GlenL

Fred,

A little room would help. I think that you'll have to remove the shock to get access. Unbolting just the top won't give additional access. Getting the bottom pin in/out is often a pain, too.

FredR

Glen,

That is what put me off from having a crack at it today. At least I know the things were off when we put this 928 together as I took the Eibach springs and Bilstein dampers from the late S4 but then that was 10 years ago!

Rgds

Fred

Mrmerlin

As Glen suggests remove the lower shock pin nut at the front and drive it to the rear,
also remove the sway bar link bolt at the LCA .

put a piece of wood between the shock and something to give more clearance.
If not enough clearance,
then remove the top shock bolts and remove the strut.

use a 6 point socket on a long breaker bar to remove the offending nut .

NOTE if the nut to socket is loose fitting try using a SAE size.

also consider taking a C clamp and clamping the ratchet/socket tool to the nut so it wont lift off the nut.

FredR

Stan,

I should have gone this route initially I suspect. I figured unbolting the lower bolt would not permit much in the way of clearance. Of course loosening the top bolts might do the trick.

My socket set is of the type that engages on the flats so should still pull the nut if I can engage it.

If all else fails I have a bloody great 3/4 inch drive breaker bar!

Regards

Fred

GlenL

Have you tried some heat? With the shock off I'd do that next.

FredR

Glen,

To date I have only sprayed it with penetrating gunge and given it a few taps with a modest hammer. I have an electric heat that gets rather hot- are you talking about direct flame type temperatures?

I tend to get a bit nervy applying heat to things especially if naked flames are required.

Rgds

Fred

wpgshark

To aid in the overall effect of heat, I've found on really stubborn fasteners that after you get the female good and hot the placement of an ice cube on the male can have an amazing effect. Once had a tie rod end on a Jetta that wouldn't come off, hammering heat penetrating oil, pent my ball joint fork. Heated it one more time put the ice on it and it fell off.

Good luck

FredR

Now that really is cool!


Rgds

Fred

FredR

I bit the bullet this afternoon and removed the caliper, the disc, the dust cover, undid the lower assembly bolt- this came straight out, undid the rear stabiliser link, undid the shock tower bolts and pulled the coil over. 10 seconds later the problem nut was off with my socket set- total time to get it- 30 minutes- same on the other side- durrgh! Of course I still have get it all back together again -it looks reasonably straight forward but....?

Some pics below. As I suspected the bushes were clearly distorted on both sides of the arm which hopefully explains why I have not been able to get a camber less than minus 1.5 degrees. Now have to fix the bruised recess in the cross arm with the inserts from 928 Motorsports that have just arrived.

Rgds

Fred

MainePorsche

Good job Fred.
This is on my to do list too. My bushings need to be replaced as I have a slight sag of the dog bone and fall out of camber spec by 1 degree when I sit in the drivers seat. When I'm not in the drivers seat it just makes it back into spec. Good of you to post your travails with this.

FredR

Like most things in life we learn with experience. I have been living with this problem for quite a while but decided to do something about it. Now having taken this lot apart I find it difficult to believe how dumb it was trying to get that nut off without mowing the lawn first- that is the key learning for me here.

Now if I can fix the issue with the camber adjuster I will be a happy camper. Hopefully there will be no issues with removing the existing bushes and fitting new ones- I will get the main dealer to do this for me. The arms themselves appear to be identical but the bush fitments are handed as per attached pic.

Rgds

Fred

L

Carl Fausett

You are correct - the arms are identical except for the bushings that are pressed in from opposite sides.

FredR

Carl,

The scary bit is that the rubber in there looked like anything but rubber- more like bakellite. If the rest of the rubber in the suspension system is like that we are in the deep brown smelly stuff.

I inspected what I could see of the lower arm bushes and they actually felt rubbery much to my amazement. Maybe the dog bone bushes see a harder life- possibly affected by heat rising from the exhaust?

By the way the camber correction brackets arrived this evening so guess what is next on my work list?

The other learning here is that it would probably have been better to do this with the half shafts out for the boot replacement but it is not really an impediment. Indeed thinking about it maybe it is better left in situ to help hold things together a bit.

Rgds

Fred

FredR

Took the dog bones down to a local machine shop I use and half an hour and $20 later walked out with ready to fit units. Started to fit the revamped items this evening- had a bit of trouble lining up the different components so as to slide the shaft bolt back in- will try tomorrow.

rgds

Fred

FredR

Mission accomplished today and everything back together. The first side was a bit tricky initially but then I found the trick was to slide the other shaft in from the front initially to hold the cone washers in place.

Getting the coilover in and seated was also a bit of a challenge single handed but got there. I left the top nuts only slightly engaged to allow some better movement during assembly. Also left the outboard dog bone connection unbolted until the shaft was fully engaged. I used two screw jacks to help align the wheel carrier and the lower arm.

I am pretty sure I now have less camber [the object of the exercise was to get a better adjustment range]. The downside is I now need a new alignment but given this one was [probably] already up the shute- no big deal.

Now a question - if the camber has reduced am I correct to understand the toe-in will increase to some extent because of the interaction? At least I know I cannot screw up my current tires as the rubber is already like carbonised bars of soap.

Rgds

Fred