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So last Monday, I was able to use an awesome shop with a lift and all the tools needed to do my rear suspension thanks to Chris (CMT) and Ben (Bin_jammin). The only catch was that we had to do it after shop hours, and finish by the time the shop opened (8 am). Seeing how Calvin and I are always up for some wrenching and a good challenge, we accepted and got started on the car at around 9 pm.

First of all, I’d like to thank Ben and Calvin again for their help. No way that I could have done this by myself, or got it done in nearly the time that we did. Calvin has done this multiple times, so he was a huge help, and Ben is an excellent welder/fabricator.

Now just for some background information, my car has 120k miles on it and the symptoms were that the rear end would be hesitant in transitional changes and over any bumps mid turn. I’ve got a full suspension on my car, and I’ve replaced almost everything to date, so it was pretty obvious that the rear bushings were the culprit. I replaced the 4 subframe bushings with Poly Powerflex bushings, the 4 balljoints with new Lemforder parts, the 3 diff bushings with Lemforder parts, and the two LCA bushings with Lemforder parts. What I didn’t replace were the bushings that came new with my SPC LCA’s, the RTAB’s (already have UUC Poly in there), and the RSM’s (already have GC RSM’s). There are 19 bushings total for anyone who is interested in doing this job. I also replaced the front tie rods since I was going to be doing an alignment anyways (last replaced at 80k with Meyle, this time replaced with Lemforder).

Pile of parts

Me and Ben trying to get that horrid E-brake cable out (worst part of the job, by far). It was seized in there and wouldn’t come out no matter what.

Ben and Cal trying to use a torch and then PB blaster to get the same cable out.

Drivers side rear suspension with the shock not attached. You can see the hub and how it connects to the upper control arm, lower control arm, and axle. The axle doesn’t have to be fully removed to do this job – if you just pull it out from the diff and leave it connected to the hub, you should have no problems. One of the ball joints is where the SPC LCA connects to the hub, and the other is where the upper control arm connects to the hub. There are two on the other side too. We also replaced the bushing that connects the upper control arm to the subframe.

Everything is out! If you notice, we had the rear brake calipers suspended by wire. If you unbolt the one bracket holding the line and carefully move them, it is definitely possible to keep them out of the way while doing this job, so that you don’t have to add new fluid or bleed the brakes again when done. This was a huge time saver for us.

Another view of the empty rear end with only those damn e-brake lines hanging.

Here’s the differential sitting on the tranny jack.

There are two diff “ear” bushings that are on the differential itself that need to be replaced.

Parts from the pass side.

Here is Ben attempting to remove the old subframe bushings.

LUNCH BREAK!!!!!

You can see that we took a break for lunch right before 1 am… and that I absolutely LOVE McDonalds chicken nuggets…. (the lady was nice and threw in extra McNuggets for free!!).

Calvin is unstoppable, and got right back to work after he was done eating.

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Last edited by PurduinaM3; Sun, May-03-2009 at 12:22:00 PM. PurduinaM3
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Sun, May-03-2009, 10:42:47 AM #2
PurduinaM3
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Old subframe bushings removed

And the mess that goes along with it…..

Old subframe with all the bushings removed

The dreaded cracks in the subframe right where the sway bar tabs are attached. This is a known problem, and I’ve purchased new sway bar reinforcement tabs to weld on in order to prevent this. However, I forgot the tabs at home, so those will be welded in next week along with the Mike Radowski Diff support.

Upon further inspection, it was mostly the paint that had chipped off in that area, so we used a die grinder to remove it down to the metal to see how the welds looked.

One side was fine, the other side indeed was cracked. Larger sway bars were on for 10k miles, and for only 2-3 auto-x’s. I’m guessing that it