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Trailing Arms


z34mightymachine
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Is Dorman still the popular vote? WBS has a boxed arms they sell for $49.99, The current price on Dorman is $12.13 at Rockauto. I'll flip the extra for the WBS arms if they're an improvement.

 

Also, did anybody ever post alignment specs for the Gen II lat link upgrade?

http://www.w-body.com/showthread.php/52415-where-to-buy-obtain-gen1-lateral-links

 

Yeah. I'd just get the Dorman. The WBS are probably marked up Dorman's anyway. I wouldn't bother paying for the zzp and I don't know why you'd want a poly bushing on the trailing arm anyway.

 

The reason for gen 2 lateral links is to get 4 rear adjustables and have Matt get 2 of them shortened to the length as the front nonadjustables. Then alignment is whatever you want since camber and toe are both fully and easily adjustable.

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I've got a set of Matt's shortened lats comming, lol. Looked all over and there's no information on bushing upgrades for the lats, thought I would find part numbers somewhere.

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I put Prothane 19-604 in mine. They need trimmed down a little, but the diameter is correct. Unfortunately aftermarket arms are all a little different. That number will work fine in factory ones and dorman ones for sure. Hopefully Matt sent you dorman ones. If they are something else they may not fit really well. I had one I bought off rockauto and the bushing was pretty loose in the arm. I had no idea so that arm is now trash. I just found a factory one on ebay for cheap so I'm gonna use that. Seems a shame though to blow the bushings out of a new factory one though, lol.

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  • 1 month later...

Just wanted to add my 2 cents on trailing arms. I have a '05 GTP and just replaced the trailing arms. I went with the Dormans. They seem to be adequate replacements. Thanks for your opinion Jman093. I think that is very valid suggestion about rubber bushings at the trailing arm. I can see that poly. would be much more applicable at the lateral links.

 

I jacked the car up at the rear from the center of the cross member.

Unbolted rear busing bolt. It was rusted in good enough to hold while unscrewing the nut. I didn't even have to take off the back wheels! -went thru the wheel "spokes".

Instead of unbolting front bushing nut, I remove the three bolts of the bracket that hold the TA to the body. Then removed trailing arm bolts in the vice.

Replaced trailing arm. Didn't need to jack up "axle" assembly. Used anti-seize on all bolts.

Torqued rear bolts to 200 ft.-lbs., fronts at ~75 ft.-lbs. (just guesses)

Done. It went very easy.

I'm very surprised about all the fuss I've read about replacing these. No I don't have a lift. No, none of the bolts broke, as many salesmen would "warn" you against.

 

Bushing were not torn and did not look too bad at all, but the long time noises are gone. The reason I decided to replace the arms was because of excessive inside tire edge wear (110,000 miles on car), and I noticed considerable wheel/suspension movement while setting car down from jack. Bushings in this suspension design must take considerable wear IMHO. I would not have considered them to need replacing.

 

Just adding my experience to the tread that helped me make the right decisions. All for ~$65 and about 4-5 hrs. work.

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Used anti-seize on all bolts.

Torqued rear bolts to 200 ft.-lbs., fronts at ~75 ft.-lbs. (just guesses)

I think it's entirely appropriate that you've applied anti-seize to those fasteners. I rarely assembly metal threaded fasteners "dry"; what doesn't get anti-seize will generally get some kind of chemical thread-locker, engine oil, or high-pressure grease.

 

I don't have a service manual, but "MY" guess is that that's way over-torqued, and since anti-seize acts as a thread lube, if the torque spec is for a clean, dry fastener assembly, you should reduce the torque by about 20% due to the lubricant (anti-seize) used on the threads.

 

You'd do well to verify proper torque, and if you've over-torqued those fasteners, they should be replaced and then re-torqued as appropriate.

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