When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Same left rear lower control arm, one piece bushing on the front side of the arm (Cam adjustment side), the right side of the bushing is about 1/8" to wide, won't fit into the cradle.
I don't want to cut the one piece bushing in half
Compressing it with a C-clamp it would make it fit, however it's tough to slide into the cradle with the clamp attached.
Some older threads on this subject suggest grinding down the cradle or shaving the bushing.
Any other ideas?
Thanks.
Left Rear Lower Control Arm, Front, Cam side bushing
buy energy suspension? pfadt is out of business now and poly should not require a lot of effort to fit. a clamp should be plenty.
I left the bushing clamped overnight and it retained enough compression to fit the first 1/4" into the cradle. I then gently hammered it into position.
1 corner down, 3 to go, hopefully it will be much quicker now that I got the process down.
I looked at Prothane and Energy Suspension, but they don't come with the sleeves and I didn't have time to remove the rubber from my existing sleeves.
Pfadt kit has sleeves and marine grease, well made bushings have longitudinal groves to hold grease and sleeves have latitudinal grooves that hold small amount of grease.
A treaded rod or long bolt with large washers at the ends will also compress the bushings onto the a-arms, the bushings can't fly off like using a vise. The inside of the a-arm bushing area needs to have all the old rubber removed, a rotary wire tool or Scotchbright roll will smooth the aluminum surface for less resistance and coating both the a-arm and bushing with marine grease helps.
TOO tight doesn't seem like a good thing... might even wind up tearing the bushing if it doesn't have some lube...well, I guess a poly bushing won't tear, but it sure could be in a bind...
Picked up quite a few installation tips from older threads on this subject.
I did clean the arm holes with scotch brite, removed all old rubber and used alcohol/water to ease bushing insertion which was easily done using a vice.
Once installed, I was easily able to move the arm up and down (grease does the job here). Since this bushing is capped with wide flange sleeves on both ends, I don't think tearing should be an issue but I'll have to check often that ample grease is present....maybe I should have installed zerks.
not sure why this didn't dawn on me earlier but some tight but doable fits with poly can be addressed by sanding the metal they are going to fit in. sanding rolls in a die grinder can remove the flash and debris that often keep it from pressing in easily
I did sand lightly to clean the crud.
The problem was the bushing somehow was elongated after pressing it into the arm. By keeping it compressed in a clamp overnight it shrank enough to get into the cradle.
Poly Bushing won't fit cradle
