Wedge TR-7 rear suspension links

So I finally decided that my driveway wasn't the place to replace the rear suspension bushings and made an appointment to have it done at a shop in town. I will provide them with the factory manual, but there are some things I have wondered about that they might question as well. Do the links pivot around the bolts? If so do the self locking nuts need to be left loose enough to allow the metal sleeves to rotate around the bolts? Why does the anti-roll bar have a shim only on the right end where it bolts to the swingarm. Can a shim be added to the left end to stiffef the action of the anti-roll (sway) bar? Will bad bushings show up as more than mysterious clunks such as erratic and inconsistent clutch action. Should I save my money for gas and just drive the puppy 'til the rearend drops out? It's running beautifully and I've suspected the suspension link bushes were bad for the last 10,000 miles, but nothing drastic has happened. (yet)

Dale...I'm still too much of a novice at maintaining these cars to give much mechanical help, but maybe a bit of philosophical may help. My dad always told me "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." I've had to learn and re-learn that lesson several times. Seems that sometimes trying to fix something that's working just fine already (tweak?) leads to other problems. So if the bushes are bad, I'd get them fixed. If not, I'd probably leave them alone for now. I know that's not much help, but it's about all I can give in this case.

A lot of help actually. I've decided to instruct the shop accordingly and let them inspect a couple of the bushings and determine what may be needed. I was able to produce a clunk by jerking the rear bumper sideways. I will do this for the tech in the morning and let him determine what the problem if any might be. Could even be wheel bearings I suppose. AAR I'll let you know what happens. I'm planning on a short hop to Durango Saturday and then a longer jaunt to Grand Junction, CO for Fathers Day. So I want to take care of any potentiallities now. Thanks for the reply and the encouraging word. It all counts for much.

Was unable to produce a clunk when I got it to the shop. So it cost me $35.00 to have them tell me my drive shaft was shot. It isn't of course, as what they said was lateral slack of 4 inches is the normal movement of the CV joints which are on both ends of this driveshaft. They did tighten all the link bolts which I'm still not sure is correct. The funniness in the clutch,tranny,rearend, take your pick is still there and still comes and goes. Made it to Durango and back OK.

Congrats on a successful trip! (Any trip that doesn't result in a tow is successful! ). Too bad the mechanics were clueless, and the car didn't misbehave for them (always seems to happen that way). My next possible project is to see if I can get the A/C working in mine, but there seems to be no place that carries some of the major components, e.g. receiver/drier, compressor seals, etc. anymore. Since it appears there's no freon in the system, I'd probably need some of them.

Must confess that the Durango run was not without incident. Had a blowout through the sidewall on the left rear 3 miles from home on the return trip. Since the tire was shot anyway we limped on home and finished it off without destroying the rim. Monday morning I put the spare on and went to Sears and bought 4 new BF Goodrich radials. I went with the stock size 185/70-13 as they were available and much cheaper than the 205/60s that were on the car when I got it. The new tires are 50,000 mile tires with an all weather tread and were on sale(like everything else at Sears) for $40.00 each. I might have done better at Sam's Club but I had room on my Sears card to charge them and that's always the clincher for me. Hated to do away with the tires on the front as they still looked very good. But they were as old as the ones on the rear and when they start blowing out the sidewall I was leary of them.