Rear Monoball Installion - advice

[ecm911]

I am preparing a dedicated track car. Just completed the front suspension and plan on doing the rear this coming weekend.

Plan installation includes:
New Torsion Bar
New bushings - (polybronze - ER)
Monoball


Question:

I am comfortable with doing the Torsion Bar and bushings, and since I will be in there. How diffucult is removing the complete trailing arm and getting out the factory banana arm bushing.

Or is this something left for a Shop with helpers , etc. - no a one man job. Also do not want to damage the trailing arms removing the bushings - use heat (MAPP).

TIA

Earl

PS - Car is 1978 911SC

[DW SD]

It is a one man job doing the rear suspension. You can remove much of the weight from the trailing arms by disassembling a lot of it on the car (like removing the calipers and rotors, drive-axles, etc.

Fairly straightfoward job. I took pictures of the assembly before hand, so I can make sure to put the trailing arm eccentrics back together properly.

Doug

[JonT]

Make sure you have a Bentley manual. This has good exploded diagrams to put things back together. Pics help too. This is a one man job. The monoballs can be a little tricky to install but follow Chuck's instructions on his parts and it all works. Make sure you have a jack to prop up the trailing arm when you are removing/installing the main bolts that hold them to the body. You'll need a vice to to press the monoballs in the trailing arms. MAPP gas will be needed to take out the old bushings but you'll only need hot water for the installation of the new ones. A trick I learned is I put the new ones in the freezer for awhile to shrink them a little bit. Let us know when you get stuck--many have gone through this.

[ecm911]

Thanks for the replies!!!!

I have the Bentley Manual and will be taking many pictures!!!

My only concern is the trailing arm bushings - both remove and installation. Any specifics on this would be greatly appreciated.

Sounds like will have to completely remove the trailing arm for installing the monoballs with a vice. First problem I don't have a vice. So sounds like I will be removing and finding someone with a vice.

How is the reomval. Anything similar the other bushings, like form a-arm etc. I have been successful in removing all factory rubber bushings with heat/fire. Is it the same approach more less?

Thanks Again!!

Earl

[DW SD]

Craig 911 wrote a thread on this. Do use the search feature. It is very helpful. Fire and heat were key tools for me. As was the bearing retention product from Loctite (see my thread posted today RSR Interpretation Update # 4).
Good luck, you'll get plenty of support, here.

Doug

[jakermc]

I was able to remove the old bushings and put the new ones on with the trailing arms still on the car. Removal is a b!tch !! The inner steel sleeves will drive you nuts. Removing the first half is a real chore. For the second half, the trick is to place a large socket into the trailing arm and pound on it with a hammer, pushing the second half of the sleeve out the other side. The 2nd half is much easier. This will make sense once you are in there. The rubber part around the inner sleeve easily comes off with a torch.

To put the monoballs in, keep them in the freezer overnight. Heat the trailing arm very carefully, then slide the monoballs in. The first one went in like butter. The second one took a little force. No vice required.

One tough part of the job is removing the trailing arm from the attachment point near the tranny. You don't have much room to work and some have had to lower the tranny. I used an impact wrench with a u-joint to get it off. I had a helper hold a wrench on the nut on the back while I worked the gun. You'll destroy the u-joint in the process (wear safety goggles since the parts may go flying) but it beats dropping the tranny.

[SCOTITUDE]

When I redid the entire suspension for the track, I totally removed the arms from the car and stripped them, calipers, rotors, hubs and such. The bushings came out very easily with a shop press and patience. The only help that was needed was another set of hands on the end of the arm to hold it steady. No heat. No hammering. No cursing or swearing. I was surprised. Maybe I got lucky, but thats not usual for me in cases like this.
Scott

[rlh930]

I installed monoballs recently (as well as replacing most of the rest of the rear suspension) on my '73. I made the mistake of trying to do it with the trailing arms on the car. It's difficult enough to remove the bolt at the front trailing arm mount, and after that I didn't see how I could get enough leverage to remove the bushing. They come out easily if you heat them with a torch, but this is not that far from where the fuel lines come out of the tunnel. I could just see myself burning the car up and the house down. Nope.

The main reason I hesitated to disassemble the entire rear suspension was (noob that I was) I didn't want to have to remove and replace the calipers and bleed the brakes. Black magic! This turned out to be a pretty simple job with flare wrenches and a power bleeder from our host. If you have trouble loosening the brake lines with flare wrenches, PM me for a great and completely non-destructive trick to get them loose.

Removing the trailing arm front mounting bolt is a bxxxh. If the bolt head is oriented towards the tranny, you have to drop the motor or cut the bolt off with a cutoff wheel. If it is oriented the other way, it's almost as bad. I had to put major pressure on the trailing arm to allow the bolt to pivot into a position where it would clear the torsion bar tube.

I suppose you can remove the bushings without a vise (use a torch to soften the rubber but be careful not to damage the aluminum) but a large (7 in.) shop vise makes things WAY easier and if you will be doing much work on your car (or anything else) it is a good investment.

Installing the monoballs is a piece of cake. I didn't freeze them, but I did heat the trailing arm in boiling water to get the monoball to fit. I really recommend the Elephant Racing sealed monoballs (available from Pelican). The extra $$ is well spent. You will NOT want to repeat the install process because your unsealed monoballs wore out.

When reinstalling, a) make sure the bolt (or its replacement) is NO LONGER than it absolutely needs to be, and b) grind a little off one side of the bolt head to allow some extra room to insert it through the monoball. It's an M14 bolt, and it can still be torqued to the required 72 ft-lb even with a little metal removed from the bolt head. See other threads for hints on removing and replacing the half shafts. Hint - new bolts. I didn't bother replacing the bearings. Supposedly they're good until they're bad, so I didn't see the need to bother with this.

Make sure you use a torque wrench to put everything back together. You don't want things falling apart at speed, nor do you want to break things off by overtightening.

HINT: the left (driver's) side is by far the harder one because there is much more clearance to get at the trailing arm mounting bolt on the passenger side. Therefore, DO THE LEFT SIDE FIRST. That way, if you decide you're in over your head, it's a lot easier to get everything back together sufficiently to limp into the shop!

[ecm911]

Thanks ALL. I greatly appreciate the posts and advice. I am going to start the job this weekend and if I have to take the trailing arms off - I will. If I am this fall into just seems to make sense. I will post my progress - hopefully. Of course, you will hear of I run inti any trouble.

Thanks !!!!!!!!!!!

Earl

[ecm911]

Update. First , thanks again to all.

Happy to report rear suspension is completely dismantled.No really big problem,s . just took my time. Started trying to figure out access to the bottom bolt for the rear brake calpers - no much access here. The only other problem was freeinf one of the spring plates from the torsion bar - this took about 1 hr.%$@#$@$. But really overall took tuime, but I was done essentially on Sat, except fot the trailing arm. Quit late sat after a few attempts with a socket too long. Got a 22mm socket with a u-joint and an impact wrench. Let it soak over night. Had someone hold the nut on the inside and both came off in a snap.

Had just enough time to clean up and get the rubber bushing out, in fact the just fell out, before I had to stop and go out with the family. Cleaning was a dirty job!!)

I am taking to my shop to have them press out the out andf install new, since I want to reintall next weekend adn will be out of town this week. If possibe i will have new bearings intalled as well.

Could not be happier!!! Even had time to do other little things I had planned for later - like change brake power boost vacumn line adn install new ss brake lines.

Thanks again,
Earl