Rear Control Arm and Panhard Question

[stever1000]

I am replacing my rear upper and lower control arm bushings and also bought new panhard bushings.

At the moment the truck is on jackstands on the frame and the rear axle is lowered until the tires just contact the ground. This is holding everything in place.

I was able to easily remove all 4 rear control arms without any movement.

Can I assume I can also remove the panhard bar as well, and won't have any issue lining it up again? I don't want to fully suspend the axle because it sounds like more of a pain with rachet straps to re-align

If that wont work I will wait until the other arms are re-installed

Thanks

 

[deves2]

I have done several different runners and ALL went back together with some degree of FORCE. In theory everything should just line up, insert bolt, done. It has not happened that way for me. Each required some force and even twisting (torquing sideways) the trailing arm, and pulling sideways the panhard bar. However!! It is doable on a garage floor with only one person and a long strap.

 

[sleepydad]

I am replacing my rear upper and lower control arm bushings and also bought new panhard bushings.

At the moment the truck is on jackstands on the frame and the rear axle is lowered until the tires just contact the ground. This is holding everything in place.

I was able to easily remove all 4 rear control arms without any movement.

Can I assume I can also remove the panhard bar as well, and won't have any issue lining it up again? I don't want to fully suspend the axle because it sounds like more of a pain with rachet straps to re-align

If that wont work I will wait until the other arms are re-installed

Thanks

you can use a jack to move the rear axle assembly up or down and then get enough wiggle to get the panhard back into place. I had my wheels off at the time and it was lemon squeeze. if your wheels are still on then yea you might have to fight with it but it's not hard at all.

 

[mtbtim]

From experience, you will need to jack up the rear axle quite a bit for the panhard bolts to come out easily. Just get under the 3rd Member with a hydraulic floor jack and lift until the bolts come out easily. Basically you want the panhard bar closer to horizontal to the ground. Also, I'd just get those tires out of the way.

I would get the control arms back in and then deal with the panhard bar. With the panhard bar disconnected at the same time, you might find it harder to line up the control arms. The videos below may help you out with the bushing replacements.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/nq-lzK7CPKQ" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/IvBid-kIdiI" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[phattyduck]

I wouldn't remove the last link unless you were planning on the axle rolling away a bit...

When you are putting it all back together, don't tighten the bolts until you have weight back down on the truck. And as others have said, there will be some prying/cursing to get everything lined back up. I used a carefully placed pry bar to help when I did my upper links.

-Charlie

 

[stever1000]

Thanks for the info- they're at the shop pressing the old bushings out so I hope everything goes well tonight putting them back in

 

[Mark_BC]

I had jacks and wooden blocks etc and managed to put it all back together fairly easily. I can't remember the sequence but it seemed pretty clear when I was looking at it. Just move things around until the bolt slides in nicely, then move on to the next.

 

[stever1000]

The panhard went in perfectly.
All other bolts for the 4 control arms I had to ratchet in place 1/4".
I can't wait to take it for a ride tonight!

 

[MrSeth]

Good to read this thread- makes me more confident before I "parking lot" this in a few weeks.

 

[APhelps]

Good to read this thread- makes me more confident before I "parking lot" this in a few weeks.

This is for a 3rd gen but perhaps the fourth gens are similar ?

 

[MrSeth]

This is for a 3rd gen but perhaps the fourth gens are similar ?

I believe so, at least what I was looking for was to see if there were any hiccups with alignment while doing the panhard bar bushings, and the videos lowered my stress levels alot on removal of the bushings themselves.

I'll (hopefully) be doing a step by step with pics when I do mine on my 4th gen