Monday, October 3, 2011

Fairlady - Rear suspension upgrade started.

I started doing some work on the rear suspension, but it seems like I took one step forward and two steps backwards after what happened with one of my stub axles.

Here is a comparison of the new and old springs.

I am glad I decided to go ahead and replace the shocks. They were leaking pretty bad. I can push in the piston by hand and it does not even try to return..so they are trash.


While I have everything apart I am also replacing the wheel bearings. This involves taking out the stub axles, something I have never done before. To remove the lock nut on the 240z you have to grind away the nut where it is pressed into the stub axle. The first side I did worked perfect without any trouble at all. On the second side I didn't grind enough metal away and ended up snapping the end of the stub axle off at the threads. I did not expect the metal to be that soft. Oh well..another expensive lesson learned the hard way.

Here is a before pic so you can get an idea of what has to be grinded away to remove the lock nut.

After - ouch.

Now I need to find a replacement stub axle. I think I may just use one from my other 240Z since they will be upgraded to the stronger 280Z or modern motorsports stub axles anyway.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

you don’t need to grind it off at all! Just use a chinsel to bend the bent-in sides outwords a little bit and then use a rattle-gun (at full torque) to remove them - it’s like I did (check my blog on www.JDMjunkies.ch for pictures). Was no problem at all, and they where seriously stuck.

Unknown said...

Great project.

I was using this page for reference. It is where I got the idea to grind away the lock nut.
http://www.atlanticz.ca/zclub/techtips/rearwheelbearings/index.html

I'll try using a chisel if I ever have to do this again.

welshman said...

i didn't grind or chisel. i just built 2 long breaker bars, one to keep the assembly from rotating and the other to hang from. she came right off and didn't even damage the threads. of course i think one side (maybe both) had been removed in the past making the 2nd time a bit easier.

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