could be done on the car, where do I sign up?

And I guess the question that we would all ask is how do you tell a trailing arm isn't bent when you buy a replacement? I guess the answer is visual, then bolt it in and check the alignment. Seems a bit backwards to me.

My method leaves the arm hanging from the shock until the last possible minute instead of flopping around.

B

Tryan.. I dont mean to bust your balls (I like you)... but It really really irks me when people make reference to anything on the PP site.

I cant count how many times people have called or stopped by the shop with "How-to's" printed off that where close but not correct. Remember... all the how-to's are written by HOME DIY'ers... very few (if any) are written by real mechanics that do this stuff for a living. Some of them are very creative... some of them are pretty crazy.

Sooner or later... we will have shop owners write tech articles for this site... NO home DIY articles unless approved. All mechanics know how to "think" like a home user with limited tools.

Please dont take this wrong... I should'nt have really said anything about this in a public form... its a pet peeve of mine.

Actually.. what I friggin hate: is when people post one line answers for a question.. and their answer tells the person to go elsewhere (link or something) to another site... how are we to learn if we dont TRY and answer the question ??

B

Are there any numbers printed that give the correct dimensions for the trailing arm?

Does a fixture exist?

I know a fixture could be made, but one would have to know for a fact that the good trailing arm is truely good

I'm guessing that no official fixture is available, I'm sure that if the arm was suspect, most shops would rather replace it.

I dont have the numbers... but I have seen them somewhere.

B

can you still buy them new from the factory?

Brad, thanks for posting the 'correct' procedure for removing the rear trailing arm. I used your method, after researching PP and the Haynes manual. The only addition I would like to recommend is, if you have a rear sway bar, you will need to be 'carefully pry the stabilizer off the ball-ended strut lower mounting bolt' (Haynes, chapter 6, section 5). Also, I would recommend that the rear most screw holding the rocker panel. This will allow enough room to 'Swing the shim plate/arm down away from the tub'. Other than these minor suggestions, the procedure Brad described worked perfectly.

Here's a pic of the control arm resting on the jack:



Thanks again Brad for this BBS and your assistance with us DIYers.

By the way, I'll be repairing the right rear control arm ear. This is what I found after I dropped the control arm on the passenger's side:

Responding to a critique of PP's articles.

I didn't know PP articles had some errors. I'm big and dumb though, and I need all the help I can get. But, I don't like dropping every little thing here, so I try study up on the issue, and make a boy scout stab at fixing the issue before I run in here desperate for help. I admit I might have sent that poor soul right to the PP article if Tryan hadn't.

Article's here done to a standard of high quality would be one of the best resouces on this site could offer.

I believe the haynes manual has a picture with the dimensions and angles for the trailing arm...I amy be wrong, but I think its there.

Rich

Rob,

Make sure you replace that whole ear (I know you dont want to hear that) but there really is no proper way to fix that area without replacing the whole ear. It becomes a safety concern with rust inside that you cannot see. Welding patches over the top dont stop the rust inside. We are currently working on replacing this ear in a customer car right now and I documented one pretty good last year on another car.


B

Brad,

I think the PP articles are useful if you take them for what they are - DIY articles. Sometimes there are errors and sometimes the way you end up doing something is not what is outlined in the article. But they are good for getting a good overall idea of what is involved for the average DIYer to do the task at home with limited experience and tools. Best of all they are FREE.

Brad, I'm planning to completely replace the ear, just like you STARTED to document in one of your earlier posts. If you are currently repairing a customer's car, I would really, really, REALLY appreciate you documenting the steps. I'll also be contacting Restoration Design for the piece, any discounts fo 914Club members?

Thanks again for this BBS and your remote assistance.