RE: trunnion bushing replacement

["Brian Shorey" <bshorey@domain.elided>]

<snip>
>tee.  I was surprised at how far right I could shove the axle, but it
>wasn't far enought to disengage it.  I ended up unbolting the torque tee
>from the car.  That was easy, but getting it back in was tricky.  There are
>3 holes in each end of the t-bar, and they have to match up with the bolt
>holes in the body, and with the holes in a pair of shim that fit between
>the bar and the body.  I ended up gluing the shims to the body so they
>wouldn't fall out while I fussed with the bar, then I attached the bar to
>the body by one bolt at each end.  The other two still didn't line up, so
>with the bar free to pivot on the two bolts, I used a jack under the
>differential to rotate the axle upward until everthing lined up.  If I did
>the job again, I'd probably unbolt the rear ends of the trailing arms from
>the axle and see if I could push it far enough over to disengage from the
>axle pin.

dana,

you're right, this is a fun job.  i've done it a few times, each time
differently.  i've tried removing the t-bar, dropping the entire rear axle,
and finally (just this past weekend) found what i consider to be the easiest
method - disconnect the swaybar and the trailing arms from the axle, as you
suggest.  doing this allowed me to pry the axle enough to clear the t-bar
with relative ease.

maximum ground clearance really helps (a lift is optimal), so you can work
with a long enough pry bar for moving the axle.

fwiw,

bs

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