Ok, to make a long story short, my fuel pump died. After reading up, I found out that you basically have to remove the whole rear end to get the gas tank down.

Problem #1, I have never ever ever had to work on any suspension component before and have no clue what everything is and what to do with it.

Problem #2, I have no clue where to safely jack the car up if the entire rear axle must be dropped.

So my questions are plain and simple. What do the panhard bar and sway bar and control arms look like and how do I go about removing them in order to drop the axle? Supposedly you have to get inside the car, and peel the carpet back in the rear to get to the shocks, but I don't know about that yet. How do I get to the shocks, is it through the rear carpet?

And where can I safely rest the car on jackstands while I have a floor jack supporting the rear axle so it will lower easily?

I'm sorry if these questions sound dumb, but I have absolutely 0% experience with suspension components and hey, everybody has to start somewhere so could somebody please help me out? I really need my fuel pump out and the new one in.

Thanks!

 

Jack it up by the differential housing (AKA "pumpkin") as HIGH as you can get it (make sure to block the front tires). Then put tall heavy-duty jackstands under the frame rails (a large 2"x2" bar on each side of the underbody, about a foot in from each side I believe. Leave the jackstand under the differential housing, but lower it a bit to release some tension, but to hold it up still.

As for the shocks, just try to unbolt the bottoms of them instead of climbing in the car. However, the shocks are probably stock, so it wouldn't be a bad idea to replace them now anyways.

The panhard rod is a large rod that is bolted diagonally from the axle to the support rod or whatever it is called. Its been a while since I was under my car, but I did all of this in June last year to swap in a new rearend.

The lower control arms are like a foot and a half long and connect by the frame rails on the chassis to a bracket on each axle tube.

The swaybar is a really weird-shaped bar. You'll know it when you see it. Its bolted to the underside of the rearend and kind of curves below/behind the pumpkin and mounts with bushings to each axle tube and then to a mount on the chassis. Best bet is to just remove the "endlinks" which are the bolts that bolt into the mounts on the chassis. Now would be a very good time to replace these with an energy suspension endlink kit. $14.99 from autozone gives you a new bolt and new bushings. This was probably the best $15 I've spent on my car so far...so it does make a big difference.

As for what order to remove what parts in, I haven't a clue right now as I'm really thinking about bed. Someone else will have to chime in there. I should've taken pics when I swapped the rearend out in June.

 

You don't have to remove the rear to swap out the fuel pump. I haven't yet.

I'll elaborate more tomorrow.

BTW You have my car's twin

Kat

 

I didn't remove my rear when I changed my pump. All I did was remove my muffler, and disconnected the panhard rod. You should have enough clearance to get the tank out then. Good luck.

 

On a bone stock car I always needed a propane torch lol. Dam rusty bolts.

 

Ha. A good cut off wheel or hack saw works good too. I don't like getting a torch that close to my gas tank!