'78 SC Elephant Racing Suspension Rebuild

[zippy_gg]

Originally Posted by Nickshu

Lazy.

Lazy gives you more time for other projects...!

[Eric_Shea]

Pretty sure "Havana Machine" is a massage parlor in the Denver area. Clever how it shows up on the credit card statement. "No honey... they packed my bearings for me!"

[Craig_D]

Originally Posted by Eric_Shea

Pretty sure "Havana Machine" is a massage parlor in the Denver area. Clever how it shows up on the credit card statement. "No honey... they packed my bearings for me!"

LOL! $45 for monoballed banana arm?!

[Nickshu]

Originally Posted by Craig_D

LOL! $45 for monoballed banana arm?!

Now THAT sounds perverse.

[gint]

I like to pack my bearings by hand. :P

[Craig_D]

Another late night...seems after-work time slips away quickly what with daily life stuff.

So, last night I pulled the left side hub and cleaned the bearing of all the Lithium grease. Here's how I did it. First, clean rags. Then, Q-tips and tooth picks to get the large bits out. Next, WD-40 sprayed into the bearings. Then, air compressor gun and clean rags. Worked like a charm.

The only snag was that I...ran outta freakin grease before finishing the second bearing!! GRRR! You see, the night before, I did a bone-head move with my fresh Red Line grease. I was purging the grease gun tube of the lithium grease and ran into an air bubble. So I lost pressure in the gun. Well I couldn't get the air release valve to work, so instead I pulled the canister off the head...except I forgot to de-pressurize the rod...SO, almost all of the grease crapped out right onto my work bench! FAAAAARK! I counted to 10, and then luckily realized that the grease pooped out onto a fresh shop towel. So, I scooped up the grease in my gloved hand and pushed it back into the gun. But I lost a bunch...so, between that, and purging the lithium, I didn't have enough to finish the outer bearing.

I have another tube on the way, and I'll have to finish this weekend.

Oh, here's a tip. If you need to get a freshly installed dust seal out of the rear of the hub, use a PVC pipe and gently tap it through the hub (from the front) with a rubber mallet. This removed it with no damage. Cleaning it out required removing the spring ring from inside the rubber seal...it was easy enough, but time consuming.

Here are the pics..

Old grease (shot Horror Movie style!!)

[RWebb]

Originally Posted by Craig_D

Then, air compressor gun and clean rags.

people always say that is a no-no, as it spins the bearings ar high speed with no lube

[Craig_D]

Originally Posted by RWebb

people always say that is a no-no, as it spins the bearings ar high speed with no lube

Yeah, I made sure they didn't spin. I had a rag in my hand, with the bearing in the rag and shot down into the top of the gap. I shot the grease out towards the bottom and sides, but nothing spun. Plus they were soaked in WD-40. I also didn't want grease/WD to shoot all over the place, so the rag worked well.

[Craig_D]

Weekend updates: I finished packing the front left wheel bearings and installed the hub, so the front is now completely assembled, and using Red Line CV-2 synthetic grease! Some pics of this final clean up and install.








Finally...time to get to the rear end...

[Scott R]

Pretty! I needed some motivation after yesterday. I spent at lest four hours on those damn swing arm bushings. My 20 ton press finally killed the elephant tool on the last one but it came off. Probably the most horrible job you can do on a 911, and I think I've done them all. Damn spring plate covers were rusted to the bushings, what a treat!

[Craig_D]

On to the rear end! First remove the half shaft and tap it out of the hub with a big hammer and drive. Then remove the lower shock mount, the hand brake line, the sway bar, the rear brake pads and dust shield, and then tab out the rear hub. Then into the spring plate, torsion bar and trailing arm.

Here is the progression, and the interesting problem I solved with removing a stuck torsion bar from the spring plate.

And so it begins..









Parking/hand brake line:

[Craig_D]

Sway bar next, then on to the spring plate




Next, tap the hub out:

[Craig_D]

Originally Posted by Scott R

Pretty! I needed some motivation after yesterday. I spent at lest four hours on those damn swing arm bushings. My 20 ton press finally killed the elephant tool on the last one but it came off. Probably the most horrible job you can do on a 911, and I think I've done them all. Damn spring plate covers were rusted to the bushings, what a treat!

I'll be back at it in a few minutes, on the left side.

Luckily, and after reading so many similar statements, I went with new ER spring plates and will be installing Poly Bronze out back. And yeah...I had a treat with the right side torsion bar being stuck to the spring plate. I can't wait to pull the bearings on the trailing arm.... Are we crazy? Yes. Is the job tough? Yes. Will we say things during the project that should never be heard by woman or child? Yes. Will we have have incredible machines when done and be satisfied with our effort? Hell yes!

[zippy_gg]

Ahhhh, the infamous rear wheel bearing...
This tool helped me removing the half of the bearing on the trailing arm



and I had to use a dremel to cut out the other half stuck on the hub axle, same as yours.

[Scott R]

Zippy, like everything else my drive flanges are rusted in place so I can't yet get to the bearing. So to avoid any damage I'm going to find a machinist to have a look at them. The picture of Craig tapping his out from the rear with ease is making me mental.

[Craig_D]

On to the spring plate and torsion bar removal. This was tricky, as the torsion bar was stuck to the spring plate. I drilled a hole in the end cap, and then screwed a coarse thread hex head screw...and luckily it pushed the torsion bar out of the spring plate! Got lucky with that one!

The pics:







Oooh, great..

[Craig_D]

Originally Posted by Scott R

Zippy, like everything else my drive flanges are rusted in place so I can't yet get to the bearing. So to avoid any damage I'm going to find a machinist to have a look at them. The picture of Craig tapping his out from the rear with ease is making me mental.

HAHA I'm going to name my 3 lb hammer "Ease"! That way, I can say I'll just "Ease" it out! OR, "I got it out with 'Ease'"

[Craig_D]

Next up, trailing arm:







I'm going to finish up my coffee, and head back out to the garage. It's nice to have the day off so I can focus on the left side.

[Iciclehead]

Originally Posted by Scott R

Pretty! I needed some motivation after yesterday. I spent at lest four hours on those damn swing arm bushings. My 20 ton press finally killed the elephant tool on the last one but it came off. Probably the most horrible job you can do on a 911, and I think I've done them all. Damn spring plate covers were rusted to the bushings, what a treat!

Were you having problems getting the rubber off of the spring plate where it goes into the body or was it another area that was giving you fits?

If it was the rubber bushings on the spring arm, I have done 4 fairly recently and it was actually easy. I just took a wood saw, cut around the circumference of the rubber (it saws easy) and then just sliced it off using the same saw piece by piece. The small bits that were left I just took a wire brush on my grinder and poof...down to clean metal.

Dennis

[zippy_gg]

Originally Posted by Scott R

Zippy, like everything else my drive flanges are rusted in place so I can't yet get to the bearing. So to avoid any damage I'm going to find a machinist to have a look at them. The picture of Craig tapping his out from the rear with ease is making me mental.

Scot, I am not sure I understand. Can you post some pics? I am sure this community's brain trust will come up with a solution.