|
I just purchased a used 2001 Boxster S and replaced the trailing arm control arm rods to get rid of the road bott noises. Read most of the forum notes, but I think this might be helpful for DIY. I removed the arms by jacking up both sides of the car and supported the rear of the car with jack stands at the rear of the diagonal braces. Check this forum and service manual for proper jack stand placements. I then removed the two jack(s) to leave the car on the two jack stands (besure to block the two front tires before jacking the car). I proceeded to remove the rear tires, forward tire well liners and bottom plastic cover at each side (no need to remove the whole cover). I removed the bolt at the fork arm end (18mm socket and 21mm wrench or vise grip). For the bushing end I used an 18mm deep socket and a 3” extension on a ½” socket wrench. Pulled the underneath plastic cover down slightly to reach in to loosen the 18mm bushing bolt. The upper bushing nut sits into a sleeve and there was no need to put a wrench on top to hold it. Once both bolts were out, I removed the arm and checked bushing condition. My arms had 60,000 miles on them (original) and the bushings were flexible and loose in the arm. I bought TRW rubber replacements and they fit perfectly and the bushings were tight with no movement; however, to put the new one’s in, I needed to compress the strut (used a scissor jack to jack up the wheel hub far enough to set the new bushing end with the bolt). I lowered the scissor jack until the fork end was aligned with the holes on the control arm. Installed the fork bolt and nut and tightened per porsche specifications. Reinstalled other removed items in reverse order. All clink noises disappeared. Cost $255 for parts and about two to three hours of time. I did not see any need for an alignment with just the trailing arm being replaced, since no other control arms were removed.
|