hello i want to take my torque arm out because i want to clean and paint it due to leaking pinion shaft seal.a book i have says i have to drop the springs,unbolt the shocks,etc..do i have to do all that,why cant i unbolt it and just take it out..any help thanx.by the way its a 92 camaro convertable

 

Without the torque arm, the springs are going to try to rotate the front of the rear up. I seem to recall i've taken the torque arm off with the suspension unloaded and the axle just hanging, though.

 

im just afraid when the car is on jack stands and i start taking stuff apart.i just want to be sure.also if the car is supported by jack stands under the axel,how can it move the weight of the car is on it..

 

it would be pretty hard to remove the torque arm with the springs still in.

You really need to take the springs out.

Im sure you could get the arm off, unbolt it and beat it with a hammer until it comes off, but then the axle would unload and rotate, maybe upsetting the cars balance? I wouldn't want to be under it , but then you would never get it back on.

 

Don't support it by the axle.

 

i dont know,i just searched torque arm removal on this site and some people said that with a jack under the axel tubes to take the load off the rear you would be able to take it out.

 

The axle tubes are not strong enough. Dont do it.

 

The axle tubes aren't strong enough for what?

 

for removing the torque arm remember?

 

the torque arm can be removed in about 15 minutes if the car is supported right. Jack the car up enough to get under it and get the wheels off the ground. Do not support the car by the rear axle, not because it cannot handle it but because you will need to manuver it.

Once the car is in the air, position a jack under the panhard/spring support on the axle. Apply just enough pressure that the axle just begins to raise. Once you begin to remove the TQ arm bolts you will see how this jack can be used to control axle rotation and allow you to get the TQ arm in and out. I have had mine out more times than I can count.

 

followed daves advice,mint.had it out in 10 mins..thanx

 

According to many posts you can remove the front bushing while the torque arm is in place. THis essentially takes away any twisting support.

Why then does everyone think that the rear diff is going to rotate? Especially with the rear diff supported on jack stands I can't see it happening. What am I missing here?

 

Stop questioning every response....What you are being told on TGO is 110% TRUE.

The rear springs do oy press directly on top of the axle. The sprig perches are "hanging off" one side. By pressing down o one side of something. What happens? That sides tries to go down. In the case of a tube, it WILL rotate.

When you replace the tranny mounted torque arm bushing.....The rear axle will rotate (remember the explanation above?) torque arm will push upwards, because it is attached to the rear axle, which is now rotating. But it presses against the floor & goes no further. Put the new bushing in, reach up & pull the torque arm back down. Pretty simple.

Your welcome to try doing it without the PROCEDURE posted already, but TGO & none of its members are not liable for your injuries or funeral costs.

Pull the springs out first & it'll be a cake walk.

 

LOL

 

The axle will rotate if you take the torque arm off.
But if you are only doing the bushing on the tranny, you can hold it down with your arm, and let it rise up to the body.

 

Dennis' post is fine except for the part about supporting the axle with jackstands; which seems like an afterthought anyways. If the axle is hanging you'll have no problems removing the torque arm, aside from the obvious part about being able to slide the bolts all the way out without hitting the trans tunnel. The axle isn't going to rotate as much as you insinuate unless the weight of the car is on it. Free floating is great.

No need for the holier than thou attitude you portray. You post a lot, but sure don't have a lot to say.

 

I've taken the torque arm completely off with the jackstands on the axle tubes. use a jack to rotate the axle so you can put the bolts through the rear end and get the torq arm back on. then its pretty simple. removing the springs? kinda excessive.

 

my cars been trailered and siting with out a torque arm.
i have put 3 different style torque arms in it with out removing any other suspension components . . .

 

Thanks for the response, see everyone talks about the diff rotating but I was always assuming the wrong axis. To have you describe the rotation along the same axis and the wheels (not the driveshaft) makes sense to me now. No need for the snarkiness. So now the comments about supporting the tail end with a jack makes sense.

 

I dunno what "snarkiness" even means, but it doesn't sound good/polite.

