Has anybody use polyurethane rear trailing arm bushings. I have been told they do not have enough give or allow enough defection to allow the trailing arm to move correctly. I have also heard they dont last long due to friction. On the other hand, it appear that they would have less deflection than stock rubber bushings, which I have been told allow alot of suspension geometry changes under high loads. As long as the polyurethane bushings allow the trailing arm to move the way its suppose to, I would think they offer superior handling due to less geometry changes. Any thought or experiences? I have a set of Energy supension bushings I bought at a swap meet I was considering installing. Thanks!

 

If some high-performance guys run solid spherical bearings, I don't think poly is going to be a problem.

 

T-arms move in both z & Y axis. Rotation around the pivot bolt as well as some off-axis movement due the fixed length half-shafts. Poly is great in rotation but in this application I think you will discover that the poly bushings will bind at first, then wear quickly. Rubber is much better suited to absorbing off-axis movement without damage. IMO you should weld a Dana 60 rear axle solid to the frame rails using 2x4 steel tubing, any problems with bushings, spring rates, shocks or alignment will be thing of the past.

 

10 years and 20k miles on TA poly bushings, no problem

 

well, Im crazy then, my new TA came with new rubber bushing, And I installed a poly in the passenger side

 

Wes;
Thats the point with Poly Bushings, they only allow Geometry design movement and eliminate the slop inherent in rubber bushings. Unless your pushing your car pretty hard you don't have to have poly, its a matter of taste. Personally, I love them, but you will find a lot of opinions here pro and con

 

Ran poly on my 78 with no issues. Just got my double offset TA's from VanSteel with poly bushings (man they are beautiful, will post pics tomorrow). IMO I doubt I will notice the diff performance-wise b/w the rubber and poly due to axis movement but I do want my car to last, and seeing the state the current rubber bushings are in, poly is my choice. You'll here preferences for rubber, poly and steel on this forum. Good luck.
-B

 

i have poly in the trailing arms and wish i had rubber......as the other guy said....you need the movement on both axis's for trailing arms or you will induce suspension bind......use rubber in the back....and poly up front

 

makes sense

I have poly bushings and haven't noticed any binding yet.... I think with the smart strut bracket the trailing arms move only up/down and don't bind anymore. Time to place the order for the bracket before the bushings wear I don't want to take these arms out ever again

 

I run poly but like others already stated you need movement in 2 directions. Our rearends go through a camber change and this movement must transmitt to the front bushing in the form of twist. Rubber twists better then poly.
I also find that to install either of these at home you really need a proper tool. The taped bolt that comes with the kit is really useless.
You need a tool to compress the bushing and then flare it in a seperate step after the bushing is compressed.
The taperd nut and bolt just don't do this.

 

Here's a quote from Global West's web site regarding rear control arms,

"Rear control arms are probably one of the first performance suspension components most upgrade when working on their suspension. Unfortunately this is also the first place most make a mistake and don't realize it until it's to late. Choosing the correct bushing for the application is the biggest problem. Over the years there has been a lot of hype about polyurethane bushings.

Polyurethane bushings do have their place, however it depends upon what you are going to do with the car. The problem we have with polyurethane is unless you are drag racing, polyurethane binds up the rear suspension. The rear suspension can not articulate. This creates rear suspension handling problems and causes the car to ride rough over bumps. Most people notice the ride change. It's too bad you are led to believe this is handling. What you are really feeling isn't handling, your experiencing suspension bind.

The only way we have found to provide rear suspension performance suitable for handling and performance street driving is by using a spherical bearing at the frame side and our Del-a-lum bushing on the rear end side.

The aircraft spherical bearing allows rear end articulation without bind and the Del-a-lum bushing controls defection. The result is smooth suspension movement without bind or defection. We have proven this concept time and time again on the race track and street applications. Therefore, we offer three different control arms for your application.

We offer polyurethane control arms just like all the rest. (Recommended for drag racing only).

2nd we offer a spherical bearing (frame side) and polyurethane (rear end side) control arm for the street.

3rd we offer a spherical bearing with a Del-a lum bushing as the ultimate control arm used in all applications. This would be the best choice.

Note: Almost all of the other manufactures of rear lower control arms use polyurethane bushings. While we offer polyurethane control arms also, our primary reason for using them is to be competitive in the industry. However, polyurethane bushings create a tremendous amount of bind for street and handling applications. We will not recommend polyurethane bushed rear control arms for street or handling applications."