Spring plate fighting me.....

[ricklopez1]

So I’ve acquired everything I need to rehab the suspension on my 911sc. Can’t say I’m super excited. Honestly I hate doing suspension work. Always a major pain and I come away scraped,dirty and beaten. Anyhow I’m stuck.

I’ve read a bunch of post and they say pry it off. How do I do this without making serious dents on the wheel well. Where do I fit the screw drivers in to pry. I have a set of pry bars from craftsman’s and I can’t seem to shake it loose. Do I use a torch and just melt the rubber until it peels off?

Help from the community would be helpful.


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[Driven97]

It's been a while, but iirc I put a flat plate, maybe a small combination wrench, against the body to distribute the load and used the prybar against that.

[MBAtarga]

Before you take a torch to that - you need to remove the spring plate assembly first. I used some metal plate against the bodywork to prevent damage to it and it also spreads out the load of the prybar. And instead of a torch, I used a utility knife and cut through the rubber bushing, hacking away at it chunks at a time. Eventually you can get down to almost bare metal - then use a torch or wire brush to remove the remnants.

[Bgravolet]

Have you made sure all the bolts are disconnected? On my ‘67 there were 8 I had to undo. Once done simply take the pry bar between the spring plate and bushing and start working it out.

[AC78]

Before you do anything I hope you've measured your spring plate angle??? Assuming you're using same torsion bars (or replace with same size) you will need to know this angle to reassemble.

It took me about a week to complete this project and I reckon finesse, not brute force is the best way to get it done, so don't be in a rush. I did the following:

1 - Drill small hole through end caps and fill cavity with WD40 or equivalent. Place a small punch through the hole and give it a few good firm hits. This will loosen the spring plate off the torsion bar. Repeat daily. (if the bar comes out with the plate still attached the whole assembly will be stuck between the torsion tube and bodywork - bad!)

2 - Use two prybars under opposite sides of the spring plate and gently rock them up and down. Protect the wheel well bodywork by levering the prybars off a block of wood or thick towel. Go gently.

3 - Be patient and persistent, it may take a few days before your levering takes effect, but once it starts to loosen just a bit the rest will come out easy.

4 - Grab yourself a beer son, you've earned it!

It's not a difficult job, just a slow and dirty one. I'd hate to be paying a Porsche technician to perform this type of low-skill grunt work.

Getting the torsion bar out of the tube can take a similarly long time. Put on a big pair of gloves and wiggle wiggle that bar until your arms hurt. Do it for an hour a night and a few days later it will come out.

This is the start of a very rewarding project, especially if you put it all back together yourself to get the perfect ride height.

Best of luck

[ricklopez1]

Originally Posted by AC78

Before you do anything I hope you've measured your spring plate angle??? Assuming you're using same torsion bars (or replace with same size) you will need to know this angle to reassemble.

It took me about a week to complete this project and I reckon finesse, not brute force is the best way to get it done, so don't be in a rush. I did the following:

1 - Drill small hole through end caps and fill cavity with WD40 or equivalent. Place a small punch through the hole and give it a few good firm hits. This will loosen the spring plate off the torsion bar. Repeat daily. (if the bar comes out with the plate still attached the whole assembly will be stuck between the torsion tube and bodywork - bad!)

2 - Use two prybars under opposite sides of the spring plate and gently rock them up and down. Protect the wheel well bodywork by levering the prybars off a block of wood or thick towel. Go gently.

3 - Be patient and persistent, it may take a few days before your levering takes effect, but once it starts to loosen just a bit the rest will come out easy.

4 - Grab yourself a beer son, you've earned it!

It's not a difficult job, just a slow and dirty one. I'd hate to be paying a Porsche technician to perform this type of low-skill grunt work.

Getting the torsion bar out of the tube can take a similarly long time. Put on a big pair of gloves and wiggle wiggle that bar until your arms hurt. Do it for an hour a night and a few days later it will come out.

This is the start of a very rewarding project, especially if you put it all back together yourself to get the perfect ride height.

Best of luck

Thanks, this is great info. I was silly to assume it would only take me a few hours to do. I will report back in a few days on any updates.

Rick


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[juanbenae]

paint stir sticks are a good, thin piece of wood to protect the body.

[ricklopez1]

Originally Posted by juanbenae

paint stir sticks are a good, thin piece of wood to protect the body.

Perfect thanks!


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[ricklopez1]

After many hours, finally done with the removal of one side. Question, I’ve removed the old rubber springs and replaced them. What’s the best way to reinstall. Do I lube the rubber. I tried just pushing them I and that doesn’t seem to be working.

Any recommend techniques...?


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[Cory M]

some people have had success using dish soap as lube

[ed mayo]

Just use longer bolts to get the end plate far enough in for the regular bolts to start.