Hi Everyone:
Well, I just finished redoing the rear suspension on my TR6, and after getting
so much advice from everyone on the list, I thought I would feed it back by
summarizing the experience and all the useful tips I received.
The disassembly of the rear suspension was surprisingly easy, except I found
that I spent a lot of difficult time on my back, under the car, reaching up. I
cant afford a hydraulic car lift so as long as I keep the extra pounds off.....
Most of the dissassembly is pretty straight forward (my Hayes manual was
accurate and useful) except that the 4 nylock bolts that hold the inner U-joint
coupling flange to the final drive unit are a bitch to get at. You cant get a
socket on either the bolt or the nut and the amount of wrench swing room is
quite limited. I found that the purchase of two 9/16 in wrenches - each with a
box end and open end - made the job tolerable. Depending on the nut location
around the flange - you have to switch between the open end and box end to get
the job done.
My frame was in pretty good shape - I found no cracks in the spring mounts or
differential mount areas. I was however surprised to find that two of the
rubber spring insulators were in quite bad shape - resulting in one side of the
car having more negative camber than the other. Be sure to order a new set of
these - the odds are that youll have to replace them. Even though my springs
didnt look too bad, I did replace these also (shipwrights disease!) - I used
the stock ones from Moss.
Pulling out the half shafts was also fairly easy, you just have to manhandle the
rubber stone guard on the inner universal to get it through the hub bore.
Next, came the trailing arms. Once off the car, I used the threaded rod
suggested by so many on the list to remove the old bushings. Essentially, you
need:
- 24 inches of threaded 1/4 inch rod
- a selection of washers
- at least one big washer thats big enough to cover the bushing hole in the
trailing arm
- four 1/4 inch nuts
To get the old bushings out, you first insert the threaded rod through both of
the old bushing centers and arrange the washers and nuts on the outside edges of
both bushings, using a second nut to lock the first on the one end. This will
be the bushing you pull through when you turn the nut on the opposite end of the
rod. Youll have to install a pair of locked nuts between the two bushings to
keep the rod from turning. With this the first bushings came out quite easily.
The same operation to remove the second bushing will work if youve got
something to span the now removed bushing hole and hold the rod for the washer
to pull against.
To install the new bushings, use the above in reverse. Thread the rod through
one new bushing and through the second open bushings hole. Spread a light
coating of dishwashing liquid over the new bushing and then slowly crank the
opposite nut until the bush is pulled through and centered. The same procedure
should be followed for the second bushing. The poly bushings were a breeze to
install - no compression mandrel was required a suggested by some on the list.
Reassembly wasnt too bad - maybe I was being quite careful on the disassembly,
because the reassembly took me only half the time. ( it took me a day and a half
to dissasemble both sides and three quarters of a day to reassembly them) A few
tips about the reassembly:
- purchase new nylock nuts (youll need a selection of 3/8 UNF, 5/16 UNF and
7/16 UNF) - dont reuse the old ones!
- check your halfshaft U-joints carefully - if they dont have grease nipples
consider replacing them with some that do; the Moog catalog still lists TR6
U-joints (!!) and a local suspension shop installed these for me at a fairly
moderate charge.
- make sure you clean and re-grease the halfshaft splines and put on new gaiters
if you do this; one of my splines was quite dry which probably accounted for the
jerky movement of that sides wheel as it went up and down.
- there is a trick to getting the inner rubber stone guard back through the hub
bore: fold the stone guard back on itself before installation and once through -
manhandle it back into position.
- watch the assembly torque on the six nuts that mount outer universal U-joint
flange to the trailing arm - the trailing arm is aluminum and it would be fairly
easy to strip these if you over torque them.
- to arrive at the proper ride height when all is done, dont tighten the
trailing arm bushing through bolts until the car is back on the ground, on its
wheels, with two people sitting in the car (yes, you can actually reach under
the car to get at the nuts and bolts concerned to do this).
Was it worth it in the end: YOU BET! Both rear wheels are now vertically
straight with no negative camber sag. I used the poly bushings from Moss and
there IS a difference in the ride. The ride now has that nice new car jiggle
as it goes over bumps and tar strips and there is probably less harshness than
there was with the original rubber bushes. It seems to corner better too - but
the biggest difference is that communicative jiggle.
That's it. Now I'm thinking about doing the front end...
Brian Lanoway
73 TR6 CF6985U - with a new rear-end jiggle that Baywatch would be proud of!
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