Nasty discovery during rear bushing replacement

[ulrichd]

Looks like I got to it just in time. The springplate covers on my 70T were starting to go in a big way. The hole was made by my screwdriver. Luckily the inside torsion bar tubes and bars were not bad, just a little surface rust. Second pic is finished repair.

Ulrich

[neilk]

What really sucks is the price of torsion bar covers today. When I redid my rear suspension 5 years ago, torsion bar covers were like $15 each, now they are about $70. Ouch

Refreshing the rear bushings really helped the handling of the car.

[berettafan]

did you do any preventative cleaning/coating in the tube while you were at it?

[ulrichd]

I got my covers used from DCauto. I think $60 each. Once open I used a wire brush on all of the surface rust on the torsion bar tube and a solid coating of grease on the inner tube and the new bushings.

Ulrich

[Fritz A. Ficke]

Good catch Ulrich,

[Sacto S]

When I had my covers off to redo the bushing, I attached a wire brush to a stiff rod and worked it back and forth inside the tube. I then stuck the hose of my vac inside to remove the scale and dirt. I was lucky, the tube was solid throughout. I then attached a sponge to another rod , dipped it in Por15 and swabbed the inside of the tube for insurance. Use caution so you don't get any of the Por15 on the spline connections inside the tube. I used masking tape to mark the length on rod to make sure I didn't get the rod in too far.