My trailing arms are re-built and now need to be installed on the car, are there any pointers out there?
1. When do I tighten the rear trailing are pivot bolts? When the car is on the tires or when the rear end is assembled but on jack stands?
2. How much torque?
Any advice would be appreciated.

When you tighten the t-arm bolts, it is best to do it with the weight of the car on the suspension. I hope you taped the shims up as they came off the car, so you can put them back exactly as they came off. This will keep the car acceptable to go to the alignment shop, as for torque, I would say about 40-45 ft. lbs., but that is only with a tight fit for the arm and the shims. If everything is snug, just torque until you can get the cotter pin through the castle-nut with no effort. Hope ypu marked the camber bolts prior to removal, so you can get that close as well before going in for an allignment. Good luck-\\\\phil. E-mail back if I can be of more help

From all that I've read in here,the rule is if they are stock rubber bushings,you do'nt tighten them up till the car is down with the full weight on the wheels,if you are using the new urethane bushings ,you can tighten them down b-4 you put the weight on the suspension,

Ron 78 said: From all that I've read in here,the rule is if they are stock rubber bushings,you do'nt tighten them up till the car is down with the full weight on the wheels,if you are using the new urethane bushings ,you can tighten them down b-4 you put the weight on the suspension,

You are correct, Ron.

"I hope you taped the shims up as they came off the car, so you can put them back exactly as they came off."

the shims on mine were a congealed mass of hydrated iron oxide

Do we just stuff new ones in?

David, I checked the thickness of each location and wrote that info down as I planned to replace the shims with new ones. What would happen if I was off? would an allignment catch this problem?

Call Van Steel & order the vhs tape on suspension $20.00)...it's about 1 hhr long & will show you everything you need to know and more. Be sure to take it to a good shop afterwards that understands C3's. I would suggest stainless steel shims & if your not sure of the placement tell them and good shop can get it right as they should check this adjustment anyway.
Good luck
Alan

Mine were a rusted mess too, but I was able to clean the shims off and match them up to the replacement stainless ones. This worked very good, the alignment dude said they were still right on when he checked it out last month.

Put a 9/16's socket in the hole where the arm drops, this puts the arm basically at ride height, then tighten up.

Level the car, put a magnetic level on the brake rotor vertically, adjust the cams for alignment to perpindicular to the floor.

This crude alignment works great...you will be amazed how close this really is. Very easy, unless something was originally bent.

Did you re build the strut rods? These bushings have a lot to do with alignment, so do them too. Don't forget new hardware and such....it's hard enough with new parts!!!!!

Thanks to Van Steel, this was their method to rough it in!!!

|UPDATED|1/25/2005 6:21:45 AM (AZT)|/UPDATED|

Rough in, but it works.

Blu, Durring this rough in process is the rear spring attached or not?