Finally got rear suspension apart....

[COBALT]

OMFG. What a chore. Three bleeding knuckes, one laid-open finger, two burned fingers (blisters), and one sore back and knees later I got it all apart. Had to cut both U-bolts with a repo saw, vice-grip and twist and repo one upper spring bolt, while the other I had to grind the bolt head off from inside the spring (it was rounded like someone tried removing it before and gave up). Only the lower passenger spring bolt came out easy. The other one I had to use a dremel to cut the flanges off the mount to pop it loose. The bolt head broke right off when I tried to turn it. Ironically the easy bolts were the 1 1/8" monsters that were holding the trailing arms to the frame. I had to heat the U-bolt nuts up with a torch, let them cool, heat them up again, etc. until they would turn. Took me the entire extended weekend. I even had the big-dog 3/4" drive breaker with 3' extension, and all the sockets.

Everything was rusted. Everything. Shock stud mounting plates are messed up, but thanks to Lost Wages I'm getting a new set. Panhard bar is going to clean up nice along with the trailing arms. I'm gonna need new hardware for everything (U-bolts), plus new rubber bumpers for the trailing arm plates and the frame.

Two words of advice:

1. Burn out the old bushings with a propane torch. Most enjoyable part of the job by far (not inhaling the smoke, but finding something easy to do for once).

2. Do NOT pick up the inner bushings sleaves too early after burning the bushings out. This was the LEAST enjoyable part of the job for me. I had to soak my fingers in ice water for 30 minutes. Dumb-a$$.

Sorry for the finger in the pic. It's one of the burned ones