How do I remove my spring plates?

Kevins911 · 01-24-2006, 08:17 PM

Ok, first of all, it's a 71 S, regular spring plates(non adjustable). I got all the bolts off, and was prying at it for an hour and got no where, sprayed some penetrating oil on the bushing and still nothing. Whats the secret? Heat? Whats the best tool to pry with? I got some big a$$ 28's to put in there and I can't even get the old ones out!!

Thanks
Kevin

MotoSook · 01-24-2006, 08:26 PM

Wiggle and pull. If that doesn't work it's time to bust out the torch...but most of the time a little persistance will do it.

I've found that the rusted splines tend to be the problem holding the spring paltes, so some shock treatment with a hammer will loosen the rust hold on things. The bushings may be holding things together too.....just keep at it.

vesnyder · vesnyder's Garage

I used one of the large pry bars and it eventually came off. Alos used a BFH to shake things loose.

JonT · 01-25-2006, 08:31 AM

try and get 2 pry bars in there--one at top and one at bottom to even our the outward pressure. This should work.

Rot 911 · 01-25-2006, 08:42 AM

Or drill a hole in the cap and drive them out with a drift.

Breeang · 01-25-2006, 08:51 AM

I used the two prybar method on my '77, comine that with the BFH to loosen things and lots of wiggling and cursing it'll work off eventually.Just use a wooden block to save the metal when you start swinging the BFH in frustration.
Make sure the car is well supported,things can get a little violent under that wheel well.

juanbenae · juanbenae's Garage

i used the 2x flat/prybar method too. the only thing i might add is that i put a chunck of wood (1x4) behind each pry bar to get the some leverage, and get my hands away from the body of the car. this strip of wood also kept the body from getting munged up by the sharp edges of the pry bar.

good luck

safe · safe's Garage

If you can get one off, you can get the other out by hitting the t-bar through the tube. I did when I couldn't get the right springplate off.

arrivederci · 01-25-2006, 10:09 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Breeang
I used the two prybar method on my '77, comine that with the BFH to loosen things and lots of wiggling and cursing it'll work off eventually.Just use a wooden block to save the metal when you start swinging the BFH in frustration.
Make sure the car is well supported,things can get a little violent under that wheel well.

The frustration involved is a key component. I used the wiggle method. Grab the end of the spring plate and shake it. Put your back into it and put significant pressure on it. Then get mad when it seems like a pointless exercise and really beat on it. Once it started to -feel- loose, I was able to pull it straight out.

FWIW, my spring plate wasn't stuck on the car. The t-bar was stuck in the end of the spring plate.

Kevins911 · 01-29-2006, 11:30 AM

Thanks for all the advice, but I still can't get them off. I spent all day yesterday prying, wiggling, soaking with penetrating oil and lots of cursing!! Flame is not an option, PO had the underside sprayed with oil yearly for almost 15 years. I have some rust issues that I need to deal with around the spring plates, so they have to come off, I'm ready to destroy them to get em' off, but I want to try and save the old torsion bars. So where do I cut??

Thanks
Kevin

Early_S_Man · 11:45 AM

Kevin,

First of all ... 'on the bushings' was the wrong place to be spraying anything, since you are trying to separate spring plate from the torsion bar!

Knock the cap out/off the spring plate by hitting near the edge with a drift ... blows on opposite sides until it pops loose.

Get some Kroil, and spray it around the splines of the torsion bar ... and spray again every couple of hours, then let it sit overnight! Use a large gear puller at a 45° angle ... with an M10 nut to protect the torsion bar end!

Chuck Moreland · 01-29-2006, 11:47 AM

There is a cover plate pressed into the end of the spring plate tube portion. It's sorta swaged in so it doesn't come out real easy. Behind the plate is your tbar.

Drill a hole in the center of the plate. Then spray some PB blaster or Kroil into the hole. That gets it to the splines. Let it sit overnight.

Then insert a drift into the hole and wack it to try and dislodge the tbar.

Still no joy? Pry out the cover plate, then you can use a more substantive rod to hammer that tbar loose.

PorscheGuy79 · PorscheGuy79's Garage

Oddly this is the best way I have found if you have the brake pad spreading tool. On the drivers side I fought for hours and my father came over and started on the passenger side with the same luck I had, got out his brake spreader and it was off in minutes.

http://www.gruppeb.org/forum2/viewtopic.php?t=2301&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=spring+plate+removeal

al lkosmal · 01-29-2006, 12:06 PM

Like Chuck said, except I drilled a hole into the cap and sprayed it with WD40 (not the best stuff for this, but I had it on the bench) and let it sit overnight. The next day I inserted the threaded rod portion from my small gear puller into the hole and, using a ratchet, drove it into the end of the torsion bar. The coarse threads of the gear puller rod screw provided enough bite for me to use it to drive the torsion bar out of the spring plate splines. (If ths results in popping the cap off, then you have access to the end of bar and can use the whole gear puller to force it out.)

P.S. This was after I had levered the spring plate out using two breaker bars. Working them back and forth got the spring plate/bushing out of the torsion tube ok, but the torsion bar came with it and it was in there good.

HarryD · 01-29-2006, 04:59 PM

The Search button is your friend. Try spring plate and removal as keywords. Here's a few links to get you started:

Removing Stubborn Springplate

Rear Springplate Bushing Replacement

Kevins911 · 02-10-2006, 12:41 PM

Again thanks for all the ideas, but these plates are just not coming off, I drilled the holes in the end caps and have been soaking the T-bar splines with penetrating oil every day for the past week. Yesterday I tried using a 4'' three arm puller to remove the spring plate and I broke one of the arms off. Exchanged it for another puller (life time warranty) and broke that one as well. I'm ready to just cut the spring plates and T-bars. Any advice on where to cut? Or maby a better idea before I pull out the sawzill

Kevin

Wil Ferch · 02-11-2006, 10:52 AM

If you're using WD-40 you might as well be pee-ing onto it.....

Kroil...PB Blaster.. Wurth Rost-Off ! are the only 3 things I've found to work....

Wil

Kevins911 · 02-11-2006, 03:44 PM

I wasn't using WD-40, I was using Move-it, we use that stuff at the college and it works real well on rusted bolts. But nothing seems to be working on these spring plates, soaking the T-bar end, pullers, 36" pry bar, hammer, neither side moved at all. I don't know what else to do but cut them off, I'm just not too sure where to cut.

Kevin

project 911 · project 911's Garage

Those things are nasty! I got my spring plates out eventually with crowbars but the bars would not come out of the spring plates. I drilled out the ends, soaked them, heated them, used an air hammer... no luck. Had to use a cut-off wheel to cut the bars off and remove all the parts. I ended up having to get new spring plates and bars. After I got the parts all out of the car, I tried for almost a year to get the end of the bars out of the spring plate with the benefit of being out and on the bench and they still never came out.