Hank - Here's a brief snapshot of the process to get a quick look at the TAB's to make sure that they at least *appear* to be secure. Naturally, the only way to know for sure is to remove them, and examine them very carefully for signs of cracking, corrosion, etc. (If you take them out for a good look, you might as well install a set of TOBY-TAB's back in, and be done with it - subtle plug :-) ) Put the car up on ramps or jacks. Remove the sheet metal shields from the area on both sides. The studs can sometimes spin while trying to take the nuts off, so it may take two people to do this step. Examine the trailing arm joint common to the frame for signs of obvious distress, such as bent parts (frame members, trailing arm, etc.). Grab the shims and try to move them around the bolt shank itself. If the bolt is tight, you can't move the shims ... if the bolt has come even a little loose, you can rotate the shims rather easily. With a rachet and socket on the head of the bolt, rotate the bolt in a clockwise direction, and observe the shims carefully. If the bolt is bent, the shims will appear to move up and down when the bolt is turning. I say clockwise because you don't want to accidentally loosen the bolt while inspecting it. Inspect the two small bolts that attach the rubber bushing plate to the frame. The bolts must be secure. I have seen these shear off and/or fall out. This allows some movement in the joint, but is not as catastrophic as a brokem bolt can be because of the retention of the large flat washers on each side of the joint. If all appears well, check the torque on the TAB using a torque wrench, with a box-end wrench on the other end. You will probably have to check the torque on the head of the bolt, unless you have a low-profile torque wrench. Set the wrench to 50 - 55 ft-lbs. You may get a slight rotation of the assembly due to wear on the flat washers or the steel sleeves in the joint. Once you are satisfied with the inspection, put the shields back on in reverse order, and away you go. Toby Peterson VIN 2248 Winged1 -- In dmcnews@xxxx, "Hank Eskin" <heskin@xxxx> wrote: > could someone provide a "TABs for Dummies" > step-by-step explanation on how to check them?