| Author | Message | ||
     Brian Thaxton (Bthaxton) New Member Username: Bthaxton Post Number: 15 Registered: 02-2003 |
I have a '97D1 with 100K miles. I recently wanted to change the Panhard Rod bushings and hardware. I thought the job would be easy, but I was blindsided. As I tried to reinstall the Rod (with the old bushings--another story), the bolt holes on both ends (the axle and the upper frame member part) would not line up, like the Panhard Rod was twisted. Since I do not offroad, is this normal? I ended up putting a jack under the Rod a certain way to "twist" it, then I hammered the old bolts through the bushing holes to line them up, and then carefully forced the new bolts through after that. Even then it tended to mess up the threads on the new bolts. Overall, I am not satisfied, since my front ends "clunks" worse than before. I know that a Panhard Rod should not take this much effort. What is wrong? I intend to redo this job, so any advice would also help. | ||
| Bill Bettridge (Billb) Senior Member Username: Billb Post Number: 714 Registered: 02-2002 |
Since the panhard is what holds your axle in place - it is almost certain the rod is not twisted, but that the axle moves in relation to the frame once you remove it. Frankly I've never had as much trouble as your describing (and I've changed/rebushed a 1/2 dozen of these), but it always has taken some jockeying with the floor jack to move the axle in relation to the frame to get it all lined back up. It's always possible that the panhanrd is twisted, buit that would be obvious once you had it out and on the bench. Bill |
