If I apply the emergency brake and then place (2) jackstands under the (2) rear jack points (no jackstands on the front) on my manual 1985 244 DL, are the front wheels then locked? I assume the rear wheels are locked but do not know if the emergency brake locks both front and back wheels.

Of course I know I should block the front wheels as the car will be tipped forward while on the jack stands but it would be good to know that the front wheels are locked also.

no, the front wheels are not locked by the parking brake.

Greg
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http://home.earthlink.net/~greg.wong/

Greg,
You have a nice web site. Thanks for the answering all of my questions about replacing the suspension bushings etc. A couple of more questions:

1. When you say the jack is pointing towards the rear do you mean you place the jack under the diffy from the rear of the car (with the jack handle at the back of the car)?

2. Do you place the jack lifting platform under the diffy up past it's drain plug on the sort of flat bottom plate?

I will probably remove the pannard bar and torque rods this weekend, take them to a shop early next week and have the old bushings pressed out/new ones pressed in then reinstall them.

It looks like the axle bushing tool won't get to me until late next week at the earliest so I will remove the trailing arms at that point and make another trip to the shop for installing the 2 front bushings. It seems sort of helter skelterish but it will make the project more manageable for me I think.

Let me know if you have any more advice and thanks again.

Yeah, I usually have the jack handle at the back of the car. When I do it, I put the jack saddle right under the flange, where the cover bolts onto the diff. I have never had any problems with bending it, it is thick.

When you are reinstalling the parts, you want to have the suspension compressed when you do the final torque-down of the nuts. If you can fit under the car with it on the ground, then go ahead and do that, but it is easier if you lower the rear tires onto your ramps, and then torque away.

Have you considered using the polyurethane torque rod bushings? They will last much longer and are much easier to install.

Greg
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http://home.earthlink.net/~greg.wong/