REAR SUSPENSION PLAY

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Originally posted by cab:
Happy fast Panter New Year.
The last time I had an alignment the specialist showed me play in the rear suspension, for-aft. I tore down both sides and found only slight wear in the LCA to Carrier pivot. What am I looking for?
The shafts and seals looked good but there was some wear in the,I think, bronze thrust bearing. Is there a site that explains the details of this assembly. Do I need to look at the wheel bearings? My car is so modified that I don't know if the rear wheel berarings have been modified or not. How do I tell from a macro prospective.

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Check www.panteraplace.com, Mike has a detail of rear suspension and look at the detail of the upright for all the parts for the attachment. It sounds like the brass bushing is worn or gone inside the upright itself. I just fixed this same problem on my car.

'Play' in the rear suspension comes from 3 points: the bronze bushings in the lower carrier, the upper chassis cross-brace bar just above the transaxle and the outer stub-axles to rear wheel bearings. #3 is not really part of the rear suspension but the effect is to cause the rear wheels to wobble, so it contributes. This is due to a lack of proper axle diameter providing enough press-fit for the wheel bearings. #2 is easily overcome by either using a pre-loadable crossbar that is long enough to jam firmly into the welded pockets for the bar, rather than relying on 2 bolts in slotted holes to take suspension side-loads, or using oner of the elaborate suspension bracing systems being sold by the vendors. #1 can be fixed by replacing the bushings with new and providing external grease fittings for periodic servive, or substituting needle bearings ala Jaguar. Some small effects come from the sift rubber used in the a-arm pivots; poly bushings are readily available to fix this.

Thanks for the help. I have Poly bushings, the half shafts have no play, and the adjustable crossmember support does not contact the sheet metal of the clevis above the transaxle. I will fix Bushings and crossmember.