I was wondering what is the hardest part of doing the "trailing arm rebuild"? I ask since I'm located in Canada and if I run into problems there isn't a member close by that can drop by to lend a hand and I want to be sure I'm comfortable in doing them.
Thanks
O-man....those pictures hurt my eyes! IMO, removing the trailing arms is the toughest part, but can be made easier. I wouldn't take a blade to the bolts without first removing the shims. The trick in removing the shims is to use a slide hammer. You need one with a weight three to five pounds. You can make one with a piece of bar stock a minimum of 1/4 inch X 1.5 inches wide and 18 inches long. Use another short piece about 5 inches to form a T. Slot the T, so the 18 inch piece will fit and pass through the opening. Leave a few inches as a grip handle and weld on both sides. Find some scrap pieces of heavy wall tubing about four inches long and that fit inside one another and weld together to form a weight to slide along the 18 inch bar. Drill a hole in the bar end to be fastened to the hole in the TA shim with a grade 8 bolt. Now you have a slide hammer to yank those frozen shims out of their perch. It will also be useful removing pilot bearing and bushings for example. I have found removing frozen shims easier than trying to cut through them, but that is my opinion.
If you have a torch, heat the remaining TA bolt section cherry and it will hammer/lever out easily. Be careful to not change the TA frame pocket dimension while levering/hammering. Before removing the TA's from the frame, I'd first remove the shock mounts while they are held firmly by the TA bolts. They are usually stubborn and require application of a BFH.
Good luck, I have better tools from when I did both my cars, but still would not look forward to doing this job. When I did mine I couldn't find a good source of shims, so used what I had, but knew I couldn't get it where I wanted. Back then I couldn't afford what a machine shop wanted to surface grind a proper shim, so settled for the best I could do. When I could afford it, I had it professionally done, but to my disappointment it was not much better than I had done. In most cases you will do a better job than a shop interested in production work, but you will need a press. The caveat is, you will need the proper tools, or compromise your result IMO. For example, I'd never use a hammer to remove a spindle from the assembly. It appears you are well on your way and past the toughest part.
