Changing rear outer spring plate bushing

[Brent 930]

How difficult is it to change the rear outer spring plate bushing if you have the original bushing in there?

Thanks

83' 930 turbo

[Rot 911]

Not really difficult, but smelly and messy as you need to heat up the metal to the point the rubber is starting to melt. But first take a razor knife and cut a slit in the rubber so when it starts melting you can peel the bushing off. Then take a wire wheel to the remaining rubber.

[Rick Lee]

You have the spring plate off the car, right? R&R is the fun part.

[Brent 930]

Not yet until I know what's up. It doesn't look like I need to take but that cap off that is screwed to the chassis? So your saying I need to take the spring plate completely off? What about the torsion bars? I have never taken them off though my mechanic put ones in that I bought.

Thanks

[Rot 911]

Yes you need to take the spring plates off to be able to change the inner and outer bushings.

[Brent 930]

What about just the outer ones?

[Rick Lee]

This is one of those "as long as you're doing this, you might as well do...." jobs. Once the spring plates come off, the torsion bars are sticking right there, so you might at well inspect, re-lube and/or replace. New bushings can take some shaving or massaging to get in. We ended up pressing them by screwing on the spring plate covers - lot of fun. Then, when you totally botch that job, you have to re-index the torsion bars and do the whole thing over again. When you're really finished with everything, it needs an alignment. But of course, why pay for two alignments? Do the front t-bars and bushings too. Oh, what fun you'll have.

[Rot 911]

Originally posted by Brent 930
What about just the outer ones?

Yes. And I can't think of a single reason why a person would only replace the outer bushings and not the inner ones.
This tech article will lead you through it. Has great pictures!
Rear Suspension Bushings

[Brent 930]

Yeah, everything with this car is a barrel of monkeys. As you can see from the article doing just the outer one will be easier even though it's only doing half the job. If I decide to do the whole thing how do I know where the torsion was?

Thanks

[Rick Lee]

You need to measure stuff before you start disassembling. I think you can use a protractor for it. I foolishly started this job with the engine out of the car, so the suspension was not loaded. When all was done, it looked like the Paris-Dakaar rally 959. I limped it to the shop to reindex, corner balance and align.