zeusrotty

Anyone know of any tutorials on the easiest way to do this? I dont want to go all ***** nilly on it... LOL

I am replacing all of my bushings and bearings back there with Elephant racing and Racers Edge parts... Any help would be awesome. Thanks!

divil

Search for the Elephant Racing tutorial on installing the spring plate bushings. That shows how to do it without dropping the whole torsion bar carrier from the car.

Also have a look at this one

zeusrotty

Yeah I planned on using that thread for some advice, but I want to take it all apart to clean and powdercoat it all. I think im just going to go to town on it and hope for the best. LOL

Elephant Bart

Here's a spring plate bushing replacement tutorial we did a while ago. As mentioned above.

http://www.elephantracing.com/projec...ngplatediy.htm

The trailing arm bushings are a little bit more straight forward. Here are the instructions

http://www.elephantracing.com/docume...structions.pdf

If you run into any issues, give us a call. We can walk you through it.

zeusrotty

Thanks. Is there any particular order for removing the rear suspension? I will be calling next week to buy the last bushing also. Spring plate bushing is all I need.

theedge

I have found it easier to remove the brakes and the aluminum training arms before removing the torsion bar housing. With the brakes and trailing arms attached there is a lot of unbalanced weight which make sit harder to get the carrier down.

Black51

+1

Take those damn trailing arms off first. Then you'll have plenty of room to work in there, and there will be less weight to move around. If you're doing the 'entire' rear, you'll have to remove the trailing arms anyways to change the trailing arm bushings.

Now is a good time to put some coilovers in the rear as well if you're inclined, as you'll have tons of room (for once) to get the shock out.

It might also be a good time to change the fuel filter since you'll be in there. It's easy to change when the trailing arm is out, but not so easy when it's in.

zeusrotty

Hmmm... That's a good idea. May as well do the pump also. Thanks for the heads up.

ehall

BTW, thank you for that right up. I re-did mine a number of years ago, straight from that write up. It's outstanding!

refresh951

+1 I used the write-up this last weekend. Thank You!

V2Rocket

elephant man, how do you feel about stock hardness rubber vs polyurethane bushings for the rear suspension? in the lower carrier mount, the trailing arm mounts, and the spring plate bushings. which is comfier for the street?

Elephant Bart

I'm not a fan of polyurethane bushings due to friction.

Regular rubber bushings grab onto a suspension member and deforms while twisting. The friction surface is very low and that allows for smooth suspension operation. Most of the vibration is absorbed for smooth, comfortable ride.



polyurethane bushings on the other hand do not deform but rather create a high friction surface. While the control arm twists, it has a tendency to slides inside the bushing (or the mount).



With the weight of the vehicle resting on the bushings, the friction is substantial. Static friction (or stiction) is hard to overcome so it takes quite a bit of force to get the control arm to move. The suspension becomes unresponsive and 'sticky'. Stiction is detrimental to your suspension performance and ride quality. The vibration is not dampened by the bushing causing a noisy, harsh ride. Also polyurethane bushings have a high tendency to squeak.

you can read more about it here. http://elephantracing.com/techtopic/...nefriction.htm



I recommend going with rubber for street use. We have rubber bushings in two flavors, stock and sport. Our Sport rubber compound is about 25% stiffer. It deforms less under cornering loads maintaining alignment better.

URG8RB8

Excellent information, thanks for sharing!

Droops83

Follow the Elephant directions, they are pretty good.

I have had the Polybronze bearings for the past few years and they are fantastic.

The main issues I had with installation were tolerance issues that were more likely due Porsche/Audi original parts than the Elephant ones. The torsion bar end cap pieces had to be filed down a good amount to get the Elephant outer bearing races to sit flat (this is critical to prevent the bearings from binding), to the point where I had to shim both sides up with washers after reassembly to keep them from binding. The Elephant instructions helpfully advised that this was possible. There were uneven amounts of weld spatter between the two pieces so I feel this is an original equipment issue.

Also, the fit of the Elephant outer races into the torsion tube was very loose on both sides. Their instructions specified some sort of caulking material, but all I had on hand at the time was JB Weld and after 3 years and lots of track use later all is well.

Otherwise, be very careful when drilling for the grease fittings, make sure the inner fittings point down enough so that you can get a grease gun on them, and that the outer fittings aren't blocked by the nuts for the spring plates.

They do need to be greased every few months, especially with street use or they squeak like crazy. The process is easier since I deleted the torsion bars; I disconnect the lower shock mounts and move the rear trailing arms up and down by hand after greasing to allow the grease to work in.

The rear end feels so much more planted after these bearings and Racer's Edge bushings that all is worth it.

zeusrotty

Well I ordered the last part from Elephant last week and it should be here Monday. Unfortunetly, I was working on my car Wednesday night and started feeling really tired. I went to bed with a slight pain in my abdomin, which the next day turned into heavy pain a visit to the ER and then a surgery for appendicitis, and a hernia, (while they were in there)... Which is funny coming from a doctor when you're a car guy... So I am going to have to put this on hold for a month. But at least all the parts are here... Lol