Rear Suspension

[jon_we4]

Well I have new rear lower and upper control arms

I was going to buy new springs, airbags, and shocks (suggestions on what i should get are very welcome)

I was going to hold off and do it all at once. I was thinking.... should I put it on a lift? but if I do wont the axle drop way more than I want it to if I take off all the old suspension parts?

What should be my game plan for this?

Thanks.
Jon

 

[John Larkin]

Only take one piece off at a time. When doing the lowers, support the frame so that you take pressure off the axle. Mine went back together easily, though the bolts are difficult to loosen with 14 - 15 years of crud on them. It'll be a little frustrating getting the front bolts off through the outside of the frame. When doing the uppers, which I'm doing this weekend, plan to support the axle with a jackstand as well as the frame to keep things sorta lined up. Use alot of WD40 or PB Blaster.

 

[strikeeagle]

The springs, air bags, and shocks are cake. Do them yourself, and do them separate from the CA's.

The CA's are a bitch, and I wouldn't hestiate to take them to someone with a lift, torches, a compressor, impact tools, bottle jacks, etc. to install. I can also tell you that it's not a job for dummies. I have seen stock arms bent to hell, aftermarket arms mislocated causing driveshaft problems and ears broken on diffs while driving out bushings. Get references and ask about experience - don't trust your car to someone who can't do this in his sleep...

 

[jon_we4]

hrrrmmm

well I'll just have Speed Inc in IL do the work then.

Any suggestions for springs/shocks? I do not want to lower the car seeing I have low clearance from my deep trans pan and V4R.

Also...should I put 2 airbags in or only on one side?

Thanks

 

[HRpartsNstuff]

Having someone else do it is always the easy way

You shouldn't really need a lift. Just jack the car up & support frame with stands (safely) with ample room to drop rearend & move around. Then drop the rearend until it is in a resting position, and just take the weight up with your jack.

Then take lower drivers off. Try to put new lower drivers in. If it lines up easy, the rest should go easy too. Just do them one at a time.

If it won't go in easy & you are fighting it, then leave it out for now. Go to the pass lower & remove old one. Put the new one in there. It should be easier now that the other side is still off so it can move around. Then swap the pass up, and then swap the drivers up. Now you have to put in the drivers lower that you skipped. This is where you will need a hand & possibly some pry bars to get it to line up. An impact helps too. You can "leg press" the tire around to line it up too. Be safe & don't knock it off the stands. A come-a-long helps too. You will see which way it need to go.

Leave all the lower arm mounting bolts LOOSE but in place UNTIL you get the swaybar in place. Bolt the swaybar up tight, and them tighten the mounting bolts on the ends of the arms. This makes installing the swaybar WAY easier. Grease it up & have fun!

We recommend stk replacement springs, nothing special needed there. With your combo, you should probably go with 2 airbags too. If you have trouble removing & installing the bushings in the top ears on the rearend (like most of us do), we have a neat tool for that. Takes a couple minutes to swap them out using this tool. Look for part#0599 on our site for pics & info. We make a greaseable fitting for that location too, so all CA ends can be greased.

It usually isn't too bad with good parts, the right tools, and a helping hand. Bad parts, wrong tools, and no help, ... look out!

 

[Steve Wood]

Before you spend a bunch of money outside...you might just see if the control arm bolts will come lose without too much effort...They may rust badly up there if you are out in the winter but down here, it usually does not take much to get them off. The Uppers ain't much fun...hard to get to the front upper bolt usually.

There was a couple of spring threads recently. I think several have used the Moog CC 651 variable rate rears..you should double check tho.

For handling the Bilstiens are hard to beat. They might not be as good on the track as some worn out conventional shocks, tho...

If you are going to do air bags, you might as well put two in....Paul Ferry sells some spacers that preload the bags and allow you to run with less pressure which may alleviate some bouce on launch.

Rear springs are very easy...put the jack under the differential and jack it up until the wheels are off the ground a few inches and put jack stands under the frame...loosen the lower shock mounts and then let the jack down slowly until the springs are loose. Then you can take them out, and put the new ones in and reverse the procedure. Don't let the rear axle down so far it is hanging on the brake hose, tho.

Paul Ferry sells a neat tool for removing the bushings from the diff ears without risk of damaging the ears..or you can make one with a big socket, a big bolt and some washers...

You can probably do a lot of the work and save some labor unless you have the money to spare and like to watch someone else cuss.

 

[jon_we4]

Thanks!

it wont cost that much to have them do it