John---On the sliding splined shafts__I took my outer shafts out to look
at them about 15 years ago. There was no reason to suspect they were
dry, (no clicking or sticking) but they were nearly so. I coated the
outer splines with wheel bearing grease, leaving the inner half to pick
up by transference. Last year I took a peek at them again. There was
still a lot of the w.b. grease left, but this time I washed off the old
grease and recoated with Molykote. I've found this stuff to cling well
to most anything, and be super-slippery while doing so. It has a
graphite base and doesn't like to come off, even with the
(canned) hand soap. Again, just about anything seems to work if checked
about every 50,000 miles!
On removing the original trailing arm bushings__I used a wrench socket
(large enough for the old bushing to go into), a long bolt, nut and a
stack of washers to pull the old bushing/s out. Two of them I recall
being very stubborn to give up their home. I ended up drilling around
the (rubber part) circumference of these bushings with a 1/8" drill bit,
so they wouldn't just flare out with applied pressure. These 1/8" holes
also provided a means of WD-40 to help lube the way. I wouldn't
recommend using anything like all-thread or a press that uses the
opposite leg of the trailing arm as leverage, unless you don't have to
use a lot of torque to free them.
The new three-piece bushings are easy to install. Use whatever lube the
supplier provided, or in absence of this, any good lube such as silicon,
w.b. grease, Lubriplate, or my favorite, Molykote.
Dick T.
'73
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