went to midas the other day to get some of those lifetime pads put back on my car, turned out i ended up spending $350 bux for pads and new calipers (grrrr). turns out that the front driver side caliper had froze up, so i told him to replace both of them while it was up there, sad thing is, it still needs new shoes on the back, not to mention that hte front rotors are in their final days, so those'll be coming off soon (should i say do the work myself). WEll neway, while the car was on the lift the mechanic pointed out that my torque arm mount was broken. I'm thinking this may be why i'm experiencing so many broken transmission mounts, and would also explain why i've got that lil' clunk noise when i shift the car end, cause you can move the torque arm up and down with your hands if you want, which isnt a good thing. How hard is it to replace the mount for the torque arm? I'll probably be pulling hte haynes out later today, and changing it soon.

 

Holy crap, $350 for pads and calipers??? Drive down to Jersey next time, I'll do it for $300. (Calipers $10/ea, pads $25). I'll even replace your front brake hoses ($18 each) and flush your brake system of old fluid (one big bottle of brake fluid, $5). In fact, if you buy me a cheeseburger, I'll even repack your wheel bearings ($3 to buy me a new tub of grease).

 

LOL tom, sound like me. Just buy me some food, and I'll do the work, LOL.

As for tourqe arm, should be something you can do with some basic hand tools, and few hours.

I would install the poly one, not a rubber one again.

 

Who said just food? I'd pocket the other $210!

I installed my ES torque arm bushing when I dropped out my trans; seemed like the right time, with the trans out and all. You'll have to lower the rear of the trans, though. One long bolt can't be removed because it fits too "snugly" in the trans tunnel. So you'd put a flat board across the trans pan, and lift it up a 1/2 inch with a hydraulic jack. Then you remove the trans crossmember, and lower the trans enough to get at the torque arm mount's bolts.

Remember to lift the rear of the car up by the frame points that are directly "in front of" the rear lower control arm bolts. That way the torque arm won't want to pivot upward (no pressure on the rear tires).

You need to drill out or grind off the rivets holding the original 2-piece rubber bushing to the bracket. Then you grease up the ES bushing (grease is supplied) and put the one-piece ES bushing on the torque arm end. Grease up the end of the torque arm before you slide the bushing on, too. Then fold the two-piece bracket around the torque arm bushing. It won't want to fold easily since the polyurethane won't "compress" easily. It folds the rest of the way when you tighten the bolts down to hold the bracket to the trans. Then just raise the trans back up so the crossmember hits the frame rails, bolt the x-member back in following torque spec for the x-member bolts, and you're done.

The change was amazing... the car felt more sturdy just going straight! Turns became much, much more fun!

 

I just changed my torque arm bushing in my car, and put the polyurethane one in. I was getting a clunk when I hit the throttle, and I knew it wasn't the trans mount. The torque arm bushing was worn out so badly that it would let the arm slide up and down inside the steel bracket. It really did make a big difference in the way the car felt. Of course I had this done while my car was at the shop getting new steering joints put it. While they had it in the air, I had them change the torque arm bushing.... and the tranny mount... and the front struts... and the rear sway bar bushings... and the rear sway bar end links... and finally I said that enough was enough and that I couldn't afford to do any more.

Also replace your transmission mount with a polyurethane one at the same time you put your torque arm bushing in. The tranny mount is not but about $20, and with that done, you should never have to worry about a busted mount again.

 

What's the P/N for that ES bushing Tom?

 

Look it up at energy suspension's website, you need to get the right one for your car's torque arm.