My (feels like a) new car!
 

Back story...
I've owned my 2000 BoxS for over 8 years now....purchased with 76K miles, now with almost 132K. Although I love looking at newer cars...especially Boxsters, I have three, count 'em THREE boys in college right now. A newer car of any sort is not really in the cards.

Like lots on the forums, my car had the track arm rattle....not at all unexpected given the age and mileage of the car. Being a cheap SOB (apparently) I tried swapping my track arms for some used ones I picked up from a part out a few years ago. The new, used parts did nothing to help the problem.

Next, I took my original track arms apart, repacked the grease and used a punch to 'tighten' the joint as I'd seen online. Unfortunately, the experiment was not successful.

Only good thing was I was getting pretty quick at doing the replacement.

Last week, I broke out the credit card and picked up a couple of new TRW track arms ($107 each). The arms arrived today and I installed them and anxiously took my first drive....

Success!! My car sounds quite and rattle free. It's so nice and I cannot recommend this job enough. I've always been impressed with how rattle and squeak free my soon to be 17 year old car was, with the exception of the low speed track arm rumble. The new track arms truly makes the car feel 10 years newer. Its great!

I haven't had a car payment in many, many years. This $214 investment is less than half of most folks monthly car payment. Money well spent!

Good job!

I did the same to my car last year and it really quieted it down. I went with the 987 track arms (they look identical except for the part numbers and date code cast into them).

Good stuff, you should create a DIY so the rest of us can learn from your experiences... 3 kids in college - how can you even afford food or gas ???

I have the same rattle, and I would appreciate a DIY. (I am also funding my daughter's education, so a new car is not an option.)

My local Indy here wanted almost $1000 to do mine.
(I hate to think what a dealer would charge)

I got a lot of good advice before doing mine from StevedOx.
My kids are already out of college, but that doesn't mean I have money to burn.......

Is this DIY from StevedOx for the same thing? Trailing arms, track arms, not lower control arms, I'm all confused!

Thats awesome. I also have this annoying rattle and if I had thought about it sooner I would have taken care of it while I had my transmission out for the clutch change.

I wonder if the replacement parts would be the same for the 2001 "S" model?

No kids, no wife, no alimony, no car payments and later this year no mortgage either, but a girlfriend can be costly too with a Boob overhaul in the 5k-10k range ;)

It is the same thing, although on looking back at it, it is more of a "follow my journey as I try two or three approaches and document them all, and finally settling on a right approach :) " It really isn't too bad of a job. Back the car up on some ramps, get under there, and remove 2 bolts and get that arm out and the new one in. Torquing up to the 118 ft/lbs was tough as it is kind of awkward under there. You can also jack up the rear and put on some jack stands, and then use the jack the raise and lower the suspension to get things to line up.

I found a new website the other day, a 996 Register, and it has an embedded video showing one technique on how to check the arms. The person in the video hits them with a rubber mallet, and the bad one makes a metallic pinging noise, while the good one does not. Here is the page with the video:

MAINTENANCE - Porsche 996

Note that I haven't tried this and I didn't try it on my DIY.

Standing by the DIY on the overhaul....:)

Yes, the track arms are the same across the 986 Models with an except for the very earliest models which originally came with a different type of end to replace the monoball bushing, but that old part number has been superceded with the newer style.

that's money well spend :D

where did you buy the parts?

My guess is Amazon:

986 Boxster TRW equivalent: TRW JTC1186 Control arm:
986 TRW JTC1186

987 Boxster TRW equivalent: TRW JTC1316 Control arm:
987 TRW JTC1316

They often seem to say out of stock but when I ordered mine they came in less than 2 weeks.

I just did mine a few weeks ago and can highly recommend that anyone who has not done this but is tired of hearing the clunks, just do it! Follow Steved0x's great DIY :cheers:

Thanks.
i need to replace the rears on my 996, which are the same as the boxster's fronts.
i'm on the fence between the TRW and the EPS with the polyurethane.

Yup, did this myself a few weeks back after procrastinating for a few years. Time and money well spent!

Has anyone attempted replacing (pressing-out/pressing-in) just the bushing on the track arm? This is the only wear component on the whole part, it seems a waste to discard the whole part if the bushing can be replaced.

First things first...my reference to track arms are the same thing as the trailing arms referenced in StevedOx's DYI. Boxster suspension part names are confusing or ambiguous at best. What some may correctly call Track arms (coffin arms with the lower ball joint) is not what I did on this job (have done it though).

Parts were off Amazon.

Should have cut to the chase and installed them years ago!

The 996 takes the same arm all 4 corners, and is the same as 986 boxster fronts like you say. Outside of EPS/vertex and no name brands there is not

much available.

But... This part matches 997 rear arms, 99733104301 that is widely available both TRW and Meyle at around $100 each.

https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/clone-porsche-suspension-control-arm-911-37143017001

Looks like the price went up a little. Other vendors may have a better price.

I am running the TRW part on my car and can confirm it is a match. (I ordered Meyle and they sent TRW by mistake so I used them)

Steve

I don't think anyone offers this service with a monoball bushing like OEM, but EPS/Vertex replaces the monoball with a poly bushing. In my opinion the poly bushing allows more movement than the monoball bushings which could allow the wheels to move in unintended directions under heavy load. I think the earliest arms on the first Boxsters used this style of arm which was then superceded by the monoball arm.

There are some pressable monoballs available to replace some of the other traditional bushings in the suspension but each one costs more than a whole new track arm :) maybe that why nobody makes them :(

What I am really interested in knowing is whether the suspension needs to be loaded or unleaded when replacing the arm, and also whether it is possible to replace it without removing the brakes. On the diagrams it looks like it should be possible.

Thanks-Anker

thanks steve.
that helps a lot.

anyone have experience with those guys?

Meyle Suspension Control Arm - AutoPartsWay.com

You don't need to remove the brakes to do the rear track arms, or the front equivalents.

You may need to load/unload the suspension for two reasons:

1. To get the monoball end to line up in between where it needs to go so you can put the bolt it.
2. To get the fork end to line up with the LCA so it can slide over the LCA and get to the point where it can be bolted.

Theoretically, you wouldn't need to load/unload the suspension, because when the track arm is mounted, it can accommodate the extremes of the suspension movement, but in practice, it is very hard to get things to line up due to the stiffness of the monoball bushing.

Once you get under there and start fitting it together it is all very intuitive. After you do the first side, the second side will take like 10 minutes :)

Yes, you need to load the suspension when you install the new arms, the arm will slip right in. No, you don't do anything with the brakes. You will need to remove the underbody panel for access. I ended up replacing those parts with new since mine were pretty chewed up. It is a pretty easy DIY and well worth it! Good luck :cheers:

I am running the Vertex poly bushing rebuilt arms at the moment and they're nowhere near as quiet as rubber bushing variants. The poly is stiff and I get a small rattle from them over bumps, even though they are not worn out at all.

At some point I will replace them with rubber bushing based arms to get the suspension as quiet as it probably was when it was a new car, which is now my goal.

well.. that puts an end to my internal debate.
thanks for the info Randall.

Its weird....I've replaced the track (trailing) arms three times while messing with them. I only had to load the suspension one time, on one side...that was the new drivers side one I did on Tuesday. I had the mono-ball started but could not quite get the hub end started.

For me, the key to doing this job quickly and easily is to use an impact wrench. I have an 18V wrench that loosens/tightens these bolts in nothing flat.