IRS Install Tips

Having read through some of the archives I can attest to all of the tips. I have mine back up and in, except for the arms. They are not mounted to the “cups” yet, and nothing is “tighten” down.

I purchased all new mounts and bushings and faced all the known issues of alignment to get the bolts through. Initially I had the body mounts tighten down…mistake…have them connected, yet loose, to allow for some slight shifting as the back end goes up. Much grunting later, and using drifts and phillips head screwdrivers, it all came together. The bottle jack trick for me was not required, although I did reposition my jack toward the rear in order to “push” and or rotate the assembly to line up a few holes.

I have read about using the “come along” to “pull” the assembly forward to make alignment of the arms to cups easier…any other techniques out there?

Once everything is together, do I tighten all nuts and bolts and then drop the car’s weight on the ground?..or do you leave things kinda loose, drop the car…roll it back and forth…raise it back up and then tighten everything.

I simply replaced the existing shims on the mounts where they were when I took it all apart. I have read about camber adjustment in the archives…which is beyond my ability to perform myself. My plan is to simply drive the car after I get things altogether and see how it handles. I did not break down the IRS beyond replacing dampers and springs and bushings.

Any more tips out there are appreciated in advance!

dave

The only fitting I waited and tightened with full weight on it was the small end of the radius arm as I think that is an elastomeric bushing.

I am asking out of ignorance, but would you not do the same with the shock absorbers ? I can’t remember what I did, it’s 7ish years ago.

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Possibly though I do not recall that I did. Those bushing looked like they could move a bit, unlike the ones on the small end of the radius arm that are molded into two metal sleeves and pressed in:

image

Looking at my photos I see that I also tightened the big end of the radius arm and the ends of the stabilizer bar after the car was on all fours, but that was mostly a result of my assembly sequence and not a conscious choice to load those bushings.

Ok got it!!

Thanks for the tips…

did you install remote bleeders?

I also used upgraded bushings since I prefer a more solid ride

Yes, remote bleeders installed…sorry for the delay…been super busy lately!

I have the IRS back in the car but not connected or tightened down at all. I hope to get to it in the next couple of weeks.

when the trailing arms didn’t line up I undid the shocks, pulled out the horizontal bolt, put a jack under the hub and raised the axel until the big end bushings lined up. Left them loose then put the stands under the hubs and let it rest a couple of days, then tighted the bolt. Not to tight as it doesn’t look like it does a lot besides locating the bushing. safety wired so they wouldn’t back out

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