Once the radius arms are free it is pretty straightforward to drop the rear suspension. The drive shaft has to be unbolted from the differential, the brake line has to be unscrewed and the handbrake cable has to be freed. Once this is done make sure that the suspension plate is nice and square on the floor jack and wood – you might want to tie it securely. I got my son and a friend to hold onto the right and left wheel hubs to help keep everything straight on the way down. You then have to unbolt the four metal and rubber mounts that hold the suspension cage to the bottom of the car. These all came free very easily in the case of the car – and slowly and carefully we lowered the entire suspension down on the jack. The unit is heavy but two people can move it with a little effort. We placed it on a rolling dolly so I could move it and work on it. Although dirty and grimy – everything looked solid with no obvious signs of leakage from the differential. It was a good day!
Jaguar XKE E-type rear suspension mounts.
Jaguar XKE E-type rear suspension removed from the car.
The Motorphile 
Hey,
What holding your car up man? I don’t see anything supporting it.
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Hi – take a close look at the picture on the blog. You will see there are two red jack stands placed near the back of the floor pan and ahead of where the rear suspension unit attaches. Here is an important thing. Make sure to run some wood under the car and on top of the jack stands so that you do not end of denting in the rear floor and monocoupe with the top of the jack stands. Many E-types have various sorts of damage to the floor pans due to people using jacks and jack stands where they do not belong.
Have fun!
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Great blog! Just bought Series 2 2+2 and find your blog very useful in preparation for restoration. Quick question. How much the rear suspension weights more less?
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Thanks! Sorry for the late reply. I have transitioned the E-type blog to an online magazine style site. I should have put the suspension on a scale when I had it out! All I can say is that a single floor jack handled it easily, but I certainly would not want to try and lift it myself. It is plenty heavy – so be careful on how you lower it. Good luck
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