Hey guys so I've been chipping away at my list and one of the items was to torque down all my suspension components. All was going well until I got to the lower arms specifically the front part. The p***enger side was fine But I noticed I needed a deep socket for my driver side. Looks like the bushing got ****ed in somehow? Has this happened to anyone else? How bad is this? Should I get a new bushing? Thanks guys!
Possibly a longer stud there? The bushing looks okay, do you have a loud squeak? Which is usually a sign of a bad bushing.
It may have a longer bolt but the bushing looks OK however, all that rubber is 70 years old. It may be time for a little refurbishment. 1954-1956 Ford Full Size New Front End Suspension Rebuild Kit with Inner Tie Rods - www.a-resto-parts.com Wow! I just checked the price. When I bought my kit 2 years ago it was half that price! Gotta luv inflation!
Thanks for the response guys! So the car has brand new bushings and has not been on the road yet yet with them. I measured the bolts, they are the same length. So this is the p***enger side the And this is the driver side. The a arm is up against the frame.
Something seems off with the front crossmember to me. Did the a arm get pulled into the crossmember when you tightened it up? Did you check to make sure the crossmember was in good shape and not rusted before starting?
All the steel underneath was pretty solid, at some point in the car's history there must have been some m***ive oil leak everything was coated in a bunch of Grease. Made for a mess to clean up but all the steel underneath was pretty well preserved. All nuts and bolts came off with out needing heat or breaking. I may have installed the bushings incorrectly, everything looked like it lined up just fine. If I remember right there is a little bump on the sleeve that stops the bushing from going too deep. I say the bushings are brand new because they've never been on the road yet but I bought the kit several years ago. I already had to replace the ball joint boots because they were cracked. Cheap rubber I guess. I guess I'll just order some new lower bushings they're not that expensive but I just got everything back together and tightened up. It's always 1 step forward 2 steps back lol
Those bushings can be pressed to where ever you want. It could have very well just been pressed on a little deeper. When you look at the frame diagram there is a certain distance it's supposed to be but IMO it is designed that way to allow to fit different ch***is. Face it, these frames were made with some pretty low standards and sloppy tolerances, just look at all the booger welds. They are not all straight either.
Best to use these they won't go to pot like the offshore rubber **** will. https://www.energysuspensionparts.com/universal-dust-boots.asp Also like their sway bar links and bushings.
Thanks guys! I ordered some lower bushings from rubbertherightway.com I'm sure it's all the same stuff but hopefully it's a better quality than what I had previously. I love polyurethane it's so far superior than rubber. I wish there was an energy suspension master kit for our cars. Would make life a while lit easier lol.
Anyone have a picture of which way the bushings are supposed to go in to both upper and lower control arms? All the rubber was completely gone from mine and I failed to take a picture when I removed the old bushing sleeves.