spring plate bushing R and R

[jasonlee]

i going to try and pry first. If that doesn't work, then I will drill and hammer.
If there is any damage to the painted surface of the TB, can I just clean up and paint? Maybe some POR 15. Thoughts...

[jasonlee]

An update, happy to report, that both spring plates are off, bushings have been removed, and my TB are in great shape. Tomorrow, continued cleaning of the spring plates and paint, then new bushings, and re-install.

I have Weltmeister, Neatix bushings, I think the glue is hard anyway, its it really necessary to use, or should I JB weld them?

[sailchef]

I used crazy glue. @ 1 tube per side. Factory bushings were vulcanized on I believe. It serves a purpose when the bushings are tightened down with the covers. I'm not an engineer but it adds to the spring rate of the entire setup. Probably helps keep them from squeaking too. I haven't had any problems.

Using duct tape and a hole saw to install swing arm bushings.

Many members have posted on here about it.

[jasonlee]

happy to say its all back together. thanks to everyone for their input and help. Made the job much easier, and gave me the confidence I needed to tackle this long overdue project. Car feels much better now. Time for an alignment.

[FrankBlack]

I'm doing the same job at the moment. It's hard to see, but I welded a nut to the end of the spring plate so I could insert a bolt and push it off the torsion whenever I need to.

[JSV798]

I had this problem last year; just couldn't get the spring plate off the torsion bar. It came out from the centre instead. Ended up reassembling and taking it to a specialist. They got it out without any signs of damage so assume that they applied heat; wish now I had tried that

[jasonlee]

FrankBlack,
I like the idea of the welded nut on the end of the spring plate.

So when re-installing, I made sure all my angles and measurements were the same when i disassembled as I did not want to just the ride height. I did not remove the height adjustment of the lock bolt on the spring plate, mostly because I did not want to change the height and I could not get it undone. All that said, it was on jack stands for about 3-4 days. Once back together should there be some time needed before the car settles back down to the original ride height? Its sitting higher than I wanted, and I am really hoping I don't have to take everything apart again. I know when the car is raised sometimes it takes a while to settle back down, I am just wondering if this is the case as well or, I have to reindex. thoughts...?

[GaryR]

Originally Posted by jasonlee

FrankBlack,
I like the idea of the welded nut on the end of the spring plate.

So when re-installing, I made sure all my angles and measurements were the same when i disassembled as I did not want to just the ride height. I did not remove the height adjustment of the lock bolt on the spring plate, mostly because I did not want to change the height and I could not get it undone. All that said, it was on jack stands for about 3-4 days. Once back together should there be some time needed before the car settles back down to the original ride height? Its sitting higher than I wanted, and I am really hoping I don't have to take everything apart again. I know when the car is raised sometimes it takes a while to settle back down, I am just wondering if this is the case as well or, I have to reindex. thoughts...?

You can run it for a bit but if it's off a lot you must be off a tooth on the spline, reindex time.. I like the welded nut also, just be sure to keep it capped, very dirty area there...

[jasonlee]

Gary,
Thanks, that is what i figured. It should come apart fairly easily now. Is it better it better to index the inside our outside splines?

[KTL]

Originally Posted by GaryR

You can run it for a bit but if it's off a lot you must be off a tooth on the spline, reindex time..

Yep i'm with Gary on this one. One spline doesn't sound like much but it does make a big difference. The reason it makes a difference is because one spline on the spring plate translates to a significant height change at the end of the spring plate. The end of the spring plate is the key, since that's where the trailing arm connects

[GaryR]

Originally Posted by jasonlee

Gary,
Thanks, that is what i figured. It should come apart fairly easily now. Is it better it better to index the inside our outside splines?

Been a long time but isn't one a higher spline count? Use that one, finer adjustment.. bet Kevin knows!

[jasonlee]

yes outside is 44 splines vs 40 on the inside. time to do it again

[KTL]

I think you can fine tune it by using both splines. Meaning, you go up one spline on the inner and down one spline on the outer, or vice versa.

[GaryR]

Originally Posted by KTL

I think you can fine tune it by using both splines. Meaning, you go up one spline on the inner and down one spline on the outer, or vice versa.

Yep! Sometimes to get the exact same degree angle on both sides you have to play a bit.. guess my memory isn't as bad as I thought!

[jasonlee]

time for the stupid question, am I indexing the forward or backward, to decrease ride height?

[jasonlee]

do i index the spring plate clockwise our counter clockwise to get the drop?

[KTL]

To get the drop you would index the plate CCW. CCW rotates the plate upward which makes the car lower. So the combination of using both splines to fine tune would be as follows:

Rotate spring plate one spline upward/CCW on the torsion bar.
Rotate torsion bar one spline CW in the chassis torsion bar housing.