New Guy 1991 Saturn SL1 in PA
 

Hi Folks,

I own a 1991 Saturn SL1. My parents bought it new in 1991. I have been driving it since 1998. Always well maintained and runs well. However, it has rusted out from the bottom up. Pennsylvania roads are horrible on cars.

The trailing arms have broken loose from the back of the car and cannot be fixed, so I'm told.

It is a single overhead cam engine with an auto trans. Its blue in and out.

It runs and drives fine but cannot be driven safely anymore due to the bad rear end rust..........So, I'm faced with what to do with it. Its all original and runs great.......Everything works except for the bad rear unibody.

What should I do with it.........any Saturn GURU guys want it?

a 91? I didn't know any were still alive.

Trailing arms can't be replaced? I call Bull****.

DORMAN 905811 {#21011869} Comes with the bushings.
RockAuto.com if you've never used the site just keep drilling down till you get to 91 SL SOHC Suspension Trailing arm.

Just installed these on my 95 SC2 two months ago.

Do NOT drive it with broken trailing arms as you risk damage to the pivot arms for the rear. Not only that but it's dangerous to drive with your rear wheels swinging in the wind.

The bolts holding it to the underside of the car either come out easy as pie or you fight to the death. Use impact gun on those as a last resort and by all means a 6 pt socket

Rock Auto ALMOST always has parts (quality) that are 20% less $ than you'll see for the identical part at Autozone, etc.

Check out parts geek as well. Ive had luck on there.

Is it because everything has rusted away that you'd attach them too or did someone just tell you that? Get up under it yourself, if you haven't already, and take a good look. You might be able to save it. Take some pics so derf and billy can get a good look.

It's a bit visually confusing when you look at where the trailing arm attaches to the knuckle. The trailing arms rust and snap off at the rear end of the hollow tube/rod section where it meets the wider portion that holds the bushings. With a badly deteriorated setup (flaking rock hard "bushings", rust, etc), it's not until you look at the replacement part that you can truly see what you need to do to get the old one out and the new one on.

To Rube's question: The only holdup I could see would be that the metal around the mounting holes is rusted away.

Even then, you could have someone carefully weld in replacement plates to hold the bolts. IIRC, they are some funky looking bolts (non generic) and I'm not sure why they are the way they are....

Thanks for the reply(s). I will take a look but I'm pretty sure there is nothing left to weld anything on. Its that bad.

More to follow..........JJ

per Rube, jack up a rear corner, support w jackstand, and snap a pic from under the middle of the car angled so the knuckle is to the left and the trailing arm (or where it would be (going forwards) takes up the rest of the picture.

Which end broke? By the hub or by the forward end mounting bolts?