I removed the strut rods last night, pressed in new bushings this morning and am having difficulties reinstalling them. Attempting to realign the holes for the camber bolts and the shock support are not going well. Any tips to aid in getting them lined up easily?

I'm not clear as to where you are having issues. I know that you need to place a jack under the trailing arm and compress the suspension some to because when you remove the strut brace the trailing arms will drop some. The strut arms are what creates the geometry point between the differential and the trailing arm to ensure it travel upward in a vertical movement. This should help. The camber bolts change the position of that movement. Ken might be able to better explain this

Be careful not to raise the car off the jack stands.


You should have marked the position of the cam on the camber bolts in relation to the strut brace on the differential. I would install the Camber bolt end first and turn the cams so they are farcing inward the should move the camber all the way out. The I would raise the trailing arm and move the other end of the strut rod up at the same time until the holes are as close as possible. From there I would turn the camber bolt until the are 98% of the way aligned and then insert the shock mount/outside strut mount bolt. Try to get it in most of the way by hand then drive it home the rest of the way with a rubber mallet. I mix anti-seize with silicone grease and apply it to the inside of all the metal sleeves in the bushings. The silicone grease is friendly to the rubber and the anti-sieze will be a savior should you ever need to take it apart again to service anything.

I cheated and went with the adjustable rods. Even though I'm trying to keep the car original appearing, the rods don't cost that much and they're a bolt on. My old rods had been adjusted by the hydraulic method anyway and needed to be replaced.

Thanks for the info. Rods are in, new shocks installed, alignment check tomorrow.

Glad they are in. But as a follow up to Aftershark, When the rods are out and the trailing arm drops, the bottom of the tire tends to swing inward. Picture a tire on a stick, in the shape of a "T". If you drop the end with the tire on it, it rotates and the tire is no longer up and down, it's at an angle.

Due to the drive shaft, that's what happens. The rod mounts to the suspension to keep the tire upright, along with the driveshaft, as the suspension travels up and down. This keeps the tire flat on the road.

If the car was on the wheels, it would not be too rough to put the rod in place. Aside from the fact you have to be only 4 inches wide to get there. I'm a bit more than that. SO then it's on ramps, or drive on lift etc. Or jack it up and let it hang. But then you know the problem. The bottom of the tire/suspension swings in and it won't fit. If the suspension is hanging, you need to push the bottom back out. How you do this depends on what you have available. DON'T FORGET THE SPRING!!! There is a lot of tension and force on the spring. You are somewhat fighting that as well. One really easy way is to put a suitable jack between the wheels, and push. But only if you have a suitable jack. You don't want it to slip and hurt you.