divil

I'm replacing spring plate (polybronze) and trailing arm bushings. I've seen the Elephant Racing tutorial on installing the spring plate bushings on side side at a time without removing the carrier. But I am pretty sure I'll have to remove the trailing arms completely to get the old bushing sleeves out, and the new bushings in. Should I just take the whole torsion bar carrier down in that case? Or is there still an advantage to doing one end at a time?

V2Rocket

might as well just drop it from the car and work on it in an easier location than trying to do everything in situ.

you will (probably) need a press or big clamp to get the trailing arm bushings in which is easier with it off the car.

divil

Any idea how long it should take someone who's never done it before? I'm trying to decide if I have enough time before my next track event. I have a set of spring plates already cleaned up and plated, and a set of the aluminum end castings too, so I can have all those prepared with bushings installed in advance.

V2Rocket

having dropped the rear suspension a few times before for various reasons, with a helper, it took a full weekend (2x 8 hrs day) to drop the suspension, remove old rubber+t-bars, install/index new t-bars, install new spring plate and trailing arm bushings, and reinstall into the car.

if you have the replacement spring plate handy and aren't doing t-bars it will save you probably 3-4 hours? and we took a while to figure out how to get the trailing arm bushings installed, they were slightly oversized (even when frozen and the trailing arm heated) to fit, so it took some real persuasion.

i suspect your trailing arm bushings will go in easier as you have aluminum arms which expand better in heat than my steel arms.

give yourself the full weekend.

divil

Thanks...I'm not planning on changing the torsion bars or indexing them any differently. I was going to just try to mark everything and then put it back together the same way. Still I'm having second thoughts now...I usually work slowly on any job I haven't done before, and I won't have a helper. I will have access to a press which should help with the trailing arm bushings. If they're anything like the front control arm bushings, I know what a pain they are. I had to take those to a machine shop in the end. I'm actually putting Elephant Racing spherical bushings in. I hope they're not any harder to fit. But I think I might sit it out until after the track event.

divil

Turns out I can't even find the required M6x.75 tap anywhere so I think I'll have to postpone it anyway...I didn't see that coming lol!

chrenan

I just got some more regular 1/4" grease fittings from a farm supply store, drilled and tapped them in. Not sure why elephant supplies such an odd size. I get that Porsche is metric, but I was willing to compromise in this case.

Droops83

+1, you can order different sized grease fittings based on which taps you have. Be sure to determine the ideal location of the grease fittings before you take everything apart; this is to ensure that you can easily get a grease gun onto the fittings.

I have had my PolyBronze bearings for a few years now, and they need greasing every few months to prevent creaking. But, they are worth it as they work very well.

ilikemy944

Just a random note, I ended up buying new grease fittings because the ones shipped with the bushings were NOT the size stated in the install instructions. After I purchased the tap stuff I realized they were different, picked up a set at autozone for something near $6l

divil

That would drive me nuts if that happened...it's going to cost me around $25 to get the tap, unless I want to wait a month for some eBay seller to ship one from China. I better double check the thread sizes....although if I can find replacement fittings in a more common size locally that sounds like the best way to go.

ilikemy944

Also I found the tap at Home Depot.

mikey_audiogeek

+1 on this. Make sure you use the right grease.

I use SKF LGEV2 grease http://www.skf.com/group/products/lu...nts/index.html

You won't find anything better. 5 years/100,000km, never made any noise.

Cheers,
Mike

zeusrotty

You don't need a press for any of it. Worste case to get the old bushings out you can torch them to oblivion. Take it all out. Why not? While its out you can clean everything and maybe have things related and such. When I did mine I made sure everything went back together better than the way it came out.

Sorry ADD kicked in. If you have any issues getting the new ones in you can expand the aluminum by heating it with propane or boiling water and they will slide right in with no effort.

divil

For the trailing arm bushings, I'm assuming I'll need a press. I had a hell of a time doing the same style of bushings on the front control arms. I got the old ones out ok, but there was no way the new ones were going in. I got a machine shop to do it for me in the end. This time luckily I will have a press available though

The polybronze look like they'll fit easily so I'm not too worried there.

divil

I got some replacement fittings and a matching tap in a hardware store. This might be a stupid question...but what's the best way to control the orientation of the grease fittings? I've tapped both end cap castings at the location I want, but one of the fittings bottoms out around 180 degrees from where I want it (the tip is pointing towards the inside of the car). I don't think I can tap the hole any deeper. I tried a few different fittings, and found one that ends up closer to where I want. It might work...just wondering if there's a better way. Otherwise I think I'll have to go back and buy the straight ones...they look like they'd probably be a better fit anyway.