Transam spring install problem

Fit your vehicle with blueprint accurate American steel and cruise anywhere from Australia to Norway. We have manufactured springs in Detroit since , providing quality parts for major automotive companies, fleets, restoration specialists, hot rodders, and daily drivers. Your suspension's design depends entirely on your vehicle's weight.

The same vehicle with a different body style or engine size may require different springs. If what you need is not listed in our database, call during office hours at 1 or request a quote. Pair your new springs with shocks, but don't spoil your new suspension by putting on the wrong ones.

View recommended shocks and all parts for your Pontiac Firebird Trans AM by selecting the dropdowns above. I used a shot of carb cleaner and a rag. Install the metal tube into one of the bushings and press it into the frame. Make sure you're using the right pair of bushings - the frame and spring bushings look identical but are different part numbers, presumably for a reason.

The hotchkis instructions indicate which is which. The outside bushings on either side have a ridge in the sheetmetal above them which can be quite handy to pry against with a crowbar - so I reccomend installing the inside bushings by hand first.

The first side will slide in fairly easily. The other side is VERY difficult to install. I had good luck eventually by prying against the sheetmetal ridge and a side of the shackle a thick piece of steel and forcing first the top of the bushing in, then the bottom. Once the bushing has made even a small amount of progress into the frame, you can slide the shackle bolt in and use the provided nut to press the bushing in a bit more.

Once you have more space, add the shackle sides so the pressure is evenly placed over the bushings, and you're good to go. Alternatively, if you have a rather long bolt the same diameter as the bushing hole, you can draw them in that way to begin with. Don't torque the shackle bolts yet - just install the bolts with the heads on the inside of the car except for the top driver side bolt, which has to go in the other way since the trunk floor interferes and loosely thread the nuts on.

The lock nuts will lose grip every time they're threaded on and off. Moving onto the springs, you have to re-use your old spring perch, so now is a great time to clean it up a bit. Make sure you know which one goes on which side. Torquing, removing and retorquing these is not fun don't ask me how I know. Place the spring on the ground beside the car as if it were already installed, with the arch down and the eye at the front.

Place the perch on the car to make it's not upside down or on the wrong side of the car, then place it onto the spring and install the bolt with the head on the OUTSIDE of the car. For some reason my Haynes manual said to place it on the inside, but if you do so the length of the bolt will hit the floor as you bolt it up After doing one spring each way, I reccomend getting the bolt near tight, and then torquing by hand with two wrenches ratchet won't fit as tight as you can when it's on the car.

To install the spring, place the poly bushings in the rear eye with plenty of grease and make sure you're using the right pair of bushings - the frame and spring bushings look identical but are different part numbers, presumably for a reason.

Heft the spring up to the rear shackle and pass a bolt through the bushings and shackles. At this point it is a good idea to lift the axle and place it on stands - it's much easier to install the spring without hulking out as you bench the spring and axle up with one arm.

Placing the three J clips into the frame make sure you have the bolts close at hand. Jack up the spring if you have to, and try to get the three holes in the spring perch lined up with the three in the frame. The furthest front is the easiest to start with.

To get the other two to line up it helps to have a long thin screwdriver to lever through the holes. With the rear up and front perch in place, put the leaf pad on top of the leaf pack and drop the axle on top of the spring. Find your spring retainer plates.

On the pass. On the driver side the shock mount is rear of the axle but the curved edge still goes down. Place the leaf pad on the retainer, slide the retainer up on the U bolts, and run the nuts up a bit.

Lather rinse and repeat for the other side, then place the car on the ground- give it a bounce- and torque up all the bolts. Do them up as tight as you can. Lift the car back up and support it by the frame rails to install the shock absorbers. If you want, now is the time to clean up the gas tank topside and even inside.

Wire wheel, grease remover and rust paint are my weapons of choice. Nobody will EVER see the topside of the tank so do what you like. Place the tank on a jack, roll it under the car til the back of the tank is pushing against the straps, lift the neck up into the hole and lift the tank into place.

