Chevy El Camino Rear Bushings, Shocks, Springs & Sway Bar Upgrade - The End Result

Removing the rear shocks was easy. We used a 1/2-inch wrench and socket combo up top and a 3/4-inch wrench for the lower mount.

The rearend is suspended by four trailing arms and all it takes is the removal of eight bolts (two on each arm) to detach the rearend. We started off removing the bolts from the upper (smaller) rear arms first and removed the bolt which attached the arm to the ears of the rearend with a 3/4-inch wrench and socket. It's important to note that an additional set of jack stands was used to support the rearend, underneath the axlehousing.

From there, we moved onto the lower (longer) trailing arms. Before lowering the rearend, we placed a furniture dolly under the housing to allow the rearend to slide out once everything was disconnected. With everything in place we again used a 3/4-inch wrench and socket with a breaker bar to dislodge the bolts from the frame and did the same for both lower arms.

Before, the rearend can be dropped out of the car; you need to remove the rubber brake line and T-fitting from the top of the rearend. The bracket that holds the bunch together is held in place by a single rearend cover bolt.

With everything addressed, we pulled the entire assembly out with the springs still attached. Unfortunately, the stubborn housing tabs bushings wouldn't budge. The easiest way to get them out was to use a butane torch to burn the insides of the rubber bushing. Once heated, the charred bushing practically fell out.

It's obvious the underside of our project car was coated with rust and the old undercoating was peeling like an orange. We decided that a couple of hours with a wire wheel would rid the underside of any rust, plus we could apply a fresh cost of paint to protect the frame and connectors in the future. We also discovered a sloppy mismatch of hardware was used to piece the rear trailing arms together. Some bolts didn't even have washers.

Using a 3/4-inch wrench and socket we removed the remaining upper trailing arms and bolts that attached to the rear crossmember. We also removed the lower trailing arms from the rearend after it was pulled out from the car. Once out, we dropped the trailing arms and PST bushing kit off at ACE Automotive Service in Northridge, CA, to be pressed in.

In the meantime we still had hours of work on our hands. Forty-three years of road grime made a complete mess of the rearend housing. Using a bit of elbow grease, a high-pressure water hose, dish soap, and a brillo pad we completely revived the housing. All it needed was a fresh coat of paint.

Since we didn't have access to a press, we made at a trip to ACE and had them press in the upper and lower trailing arm bushings.

Best part is it only cost us $60. Once back, we began the laborious task of wire wheeling each one to prep for paint. Free of rust and grime, we applied a couple coats of black spray paint.

Next, we got down and dirty-literally. On our backs we spent the next 4-5 hours removing rust, dirt, rats nests, spider webs, grease, and grime from the underside of the car. All we had was a pneumatic wire wheel and a pair of goggles. Yes, hard work for sure, but well worth the effort. We sprayed the bare metal with a couple coats of black spray paint.

You can never be certain about the parts and components that are added over the years. In our case, the rear springs had a backyard lift-kit installed on the perch of each spring. We don't know why and figured it may have been installed to keep the factory springs from sagging too much.