I recieved a front rubber suspension overhaul kit from Vansteel back in December as an xmas gift. I'm just now getting around to rebuilding the stuff and slapping it back together. My intentions were to install the bushings tonight then finish the rest up this weekend.

I did one of the lower A-arms first (with help of lars suspenion paper) then moved to the adjacent upper A-arm. The lower went in flawlessly and easy. I got out my upper A-arm bushings and noticed before I even started that not all of them matched. I had two each of these:



Another view of them. The one of the left actually has a narrowed down end then gets a little bigger at the middle of the bushing sleeve.




So I measured them. Eventhough the picture looks ****ty, they differ any where from 15-16 thousanths. I measured the largest diameter of the "narrowed" bushing for an even comparison to the funky one.




Needless to say, the smaller one which must be the correct bushing, goes in straight and easy while the other one goes in somewhat then starts distorting with pressure. The flange is beginning to bend around the bushing which will leave me with no more material to press with. Not to mention the actual rubber is popping out of the sleeve (sorry for the blurryness).




Did I get 2 incorrect bushings and 2 correct bushings for my upper A-arms? From the first pics you can clearly see they differ. One bushing actually says Clevite on it and the other doesn't have a name, something like M4M or stuff. From the remaining pictures you can see they don't fit in the A-arm bushing bores. Perhaps I'm installing the bushing in the wrong bore? I measured them and they seem to be very close in diameter.

Here's a pic of one of the lower arms, went in fine and all bushings matched.

 

i had to do it

b

 

AHH, I know my net keeps crashing and I can't fix the links..gimme a sec.


-now working, that was fun :X

 

 

if i can recall.... there's a different size for the uppers and the lowers.... they might take a little pressure to pop in.......

b

 

Ya, I got the lower and uppers separated. They came 4 in each bag. 4 lower/4 upper and the lower ones are larger.

 

Hmm. This is a first. All of our bushings come from the same supplier. I never noticed any difference from one to another as we rebuild about 800 a-arms per year. If you not happy with them, give me a call and I'll send you out some new ones.

How are you installing them?

 

gotta love that service:

 

I can't see any pics either, but....

Installing my non-Van Steel bushings wasn't too easy, even after greasin' 'em up. I'll give you an idea how I did it.

After I got them out, I used a press to install the new ones. The bushings were slightly different sizes for the top and bottom arms; you just have to pay attention. If I remember right, the "longer" bushing went in the bottom arm. To get the top bushings in, I cut and placed a piece of steel tube between the two bushing arms to keep it from collapsing in the press. I did basically the same for the bottom arm (put a steel tube between the arms), but I also placed some small steel spacers between the two flared flanges that the bushing slides into. Without these spacers, I noticed that the two flanges began to compress and the bushing wouldn't line up in the holes.

ALSO, I had a short piece of steel tube just wide enough to fit over the rubber of the bushing and yet rest on the steel of the bushing itself. This way, when I loaded the press, all the pressure was put on the tube and the steel of the bushing rather than the rubber. Otherwise, I imagine the rubber may get forced out of the bushing.

It still took quite a bit of work. The first side was actually easier and did not give me as many problems. Just be patient and don't bend those arms out of whack!

 

Situation was discussed with Dan at Vansteel today and I will be receiving matching upper A-arm bushings. Thanks for the ideas guys.

Thanks to Vansteel for standing behind their product and offering excellant customer service.

 

As always, Dan will make it right.
Funny - the rubber pushing out ... might be a poly bushing.
The rubber should be firmly bonded to both the inner and outer sleeves.
Now is the time to consider poly ... more-so up top, where many are
blocked by the radiator shroud. Try torqueing them with the weight on
the springs and a plastic shroud installed. Poly is SO much easier to install.

 

Is VanSteel on top of it or what?