Today's plan: Drop the rearend, get the new one in position, install the new rotors and pads, start on the bushings.

Today's reality: Waste an hour going to Sears to get a creeper. Finally get under the car, start to remove the rear-end. My tools only go up to 19 mm, and I found out, that ain't big enough. I got the sway bar off, half of the watts link off, but that's it. Stymied again! I get to go back to Sears for the larger sockets. Did I mention that if you put all 20 employees at my local Sears together, they have the IQ of a ******* slug?

Then, I decided, ahh, what the hell, let me at least get the end rods for the sway bar off the car. Umm, how? **** if I know. They are soaking in PB blaster right now. The amount of rusty **** on the rearend is amazing. It's just phenomenal. I will post pics later.

On a side note, I finally got to use my air compressor and other tools, and ****, that makes life easier. Good **** there.

 

Do you have a job?


Air is nice.

 

lol !!! Yea taking out the rear of any car isnt easy not to mention one thats 20+ yrs. old. You'll be alright with the right tools, just watch them busted knuckles!

 

Ain't that the truth? That's the problem of going into tool stores AND auto parts stores. Everyone that works there are people who have absolutely NO ******* clue about anything. I feel your pain of going back and forth to get tools you need by finding out the hard way. Good luck on that project, keep us posted.

 

Control arm bolts are the same size as the lug bolts 13/16 or 21 mm. I put a rear end 2 days ago, so nice to work with new sandblasted and painted parts.

Creeper, who needs a creeper? Take that thing back, buy more tools and get a blanket to lay on. Wussy. lol

A little hint when putting the rear back in. I bolt everything to the rear end except the shocks and sway bar, (have the shocks hanging from the top) then slide the rear end under the car on a floor jack. Bolt up, in order: lower control arms, upper control arms, upper watts link arm, lower watts link arm, install springs, then shocks. Have a rubber mallet or dead blow hammer and a drift handy. The floor jack can make this a one person job by raising and lowering the rear end as needed.

Leave the sway bar brackets on the frame rail, unbolt, more like cut out, the sway bar links.

Air is a good thing, glad to see you moving up in the world. Now go get a decent 1/2" impact gun and a set of deepwell impact sockets that go up to 21mm. My gun is older than half the forum members.

 

The creeper was my girlfriend's idea, and you know what? I love that ******* thing!

I have the 1/2" impact gun already.

I was thinking of just cutting off the sway bar links, but wanted to make sure that was a last resort. I can't unbolt them in any possible way right now.

 

Yeah, I pulled a rear end out at a scrap yard a couple of days ago- nice and easy because the scrap yard guy raised it on his forklift and draped it over a '77 Aspen for me: the first gen rexes really are pretty easy to work on if you can get em far enough off the ground. PS. your lugnut wrench will work on the trailing arms, no idea on the sway bar (I cut the brackets when I did it).

 

I have a creeper, somewhere, it somehow doesn't work very well when the shop has a pit to stand in. I built my shop for sole pupose of working on 7s. It's big enough to get 1 car and all the tools in, with a 4'x12' cut out in the floor. The basement has enough room for a spare car, the pit area and storage, all in a 15'x29' footprint.

The rear end install was in the other garage, so I wussed out and used a blanket.

 

Weaklings. Blankets, creepers, and cutouts in the floor are for softies. j/k Try working on your car while laying on sharp gravel. It does wonders on the back muscles. The pain I get in my back helps me forget about the pain of working on the car.

 

Me and Skylance managed to get his rear end out out of 78 in about 2 hours or so lot of cusing and WD40 but it came out. Small problem now somebody has to get it back in.

Mindaugas

P.S. I have a creeper never use it for me theres is just not enought room under the car so I use a piece of old carpet works just as good.

 

Plus the fact that I just got a new tattoo yesterday on my right shoulder, nah, I'm not laying on the ******* ground. LOL


I think I am just going to drill the old sway bar link out. That should be easy enough.

 

Air compressor + die grinder + cut off wheel. Priceless.

 

All hail the cut off wheel. Damn, I can't count how many an item I've taken off by using one of those. Cuts work time in half.

 

CREEPER? use two cardboard pieces on top of each other, they slide, are almost as low as being naked on hte hot asphault, and are great to catch oils and solvents so you don't mess up the pretty garage floor.

Morons at the tool and auto stores? Of course they are morons, they don't get paid **** because you go to whoever has the best prices. Take the money you saved, and buy a pizza, or poor boy.

 

also try a hand held grinder if you have of of those laying around. There's also the good old hack saw.

 

My part time job is Lowe's in the tool department, and i resent these comments. ;D I completely agree with you guys. The vast majority of people at auto parts stores and tool stores wouldn't know their *** from a hole in the ground. I have two places that are pretty good around me. Glad to hear that you got it out.

 

shoulda just swapped pumpkins, unless its the disc brakes you are after...

 

Yeah, I have the cut-off wheel, too. And a sander, impact gun, air ratchet, spray painter, high speed sander, air hammer, grease gun, etc.



I gotta upload the pics of how ******* disgusting the suspension and rear-end are. Nasty, nasty, nasty.

 

I used my creeper to position the rear axle housing assy. Check it out:
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2141550/7

 

This is my garage....Too bad my ******* lousy neighbors would rather complain about me and my 7's then the crack dealers 2 houses down!!!BTW I have a creeper too but its for looks I use an old board from where the spare tire goes.

 

It's supposed to rain for the next three days, so I will finish the bumpers.

 

You can remove the end links mounts easily, just undo the bolt and threaded rod with a nut, looks like the wrong end of a bolt and the whole assembly will come off then you can **** around with the endlinks on a bench. from memory they are 12mm.

 

That's what I did, but they are frozen on there. I think I'm just going to put them on my drill press and drill them out. Should be easy enough.

 

im spoiled. i have a lift.