Replace Spring Arm Bushings!
10-10-2002 | 02:07 AM
#1
Thread Starter
Intermediate
Replace Spring Arm Bushings!
Hi All,
It took me a while longer than I wanted to get to it, and then it took me a while longer after that to have a chance to post about it, but I finally replaced my spring arm bushings on my '71 911T...let me tell you, it was so so so hard (I really could add some more so's and mean it, but you get my point), but so so worth it...those things were worn very badly as I suspected, and with the new ones "Blueie" (as my boys call her) drives like butter, no more terrible shimmy at 60 - 75 like before.
Various things made it hard to get them out and get then back in again...but what I noticed most prominently (besides besides tortion bar rust up the wazoo making it extremely difficult to remove them or the spring arms) was that the mountings for the spring arm cover actually seemed to have bent down to accomodate the severly worn bushings, so I had to actually widen one of the bolt holes on the passenger side spring plate to get it to fit. Not the hardest part, but definately the hardest part to bring myself to do to finish the job. Next hardest to stomach was having to drill then eventually knock the end of the spring plate cover out to bang the tortioin bar loose...of course both tortion bars came out on the inside end first, making it that much harder to get the spring arms to let go of the rusty outer ends. Doing THAT was definately the hardest part work wise...what a pain! Well worth the effort though, and once back together quite rewarding. So the moral of the story...keep an eye on your spring arm bushings!
Caio!
Jamie
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<a href="http://boards.rennlist.com/upload/71911TTarga.jpg" target="_blank">My Car</a>
It took me a while longer than I wanted to get to it, and then it took me a while longer after that to have a chance to post about it, but I finally replaced my spring arm bushings on my '71 911T...let me tell you, it was so so so hard (I really could add some more so's and mean it, but you get my point), but so so worth it...those things were worn very badly as I suspected, and with the new ones "Blueie" (as my boys call her) drives like butter, no more terrible shimmy at 60 - 75 like before.
Various things made it hard to get them out and get then back in again...but what I noticed most prominently (besides besides tortion bar rust up the wazoo making it extremely difficult to remove them or the spring arms) was that the mountings for the spring arm cover actually seemed to have bent down to accomodate the severly worn bushings, so I had to actually widen one of the bolt holes on the passenger side spring plate to get it to fit. Not the hardest part, but definately the hardest part to bring myself to do to finish the job. Next hardest to stomach was having to drill then eventually knock the end of the spring plate cover out to bang the tortioin bar loose...of course both tortion bars came out on the inside end first, making it that much harder to get the spring arms to let go of the rusty outer ends. Doing THAT was definately the hardest part work wise...what a pain! Well worth the effort though, and once back together quite rewarding. So the moral of the story...keep an eye on your spring arm bushings!
Caio!
Jamie
-----
<a href="http://boards.rennlist.com/upload/71911TTarga.jpg" target="_blank">My Car</a>
10-10-2002 | 09:46 AM
#2
Jamie, Sounds like a job that I might have to look into. My 71 also has a small shimmy about 60-65mph. Never thought about the spring plates being the culptrit. One thing I did notice was during a drive recently I put the top on, which I havent done since she has been running again, and the shimmy moved up to 70-75mph. I remember you mentioning your shimmy a while back in a post. What made you decide it was the spring plates?