Almost Done! Poly trailing arm opinions and a-arm help

[michael pagano]

Im almost done with my suspension rebuild, and will post some pics of my progress so far. Its a long story but i came across some poly, i think weltmeister, trailing arm bushings for free. Are they good, my wallet is thin at the moment, just has to be decently usable and worth the time. Also the inner diameter of the bushing is huge, do I reuse part of the old assembly? I have the Poly front bushings and so far the left side is pretty free but the right feels pretty bound up, should i worry about this or do you think it will just wear in a bit? I exersized the bushings a bit by moving the a-arm up and down a lot and it seemed to help a bit.

[michael pagano]

some more with my terrible camera skills lol

The car is waiting on the bilstiens to come back and has 21/27 bars going into it. Also just installed used SSI's and a M&K 2 in 1 out

[michael pagano]

seems the poly trailing arms are a no-go after reading up on them...how can i tell if the old ones are bad/worn?

[pwd72s]

I would strongly suggest Neatrix for the rear trailing arm bushings. Front A arms, I'd say go with poly, since rubber is not available...Rothsport did the suspension on my old beater, so I'm going from memory since the car left here a few years back.

Anyway, for the A arm front poly bushings it took some careful machining, but I never had any squeaking...

[michael pagano]

Well i have to use my body weight, 150lbs, and jurk for the a-arm to move...im assuming this is to tight and i have to remove it all again...or will they loosen up?

Im talking about the banana arm bushings, I am putting neatrix in the torsion bar arm as you suggested.

[Flieger]

Rubber bushings are available for the whole car from Elephant Racing with a pricey installation tool or from other sources for much less but without the tool.

If you are looking for a performance upgrade on the front, I suggest the Rebel Racing A-arm bushings- lighter than PolyBronze and cheaper when including the PB's necessary special mounts (which the RSR bearings already effectively have).

Rubber is probably best for a street car.

I have the Smart Racing high density polyurethane bushings for the spring plate. Monoballs for the trailing arms and strut tops and the RSR bearings for the A-arm.

[gregwils]

Originally Posted by Flieger

Rubber bushings are available for the whole car from Elephant Racing ...

+1 Elephant Racing's rubber bushings are available all around from our host. However, as Flieger suggests, it really depends on your goals. If your more interested in track performance, then either the Rebel or ER Poly Bronze. Lots of great options if you are focused on performance. If you want to restore original ride characteristics, then rubber is the way to go.

How can you tell if your's are bad? In the front, pull out the torsion bar and see if you see any rub marks on the t-bars. You probably will and they probably need replaced. In the rear, you can pull the torsion tube cover off and visually see the swing arm bushings. If there is much deflection I would consider replacing. For example, bushing thickness on the top is 20% or less than the thickness of the bottom bushing. It will make sense when you see it. The trailing arm bushings tend to be more durable and it's easiest to pull the motor.

My $.02

[ivangene]

right with ya BRAU!

I bought poly and they suck... TOO TIGHT! you need to get them to move freely, I have a lathe so it wasnt too hard doing the rears, but hard enough. I am still debating the fronts due to the same problem you are having... too tight.

I read the banana arm bushing needs to have more degrees of rotation then the poly's offer. I read OEM (rubber if available) or Monoball - not poly for banana

BTW nice work!

[michael pagano]

Yes, they are tight, and i will probably destroy them getting them off, but with the weight of the car and torsion bar they should be okay to use right? I mean the origionals couldnt have been much better...Im just worried about the corner weights being of because they dont have a chance to wear in and become free before i get it aligned.

I seemed to confuse everybody lol, i need to know how to check if the banana arm bushing need replacing not the a-arm or torsion arm ones...both of those were shot. The banana arm ones seem to have been replaced once because the bolts are facing the "right" way, instead of backwards like they came from the factory.

Thanks for all the help, cant wait to take it for a drive!

[Trackrash]

Did you grease the bushings? The poly bushings need to be greased. Some machine them but I just forced mine on. They have worked great for the past five years.

That said, front poly bushings on a street car are a little "harsh" riding. Ask how I know.

On the rear what I did with great success is just replace the outer bushing with the poly. Worked great on my car. Not harsh, no squeaking, and you don't have to remove the torsion arm.

[Brad394]

You know what worked for me when doing poly bushings ... don't have a lathe so I used a cheap cylinder hone. Three stones spring loaded. Like those used for wheel cylinders. I placed the bushing in torsion bar tube for the rear and honed it very easy to get a hard press fit for the spring plate and at the front did somewhat the same, put bushing in carrier and honed until I could just push it on by hand. If you trial fit you can see high spots as the bushing goes gray from honing. Oh ya I also did the dremel thing - cut grooves and added zerks. Three years of daily driving April 'til snow. Many DE and lapping days with not one squeek.

Just sayin'

results may vary - but for me worked well

Brad

[michael pagano]

Just forced mine on with a mallet, wasnt that hard. I did grease them, i guess ill just drive them and see how they are. If there is a problem/squeaks, ill follow Brads instruction, thanks!