| Author |
Message |
Bill Sebestyen (Bill308)
| | Posted on Wednesday, November 14, 2001 - 6:11 pm: | |
Neville,
You should be able to support the hub on a block and just remove the lower A-arms. This would avoid having to sever the brake lines and save a lot of work.
In my case, I had to replace an axle on one side and I elected to change the wheel bearings, dust seals, CV-joints, shocks, and rebuild the calipers on both sides. Bill |
Neville Pugh (Nev_Pugh)
| | Posted on Wednesday, November 14, 2001 - 7:31 am: | |
Sorry .... I feel better now ! :-)
I *think* I just need to replace the bushes on both sides, on the lower A arm (though I really need to drop the wheel off and have a good poke about so see if anything else needs doing too). From what you say, I should be able to do that with the minimum of work (i.e. just dropping the lower A frame, and working on that)
Thanks, Nev |
Neville Pugh (Nev_Pugh)
| | Posted on Wednesday, November 14, 2001 - 7:26 am: | |
Eeek ! |
Bill Sebestyen (Bill308)
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 13, 2001 - 6:21 pm: | |
Neville,
I just recently rebuilt the rear suspension on my 308. I was able to do everything my self except tack welding of the inner bushings and pressing in the outer sleeves.
In brief:
1. Place the car on jack stands.
2. Remove the wheels and fiberglass wheel liners.
1. Remove the sway bar links, brake lines, emergency brake cable, pads, calipers, and disks
2. Remove the shocks.
3. Separate the outer CV-joints from the axle and cover the CV-joint with a baggy to keep out dirt.
4. Remove the nuts retaining the lower A-arms. through the chassis. Note the location of all alignment shims.
5. Remove the bolts retaining the Upper A-arms to the chassis flanges.
6. Support the weight of the hub assembly with a block and withdraw the entire assembly from the chassis.
At this point you can bring the entire assembly to your rebuilder or continue with the disassembly of the individual components.
The inner bushings are tack welded in place. You can cut the welds with a Dremel type tool or die grinder and withdraw the bushings with a threaded rod and suitable bushings/sockets/washers/spacers. Be carefull not to distort the A-arms as it takes quite a bit of pressure to remove them. Re-assembly is performed in a similar manner. The final step is to tack weld the bushings as original.
The outer bushings, spacers, and seals only require withdrawing the through bolts to disassemble most of the components. The bushings press fitted into the A-arm outer ends required a hydraulic press to remove and reinstall. Lightly grease the bolt and bushings prior to reassembly. The thrust washers are teflon coated on one side and are keyed by a small dowel. Be sure you get it right. Reassembly of the A-arms to the hubs requires patience and determination to keep everything in place and its a tight fit. I wound up spreading the outer ends of one A-arm with a threaded dowel and washers about 0.010 to get the hub in place.
It might be better to reinstall the rear suspension as a complete unit, but I chose to install the A-arms first, then the hub to the outer end of the A-arms. I found it frustrating to install the outer bushing in-situ, but with determination it can be done. Don't tighten up the inner bushing bolts until the outers are reassembled with bolts in place.
I liberally coated the inner bolts with anti-seize prior to reassembly. I was able to get a click type torque wrench on all bolts, but the inners were difficult.
Figure at least half a day to remove the assemblies from the car, a day to reinstall the assemblies, a day to reinstall and bleed the brakes and fender covers, two days to R&R the inner bushings to the A-arms,and and hour or two of shop time to weld the inner bushings to the A-arms and press the outer bushings into the A-arms. This is a pretty big job. Good luck. Bill |
'75 308 GT4 (Peter)
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 13, 2001 - 1:30 pm: | |
Are you talking about replacing bushings, or are your going for the full works and want the shocks done too?
The fasteners may be stubborn, but use of an impact wrench and they should be off without a hassle. If you have the bushings in hand, it'll take you an afternoon to do it (in a perfect world...).
Rebuilding of shocks will require longer down-time. Depends who does them for you. |
Neville Pugh (Nev_Pugh)
| | Posted on Tuesday, November 13, 2001 - 7:49 am: | |
Okay, so this might be a bit of a dumb question, but here goes :-)
I've read lots and lots about (rear in particular) suspension being difficult to overhaul, and very time consuming. I dont want to have my car off the road for months and months if I can avoid it.
So I can do some of the work myself, and keep some of the cost down, is it possible to (relatively easily) remove the whole suspension unit off the car on one side, and pass that suspension unit to a ferrari specialist to do the hard bit of breaking it down and rebuilding it ?
Or am I talking pants ? :-)
Nev |
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