Well, Im gonna try and swap in the 7.5" rear tomorrow

[Anlushac11]

Its supposed to be in the 40's and Frisday is supposed to be in hte 50's.

I have a SN95 7.5" rear, a set of Ground Pounder tubular control arms, a set of 93 GT rear springs, and a set of 98 Cobra replica 16x7" wheels with P245/50-16 tires.

I have a fair set of tools and a air compressor with air ratchet and air impact.

I will be doing this by myself.

The plan of attack is as follows

1) Spray all bolts down the night before with super liquid wrench.

2) Undo upper shock mounts

3) Jack up car and let rear drop. Use impact to undo the upper control arm bolts

4) jack up rear and support and use impact to remove lower control arms.

What is likelyhood of the control arm bolts breaking?

If they do break are they threaded into the body nounts or can I use a punch to remove them?

I am making extensive use of air tools as I have bad rotator cup in my shoulders and cant apply lots of muscle like I used to be able to.

I also figure the hard part will be to position the 7.5" rear under the car by myself.

Any pointers? any advice?

Thanks in advance!

 

[My80Cobra]

Anlushac11

The bolts should not give you any trouble at all I would not even spray them, they will pop out with a hammer and chisel or screwdriver if you can't get one out, put a 1/2" rachet on the other side and with the air it will be cake. They come out very quickly but obviously it is a bit harder going back in. Get it under there then attach the lowers first and raise it with a jack and hook the uppers. It should not give you too much trouble even by yourself. Good Luck.

 

[chaka]

swapped out the 7.5 with an 8.8 awhile ago on the 79. No problems using the air-tools. With the impact wrench I find it is harder to shear the heads off of the bolts. Have never sheared a bolt with the impact wrench, but plenty with a breaker bar.

I just jacked the new rearend up by the diffy and secured the uppers and then lowers. Had to tap the bolts through on the lowers (i think) but it was an easy task.

I think you will be all good. You don't have to worry about rerouting the brake lines either so that will save you some more time.

 

[Anlushac11]

Cool thanks for the info.

 

[Anlushac11]

*sigh*

General Mud won. I will have to wait til the ground firms up more.

 

[chaka]

Nothing a few sheets of plywood can't fix. haha.

Sorry to here that.

 

[yellow5.0cobra]

I would just want to know WHY are you replacing crap rear end with more crap rear end?

You seem to have a nice car, why not step up to 8.8?

Stick a nice Eaton in the rear, new axles and add new bearings, then simply call it a night.

 

[chaka]

Probably because he doesn't want to add 40 to 50 lbs extra weight.
The 7.5 will handle the power he has.

 

[muh'stang]

I just swapped my 7.5 for a t-bird 7.5. I thought it was an 8.8...but anyways I did it all by myself. I found the best way to get the rear end in place was to lift one side onto a jack stand, then lift the other side onto a jackstand. Next hook up the driveshaft It was a pain in the butt trying to hook up all my control arms with the rear end unsupported...the driveshaft will help tonnes. After that I would say hook Up the upper control arms. Make sure you lube the bolts up when sticking them back in, makes it way easier also. If you take the bolts and stick the head in a vice and use a wire brush or wire wheel on a drill and clean the threads, installation of the nuts will be a cake walk. After that I would bolt up the shocks and then the lowers and youre set.

Notice how I said that this is the way I would do it...thats because I did it another way and it caused me alot of screwing around.