How hard is it to replace the Spring Plate Bushings?

[Paul Ferradas]

Man, I finish one thing and on to another. i'm wondering if I'll ever get to enjoy the car

I'm a beginner do it yourselfer. I'm proud of myself though, so far I have change my rear axles (CV Joints), replaced front suspension shocks, replaced strut assembly on the right side and installed Turbo Tie Rods. Not bad for a beginner heh?

Toby was over and we were talking suspension and the Spring Plate Bushings came up. After lowering the car I took alook and they are worn for sure. The metal cover is touching the top. Metal to metal.

I noticed that I can get the bushing kit with the host :

Neatrix Rear Spring Plate Bushing Kit (1 kit per vehicle, comes with tool), 911/911 Turbo (1969-89)

for $64.00 but is this job difficult to do?

What about these torsion bars? Are they under some sort of tension? Is something gonna snap, or twist if i take the plate covers off?

Iv'e also heard the term re-indexing, is this something I will have to do if i take on this project?

Thanks fellas.

[HarryD]

Paul,

It is about a 4 or 5 on the difficulty scale. There are many threads on the subject. I think there is a very good one by Chuck Moreland. My story is here: Rear Springplate Bushing Replacement

Most difficult is getting the t-bars out of the car. But the good news is that they are not like coil springs that under tension when you loosen stuff up. Once out of the car, I burned the old ones off the plates and then scraped off the residue. I did not do much to align the car as I had a shop lower, align and corner balance the car for me.

[74-911]

Originally posted by HarryD
Paul,

It is about a 4 or 5 on the difficulty scale.

Most difficult is getting the t-bars out of the car.

I just pulled the t-bars on my '74 with 140K+ miles. They came right out and are like new, not a scratch or any rust on them so you never know..

[Paul Ferradas]

So I'm thinking of the temporary fix for a couple of months while I wait to buy the rear shocks and do all this at once.

Here's the link to the temporary fix:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/283940-spring-plate-bushings-post3042001.html#post3042001

Can I pull off my Spring Plate cover without having to support the trailing arm? Is it just a cover or is it actually engaged to the Torsion Bar?

[juanbenae]

this from the guy that was not going to do much with the rear for now. HA!

its not too bad, i can swing by and walk you through it. let me know when you get all your parts collected. get the shock we spoke of 1st off. those can be installed with out affecting the bushing replace in the future.

are those brakes any better?

[Paul Ferradas]

The breaks feel good Toby, thanks for pedal pushing and the low down on bleeding breaks.

I plan on replacing the shocks but in the mean time I'd like to insert the rubber hose piece on top of the spring plate bushing because I'm rubbing metal to metal right now. If it's a simple task of removing the Spring Plate, adding the top rubber hose piece, and sliding the Spring Plate back on, then that's what I'd like to do. Then, when i get new shocks and the Niexel (or however you spell it) bushings, I will do a full replacement. I'm still recovering from dropping $1k on the front suspension and the alignment

[juanbenae]

the spring plate is really an all or nothing fix. if you do the hard plastic ones we spoke of you can get a set for $60+/-. those as i mentioned may squeak after time, and do require some work to get them to fit right. cheaper than the elephant product, but the draw backs i speak of above.

i can break out the table saw for the grease curf i told you i did. mine are 3 years in and no squeaks to this point. then again my car was only driven 2500 miles last year, of which 1000+ were track miles last year.

[cbeers]

Hey Paul,

listen to Toby. This is something you can do yourself, but not in an hour. It's one of those labor intensive jobs that doesn't have a whole lot of brain power needed, just time and grunt.

Here is the link to my write up after I did mine.

Elephant bushing install - Spring Plates

I would encourage you getting your parts together, garage cleared out and then tackling this one, you'll most likely be able to get help too

-Chris

[Paul Ferradas]

Thanks for that link Chris. I won't be using the Elephant Bushings but it's good reference.

[Early_S_Man]

Neatrix bushings are a good choice, but the job is probably will probably take a weekend ... lots of work of a back-breaking nature involving M12 fasteners that may be very rusty! I suggest taking your time, clean everything up thoroughly as you go, use plenty of anti-sieze, and read up on indexing the torsion bars -- beforehand. Have some Aleve on hand, too ... for the aches and pains!

[Superman]

I need Aleve after a walk to the mailbox.

No this is not a difficult job but yes, it will take some time. Somebody has developed a spring plate indexing calculator that is DEAD ON. I forget who. One of the "go-to" guys here. With the torsion bar thickness, weight of the car and desired ride height, it will tell you what angle to hang the spring plate at, in order to achieve the indicated ride height. You'll want to get that information before disassembling stuff.

It's not terribly difficult, but you'll just want to set the alignment characteristics as close as you can, and then take the car directly to your trusted local alignment place.