Gene

iTrader: (1)

So I got the AWR rear suspension bits that replace the outer bushing on the trailing arm with a spherical bearing in a two-part carrier, and the trick adjustable toe links. The rear suspension on my car is slightly jacked due to an incident with the previous owner and the camber is all out of whack. I have the AWR camber links, and to get the camber even on both sides I have one turned all the way up and one turned all the way down. Rather than keep on with my messed up parts, I picked up the whole rear subframe and arms off a 1987 TII. I cleaned up the "new" parts real nice, and when I went to install the bearing carriers, I find that they won't fit! The holes are about 34mm and the carriers are 37mm. Tony at AWR said he'd never seen this before. Anyone know if there were differences on the trailing arms between years? I thought they were all the same.

Product in question here, it's the rear control arm bearing kit, about 1/3 of the way down the page:

http://awrracing.com/pages/rx/rxsusp.html

YaNi

iTrader: (2)

The bushings are encased in a metal sleeve. It sounds like the sleeves are still in.
Pics would help.

initial D is REAL!

the rear control arms were easy to take out. Hit the lip with a chisel and hammer and hte metal sleeve comes out easy.

If you already have the metal sleeve out, you could try freezing the bearing before you press it in.

ebdyguy

iTrader: (3)

I just finished doing this with mine. I think once you have the sleeves out you will be OK. The AWR spherical bearing is not designed to be a press in. You will likely need to barrel sand the ID of the control arm like the instructions state. The parts are supposed to be a tight slip fit and than tack welded in place See pics.

One thing I really did not like (and wish they had advertised it this way) is that the ID of the sleeves in the kit are sized for the larger than stock bolt so that the original Factory Toe adjuster is a pretty loose. As long as you use their bolt and the adjuster links they sell (and you have) there should be no problem. I made a set of thin walled Steel tubes so I can continue to use the stock adjusters.

Gene

iTrader: (1)

Oh crap, I didn't know that the bushing had a metal sleeve around it, I thought that the metal lip was part of the control arm. Sweet.