Ok, I am right in the midst of a clutch replacement on an 85 2.8. I have read a lot about the torque arm and rotational force (Some say leave it hanging others say put jack stands under it??) . . I have the car jacked by the frame and the axle hanging right now. I then double checked the Haynes manual and it said remove the springs to prevent this rotational force.

Do any of you actually remove the springs (or at least compress them)?? I don't want to be taking a chance at losing my fingers here! Is there still some tension on the springs with the axle hanging???

What should I do???

thanks

 

with the rear hanging all the way down, you can almost pull the springs out, at least the stock ones.

just support the rear alittler more by putting a jack stand or jack under the rear end just in case it moves alittle more.

 

You don't have to take the whole torques arm off when removing the tranny do you?? Just curious because Haynes says this to.

 

Haynes is completely worthless.

The rotational force issue is basically this: Since the spring perches are not centered on the axle tubes, the springs try to twist the rear and pop off the perches. If you put a pair of jackstands under the perches to keep the springs partially compressed you won't have to worry about them popping off. When I work under the car I generally support the back of the car with jackstands on the axle tubes near the spring perches anyway. Jackstands under the rear subframe always get in my way.....

Also you don't have to pull the torque arm completely out. Just drop the crossmember and lower the tranny a bit, then you can get the torque arm mount bolts out of it. Just leave the front of the arm hanging...it'll be in the way a little bit but it's less trouble than unbolting the back of the arm.

 

ok, cool. thanks. Yeah, I have kind of raised an eyebrow on a few things in Haynes but unfortunately I don't have the service manual yet. I am going to try and get one at a swap meet this summer for cheap.

 

When I swapped my trans out, I had the jackstands on the rear subframe, just in front of the lower control arm. I had no problems with the torque arm pinning itself against the floorboard, for exactly the same reasons TheGreatJ said. I still had the rear shocks and springs installed, but, since the weight of the car wasn't on the springs, the axle didn't want to rotate backwards.

Just don't put your fingers between the torque arm and floorboard and you'll be fine. Hey this is a damned good time to put in the energy suspension torque arm bushing if you can get a hold of one quickly; that's when I did mine.

 

Thanks for the comments TomP. Actually I was calling around about a torque arm bushing to see the cost thinking maybe now is the time but no luck !?! THey were talking something about a dogbone but that didn't sound right.

Just out of curiosity, what would be the benefit of a new torque arm bushing?? I am not exactly clear on what it does other than maybe help with vibration.

thanks.

 

Dogbone? They're talking about the torque bar used on a front wheel drive car; connects the left head (normally the driver's side head) with the front radiator support. It's like an "upper" motor mount. Aren't parts counter guys great? What's funny is that they -do- make poly ones for those; the rubber "eyes" on the stock torque struts usually tear, and make for a jumpy front wheel drive motor!

A torque arm bushing for us does two things... one, chances are your old one is shot, so even a new rubber one would help things out. Two, the torque arm helps keep the rear axle stable, like the panhard rod. The torque arm swings up/down based on the acceleration of the motor... sorta like the same reason the torque arm will want to swing upward when you remove the trans. By changing the mount out, you can eliminate any "wiggle" from the rear end, on turns.

I was amazed by mine when I put it in- it made the car much firmer around turns- and EVEN helped out when going straight! The car felt like it was "sitting up and ready to go" instead of "slouching around", if that's any kind of visual image. A completely awesome change for only $20.

Summit -does- have overnight shipping available... I'm in central NJ, and if they have the part in stock in their Ohio warehouse, I can get stuff in 2 days (order on Wednesday before lunchtime, get the parts Friday). You'll need to find out which mount you need, there's two of them, here's the link with pictures to help you decide:

http://www.energysuspension.com/cam2.html

Use these part numbers on http://www.summitracing.com :

ENS-3-1110G or ENS-3-1111G or ENS-3-1112G (The "G" stands for graphite-impregnated, black color.)

WOW, I was wrong about the price. $11.95 each! You might be able to pick up the yellow pages in your area after determining which part # your car needs from energy suspension's web site, and give them the exact part number to see if they can get it faster.

 

take the part number to autozone or advance, I know autozone carries/can order energy suspension parts. have them hit the express parts button and type the number in it should then list the price and order time, 2 days normally and shipping is cheaper this way. Most of the time. I just got an entire kit of poly bushings from spohn, they are not energy suspension but the quality looks good. You might be able to get just the mount from them.

 

wow, thanks a lot for the info Tom. I checked out the links but I am not 10% sure which one it is. I will have to crawl under there again this weekend and check. I am going to call a couple places around here too to see if it can be ordered through them to avoid the brokerage fees (I am in Canada).

If you say you noticed a definite difference than I might as well for that price.

Aviator - unfortunately we don't have those stores up here. As mentioned I will check some other though.

thanks,
eddie.