If anything I said offended you or came across "bad/derogatory", I apologize. I didn't mean anything. I'm not sure what I could haveeven said tot come across as bad, but since you quoted only me, I'm assumig it was directed towards me.

 

This post reminds me of a know- it- all guy I knew who bought a Chevelle racecar that had never been run yet on the track. The guy before him had mounted a stock Ford 9 inch rearend using the stock Chevelle lower control arms with a single upper control arm to make it a three- link setup rather than the stock Chevelle double- angled 4 link.

So it had no panhard bar for lateral control. But worse, they had mounted the top link on a bracket sticking out in FRONT of the rearend housing. Now the pivots and bolts for the lower links and the top link could not be connected by a straight, vertical line drawn through the centerline of the axle. Rather, a straight line drawn between the two sets of upper and lower control arm mounting bolts (on the rearend housing) would be at an angle moving forward and upward, and being in front of the axle centerline and NOT crossing the axle centerline.

I just smiled and told him how nice his newly purchased "load" was. I ended up moving away before he ever got the car finished or tried to run it. I wish I could have been there if he ever did try to get on it. It would have been major comedy entertainment! The first time he would have applied power the rearend would have torqued and twisted right around the control arms. Woo Hoo!

Our Third Gens have the torque arm and the lower control arms resisting the torque- induced twisting and holding the rearends in place in a different manner. They are really a form of three link rearend, but with what would be the "upper" link replaced by the torque arm.

The torque arm is placed lower than on a normal three link and does not have a pivot point at the rearend mount, thus it can be mounted in front of the axle centerline. It does pivot at the front transmission mount, but it bolts to the rearend with vertically fastened bolts that are spaced apart on the horizontal plane.
Thus the torque arm resists the twisting torque motion by forming a strong horizontal mount where a line can be drawn through the torque arm and the axle centerline horizontally instead of vertically. In our case the torque arm is doing almost all of the twist resistance. But the mounts and/or pivots must bisect the axle centerline in one plane or the other!

What everybody is trying to say about the springs on our third gens is that they are mounted on brackets aft of the axle centerline and they themselves put a twisting motion on the rearend housing that the torque arm resists and controls. If you took the torque arm away and tried to apply power, you would wrap the axle up like in the example above. With the car just sitting there on jack stands with no torque arm, it could still very well twist the axle just from the weight of the car pushing down on the off- center mounted springs. If the springs were mounted directly over the top of the axle centerline this wouldn't be the case. Unles ANYTHING bumped the car with control arms unhooked and the axle moved to where the springs were no longer perfectly situated over the axle centerline, then bad things would happen! And you don't need stuff like that happening when you are under the car!

But since you may not have to totally remove the torque arm rear mounting bolts to replace the bushing, you may still be able to manually control how much things move around by holding onto the front of the long arm. But things definately have the potential to go South quickly!

I would put the actual frame on jackstands and the jack under the rearend as was described earlier.

 

Theres more than one way to do it. Oh well if you have to take the springs out, that takes what a whole 2 min if even that. If you havent done anything before go through it step by step as instructed, then if you have to do it again you might have found out what you can and cannot skip by doing it the first time.

 

Explain to me how you're gonna take out the springs while they're under load?

...and if they're NOT under load, then how are they gonna rotate the rear axle?

I dunno, I've done this plenty of times, and I've never had to remove anything.

 

......I think what will probably end up being more helpful to anyone who may ever search and find this would be this:

You need to unload/unweight the rear end so the springs aren't completely compressed. Whether or not you take them out is a matter of opinion, but either way, ya gotta lower that rear a good bit.

 

ok mine has been off to many times in the past 6 months, for a trans and for a new rear end

support the car on jack stands on the jack points, let the axle hang unbolt, and pull out.....i will recomend you getting a friend or 2 to reinstall

to re install get a jack and a freind have them jack the rear to it lines up with the arm, insert bolts and tighten

a impact wrench will make this project so much easier

i also recomend putting a energy bushing on the tq arm mount and a energy trans mount

i also welded flat plate to the outside of my tq arm to stiffen it, worked real good, and was cheap, watch out if you do that, you may warp it if you weld it to hot and will have to strighten it back