jdocking

Hi all,

The car's in the shop at the moment, and they've come back with a quote that made me fall off my chair.

Apparently, the rear trailing arms need to be completely replaced. I've had a look at them up on the hoist, and I can see that the bushings around the socket where link the chassis to the rear suspension seem to be worn and cracked.

Speaking to the PO, he says that:
a) it's always been like this
b) all 15 year old 964's have this
c) it's not a problem
d) if it is a problem, then it's just a case of removing the rubber and popping in a replacement

However, the service guys are saying that the two arms need to be replaced - for a total cost of GBP770 / USD1500, which is quite a bit for two relatively small bits of metal and rubber.

So, my questions after this essay is - is this something to be concerned about? Is there a simple fix to replace the worn rubber? Am I courting disaster by not fixing this?

Thanks,

Jeff

p.s. bought membership today

Monique

This is because Porsche sells the complete arm with bushings pre installed. There is an option: a specialist in the UK who will replace your bushings for a fraction of the cost or you can buy the bushings and DIY if so inclined.

Process with pictures was in 911 & Porsche world some months back. Go to their web site and find in which month it was published, get the mag and parts and DIY for $500 or less.

Your car will handle much better after. Good luck.

jdocking

Hi,

Thanks for that. Could you let me know the name of the supplier? The trick is I live in Dubai now, and getting hold of back-copies of 911 & Porsche may be a little tricky......

Jeff

Andy Roe

I thought they only provided bushing kits for the front wishbones? Here's a link http://www.powerflex.co.uk/

Monique

Lazy B****r aren't you?

Found the issue: June 2004 titled Bush administration. Get 911 & P world to fax you the article. 5 GBP IIRC. I am too busy to scan and send now.

Good luck

jdocking

Yup! But I did do a search on their website for all sorts of versions (spelling, word order etc), and nothing came up. I guess their search engine isn't the best.....

Looking at their site, the title suggests that it covers front suspension only...... I've been trawling the web all morning emailing all sorts of suppliers in the UK and US. I've also emailed 911 & Porsche to see what they say, and I'll get the article faxed (GBP5 isn't much compared to GBP800!)

Thanks for the help,

Jeff

Marc Shaw

Contact "Red rooster" a Rennlister here - he was involved in the invention of those bushings so will likely be able to help.

Marc

Colin 90 C2

Jeff, I have a trailing arm with a good bushing if you need one. I am asking $275 plus shipping. I only needed to replace one and had to buy a pair.
The replacement is pretty easy, as long as you have a 12mm allen wrench and a lot of strength. I needed a 4 foot breaker bar on the allen wrench to break it free.

Good luck,
Colin

Jeff Curtis

FWIW, I had some dialogue with the tech guys at Powerflex a few months ago...they do NOT make the bushings for the rear trailing arms, only for the front A-arms. They suggested that I send a set of trailing arms into them and they could design some - anyone in the UK interested in doing so??

That would be great, I have the monoball plates for the adjuster, but don't have the "other" $600 or so to get the large monoballs for the trailing arms - DOH! ...or is that DOUGH??

Bill Gregory

As Jeff mentioned, if you wanted to you could put in ERP monoballs to replace the rear bushings. That removes the Weissach axle effect of the stock bearings (note the Carrera RS version used harder rubber to limit the Weissach axle effect) which causes the toe to change under certain conditions. The other thing to be aware of is that the ERP bearings aren't sealed. However, you can take some of the goop that's used to coat tool handles and pour that around the edges to seal the bearing. They aren't cheap, but they beat buying new trailing arms.

williamreinecke

Is this a true "DIY" job or is it more complicated? Rate it on a 1 to 10 easy to impossible scale. Does the car have to be re-aligned afterwards?

Colin 90 C2

William, I replaced mine, but my car was on a lift. It is pretty easy. I'm guessing that if you mark the bolt locations, you could put back a new one without an alignment. I aligned mine because I changed my springs and struts at the same time.

jdocking

Hi all,

Well, I've chased down every lead mentioned here on the board, and the results appear to be that most fabricated suspension bushes are for the fronts only. For rears, the answer I get every time is "you have to replace the whole arm". This is apparently because the rubber is vulcanised onto the metal, so it's not just a plug-and-play. (Thanks to Rennspeed, Red Rooster, Pelican Parts and Powerflex for this info).

The other alternative mentioned here is the ERP Monoballs - I've had another chat with Rennspeed who supply these, and their comment is that this is OK for track cars, but for road cars there are issues with comfort and longetivity.

So I may just have to live with the idea that they will need to be replaced at some point - question is when. Apparently they've been like that for a while, and can remain so quite happily. Is there a risk of catastrophic failure? I guess the end-game is that the bearing breaks completely, but I've also had advice that this is what all 15 year old 964's look like, and they all get on just fine.

Any thoughts? Am I courting serious disaster? (And don't worry, no comebacks and recriminations when my rear suspension snaps off.....) ;-)

Jeff