Alum. Trailing Arms Removal Advise......

[boyt911sc]

Someone had asked for my help to remove the aluminum trailing arms (SC car). So I'm seeking some advise or suggestion in doing this task. Could you replace the alum. trailing arms with the motor installed in the car?

Never done this before so I need some feedback for those who have done this before. Thanks.

Tony

[scottbooth]

I had the engine out when I removed mine, but I think it could be done with the engine in.

Removing the spring plate is pretty straightforward in concept, though I had to use a lot of force to get the spring plate covers off the spring plates, and then to get the spring plates out of the car. I alternated between applying heat, and prying on things with whatever was handy. I have an old "pickle fork" type of ball joint separator (not used on the 911) that worked pretty well as a prybar because it is a big heavy SOB, and has a nice wedge shaped tip.

The tricky bit (especially with the engine in) will be to get a wrench on the bolt and nut that attach the inboard end of the trailing arm to the torsion bar carrier tube. My 78 SC has the later style tube which has big dents pressed in it to make this easier - the dents give the bolt somewhere to go as it unscrews, if that makes sense. Your friend's SC should have this also, so that is good news.

So I would check that first, before you start messing with anything else. Get under the car and make sure you can crack those bolts loose, if you can, you should be good to go.

At a minimum you will need to disconnect the rear drive shafts at the outside end, and remove the rear brake calipers and rotors so you can disconnect the parking brake cables from the mechanism on the arm. Despite what some of the shop manuals say, you don't need to go any further than this (wheel bearing etc.) to get the arm out of the car.

Good luck
Scott

[SCOTITUDE]

I have done it with the motor in the car and Scott has hit it on the head. if you are doing this on your back in the garage the hardest part is getting to the inner hardware of the arms and getting enough leverage to crack the nuts/bolts. I might have got lucky. a little grunt work and they came loose. its very tight in there and there is little room to get the bolts out but they do come out so be patient. A lift would have been ideal but all spare cash goes to go-go parts, not comfort items.