rear crossmember removal questions

[farmer_fred]

I searched I promise!

We pulled the rear drive out of my wife's 72 2-door to re-seal and hopefully stop the leaking. While we were under there I noticed the rear crossmember bushings seem to be collapsed a bit, and the entire crossmember drooped towards the rear when we removed the "mustache" mounts for the diff.

Her car has always had a little bit of a pigeon toe in the rear (top of the rear wheels further out than the bottom) and is treacherous in the wet. I wonder if it's because the crossmember is too close to the body of the car?

Anyway, the question I have is, now that the diff is out, once we take the wheels off and remove the half-axles, how heavy is the crossmember with the semi-trailing arms installed? Can it be manhandled out without first taking the arms off?

If there's a thread on this or a YooToob I'd love to study up.

TIA

[bertvorgon]

On the one comment about the tires being further out at the top.....that says you have POSITIVE camber, that is never good on a 510. That issues would make it really TOE OUT, which makes the rear end very taily and even more so in the wet.

Does your car sit higher in the back than the front?

Were the rear springs changed?

[farmer_fred]

Hi,

Springs are stock afaik. We bought the car in the mid-80s when it was just a used car some old guy had. He wasn't an enthusiast. It doesn't sit high in the rear but the camber has always been this way, as you say positive camber.

[bertvorgon]

You might want to buzz a coil off the rear springs while you have it apart.

From what I can see in the "dogwood" picture, the car is sitting high...as stock.

Do you have a side picture you can post?

[farmer_fred]

Hi Keith,

The dogwood picture is of my 4-door. The car in question is my bride's 72 2-door:

[bertvorgon]

Nice car!

I was just thinking that you cut a full coil off the spring, that would help a bit with the positive camber and the related toe issue.

Still a bit hard to see with the angle of the picture and of course in the grass, as to the ride heights front to rear.

Double check up in the upper spring perch that 2 isolating rubbers did not end up there, never hurts to check.

A bit of rearward bias would not hurt, as that would help with weight transfer and keep a bit more weight on the rear.

[farmer_fred]

See if this helps:



What happens when the crossmember bushings deteriorate? Cutting the springs is a lot simpler than all that work!

Thanks,

Fred

[funwithmonkeys]

As I also found out there are 2 different models of the rear control arms. I had one of each on my car for a bit and one side had about +2 of camber and the other had about -2. both sides were at the same height. I think they are 68+69 then 70 on.

[Three B's Racing]

As I also found out there are 2 different models of the rear control arms. I had one of each on my car for a bit and one side had about +2 of camber and the other had about -2. both sides were at the same height. I think they are 68+69 then 70 on.

There are? you know what that difference would be? Only difference I know of is the rear axle bearing tube length differences.

[bertvorgon]

Makes me wonder if maybe the car was in an accident at one point and the control arm(s) got bent and replaced. I have seen some weird variations over the years.

If the bushings are bagged, that would not cause the camber issue IMHO.

Are BOTH wheels in positive territory? The picture on the grass makes the car look level, so taking a bit of the rear coil off would lower the rear maybe an 1".

I know Nissan made a range of springs for the "stock" 510's...wonder if the wrong spring got put in. WAAAYYY back in the dark ages I discovered that the Mulholland/BRE springs were just the heavy duty factory ones and at one point I bought the factory "African Rally springs, which raised the car, I cut the springs to get my ride height and the stiffer spring rate.

What rear shocks are in there? Some of the gas shocks have a 50 lb or so pre-load so that can raise the rear a bit.

Maybe get the car on a flat surface and measure each wheel to really see what the camber is.

[RMS]

id say its sitting tall. I run African Rally springs in my 69 2dr and the center of the rear axle is about 1/2in above the top rocker line. yours appears to be 1/2in below that line. your sitting about where "Old blue" sits with its taxi springs. rather than cutting the spring pick up a set of dodge D50 front springs ($80usd @ rock auto) they are hands down the best rate for a dd non race setup and should lower the back by 3/4in.
funny things can happen when mixing 68/69 arms on a 70s x member. do you have bolts retaining the shocks or are they nuts?

the rear x member with all components attached weighs about 250 lbs ......

the xmember touching the body is normal. when the bushings die the washer gets flipped and then its a solid mount.

if you go with the d50 spring pair it with a set of 89 nissan sentra fastback rear springs in the front. my woman loves this setup in her DD

[bertvorgon]

That's a good point Robyn, I forget there is a selection of stuff/options out there now.

Jeez, before it was either the factory stuff or...get a custom set made...which was NOT cheap back then. I spent a lot of money on springs over the years till we arrived at the 300/1200.

We saw Mandy the other day on 200th.....

[farmer_fred]

Wow great info here. Thanks to Keith and @RMS. Swapping springs is super easy compared to dropping the crossmember! Shocks are um, red. And old. Once we get it running and not puking lube we planned to look at the suspension at both ends.

We'll get the diff sealed up and back in and then check out the two spring options RMS mentioned. This car is just a daily driver with a slightly warmed L17 in it.

[bertvorgon]

Can you see any stamping on the bottom of the shock at all?

I wonder if KONI shocks got put in at one point, they used to be red.

Depending on the rear shock, that may not help things in the wet either. If you try to "bounce" the rear of the car, how does it react?

[farmer_fred]

Sadly the shocks are not Koni, but "Red Ryder". The are retained at the bottom by bolts, not nuts, I think someone asked.

What would be good shocks and struts to go with the springs mentioned above?

Thanks to everyone for the input!