Be sure you get the hanger cushions back on the tank. Once the tank is up, wiggle it around til it looks like it's in the right spot, press the straps down as much as you can and start the bolts.

Reconnect the sender wire and ground, lower the car back onto the ground and admire your handiwork. Triple check you have no "Extra" parts lying around and take it for a spin - then double check all the nuts and bolts. When I started looking into upgrading the suspension of my camaro I spent a few days reading magazine articles, and searching the forums on Nastyz You do not want to grease the U-joint before it is installed because the grease pushes the caps off the U-joint.

If you experience a vibration after installation and you did not feel one before, remove the driveshaft, turn it one-half turn, and reinstall it. Sometimes that cures the issue. If not, recheck your work. Otherwise, the shaft must be balanced at a driveshaft shop. Slowly add the grease until you see some ooze out. Make sure you do this slowly because too much grease is not a good thing. Inspection of the driveshaft requires you to visually look at every square inch of it for any dents or dings.

Also watch for any evidence of missing weights. If the Firebird was running and driving and there were not any vibration issues, then new U-joints are probably all that is required.

If there are any visible issues or a vibration, then it is better to send the shaft to a driveshaft specialty company. The stock driveshaft is more than robust and is able to handle much higher horsepower and torque than the factory ever offered. The and bolt rear axles that were installed in the Firebird are a similar design, and therefore, rebuilding the and bolt follows a similar procedure.

Overhauling the rear axle is a long and methodical process, and it requires specialized tools and knowledge. Getting a rear axle to be free of noise on acceleration and coast takes skill in it setting up. The bolt axle was only used for the model year. A popular upgrade from the stock bolt setup is to use a bolt. Moser Engineering and Currie Enterprises both offer bolt-in bolt rear axle packages with a variety of ratios available.

Owners typically want to know the gear ratio of their differential. You can simply drop the rear cover and count the teeth on the pinion and on the ring. Then, divide the number of ring teeth by the number of gear teeth. That is the gear ratio. Another, albeit slightly less accurate, way to tell which ratio your Firebird has involves little more than raising the rear tires off the ground. Block the front wheels and raise the rear wheels with a floor jack. Use tape or a grease pencil to mark the tire and the wheel well opening.

Make a mark on the driveshaft with tape or a grease pencil. Turn the tire and count the number of times the driveshaft turns to one single revolution of the tire. For example, if the shaft turns about 3. Given that the 3. The difference could be in the tire size or just a slight difference in turning ratio. If a rear is not set up perfectly, you will have problems. Even the setup for the ring and pinion-to-ring gear mesh is absolutely critical. At a minimum there is noise on the acceleration or coast side if not perfectly set up.

Gaining access to the differential and to change the oil is a relatively simple process even with the sway bar in place, but in this case, you remove the sway bar. As I have said before, there are some things that are worth paying for to have done properly. Even if you are performing the rest of the restoration on your car yourself you can remove the rear axle housing and deliver it to the shop for the rebuild.

Remove the upper sway bar links at their uppermost mounts using a socket and ratchet with an extension for the upper links. A socket and ratchet work fine for the end mounts. Once the links have been disconnected, the sway bar can swivel out of the way. Most of the time the cover gasket has leaked. Although the bolts may be difficult to turn initially, these bolts should not be frozen. Using a socket and ratchet, remove the 10 or 12 bolts holding on the cover.

Once all of the bolts have been removed from the center section cover, it often has to be pried off. Use a small pry bar or flat-head screwdriver to pry off the cover; be sure to break the seal all around the mounting surface of the cover. If the cover is particularly difficult, use a plastic mallet to tap the cover. Be sure to place a drain pan underneath to catch the oil. Let the oil drain before completely removing the cover.

It is best to start prying at the bottom to allow the housing to drain before letting the entire cover come off.

It can make a big mess if you just pop the cover off all at once. Once the oil has mostly drained, remove the cover. Then you can see the ring rear, side gears, and spider gears. If catastrophic failure has occurred, you should be able to see evidence of it.