I'm taking off the torque arm for the first time. I took some advice and wedged an 18" 2x4 between the TQ arm and the floor pan. So far I removed one nut from the double sided bolt on top of the tail of the transmission. I still can't remove the arm. I see there's a metal piece with a slit in it but I don't know what to do with it. I'm also wondering if there's another screw I need to remove.

 

There is a nut on the other side of the TQ mount you have to take off. Its attached to the bracket stud that goes through the tail of the tranny.

After, pull the bracket apart and unlock the slits.

Be careful. The TQ arm will either snap up and dent the floorpan (hence the advice for the 2x4, or snap down and hit you in head or neck depending how you lay. So dont lay under it.

 

I can't remember exactly how a factory torque arm is attached. I don't think you need to remove the mount from the tranny but I could be wrong. If so, there should be 2 bolts holding the mount to the side of the tranny and they won't slide out without lowering the rear of the tranny.

I thought you just needed to unbolt the torque arm from the diff and slide it out of the tranny mount?

If you don't have the torque arm off the diff yet, you're going to want to support the car first. You feel the torque arm wanting to pull up? That's the diff wanting to rotate backwards. If you pull the torque arm off the diff and the diff rotates backwards, you could have a hard time getting the torque arm back on. If the weight of the car is taken off the rear springs, the diff won't want to rotate back as much if at all. I was lucky when I installed an aftermarket torque arm years ago. I had access to a car hoist.

 

the top long bolt needs to come out and there is also a small 13mm bolt that is right below that long bolt on top on the driver side, then it should come out

 

I thought it was 1/2 inch, because that socket worked really well. It's strange that when I took off the bracket that the Torque Arm didn't move, and the car didn't move. Everything basically stayed the same, even when I freed the TQ arm from the rubber bushing. Thanks a lot, now I'm taking the driveshaft off.