rear sway away drop link bushings- help

gengs · 03-05-2003, 07:13 AM

Does anyone here know the super secret way of getting new drop link bushings on the rear sway away to fit their corresponding ball joints on the bottom of the shock and sway away.

They came off easy enough this morning, though I'm fairly sure that that was due to them being totally rotten and I don't want to wait another 30 years for the new ones to rot before I get the them on again.

Also when fitting them should the finished article have the drop links pointing up as, in the technical article on fitting a rear sway away, or down as mine were when I took them off.

Once again any help, thoughts or sugestions would be hugely appreciated.

John Rogers · 03-05-2003, 07:32 AM

I used a C clamp that I made to squeeze them on. Good luck.

bob174 · 03-05-2003, 07:45 AM

I greased them up and pressed them in using a vise. They are not easy to get in! A real PITA.

gengs · 03-05-2003, 07:59 AM

I tried grease and a g clamp but it wasn't having it.
Is there any value in sticking them in the oven at about 70c for about 20mins or in a cup of really hot water (at a guess) in order to make the bushing more flexible and then adopt the clamp / hammer approach?

Dave at Pelican Parts · Dave at Pelican Parts's Garage

Yup. That's a pretty decent way to do it. (Hot water.) Make sure that you don't have much grease at all in the cup!!

I finally wound up using one of those bar-clamps that you squeeze the handle to tighten. I needed two hands to hold the clamp and drop-link in place, and a third to tighten the clamp... Now I only need two hands for the job.

--DD

gengs · 03-05-2003, 08:10 AM

Right hot water it is then

Any ideas as to which way the drop link should point, up as in the tech article on rear sway away or down as mine were (i.e the bottom of the sway away was below the bottom of the shock)

JWest · 03-05-2003, 09:22 AM

Drop links go up.

gengs · 03-05-2003, 11:30 AM

Thanks all, I assume mine were pointing down as an indication of truly how knackered the bushings were.

Thanks again

gengs · 03-10-2003, 12:27 PM

Thanks again to everyone, installed with the help of hot water, alot of grease, a very large pair of moles, budgies and jaws grips.

And a huge thanks as no sooner as they were installed these babies potentially saved my life and my friend's as we were navigating a little used road through woods with some lovely bends, curves, climbs and drops which he knows very well.

Unfortunately he seemed to be a little too impressed as to how well 914s hold the road and neglected to tell me that what I thought was a long left, that we were approaching at 75, was in fact a short left that cut hard left out of sight.

You can guess the rest, luckily through some miracle and much frantic wheel work, order was restored, trees were avoided, the only damage being to underware and not the car, so somewhere in there the sway away came into play and would not have done had it not been for every one posting so thank you all once again.

Needless to say a lesson has been learned.