Loose feeling rear / worn bushings

[justbob]

I know I'm not the first to replace the Metco control arm bushings by no means, plus I have probably four years/45,000 miles riding on this set, so it was time.

I could feel the car dog walking slightly in any gear the last few times out, and the last two times out it started to develop a light thunk sound in the rear only over certain bumps.

I found clear/clean marks in the road grime around the outer portion of the bushings (all of them) adding up to around +/- 1/8". Well, an 1/8" front to back X 2 per arm X's the other side equals a LOT of slop..

Upon removal I found the upper right arm had just started making contact with the frame, and three of the bushings were cracked completely through. :eek: All 13 other bushings were juuussttt starting to egg shape. Luckily I spare no expense to vehicle maintenance and caught this in plenty of time, because these arms could have been trashed if it went ignored.

Just a reminder that maintenance goes way beyond changing your oil, belts, and greasing your stuffs. Many thanks to Metco for responding fast and shipping even faster. Nice to see vendors who are eager to help.

Clean marks
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/08/04/7e8a7e4y.jpg

Cracked
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/08/04/adehe9a6.jpg

Bath time
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/08/04/u6ygejuh.jpg

New bushings installed (here you can see where it was starting to hit the frame)
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/08/04/7ujabubu.jpg

Done
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/08/04/u8uhatun.jpg



Self proclaimed Builder Of Badassery.

Buy it, Break it, Build it BETTER.
"Since 2004"

[CWright]

Thanks for the reminder Bob! That was something on my mind the other day! :beer:

[MyBlackBeasts]

Shhhhweeeeet! :D

I likey those arms! Sharp lookin'. :coolman:

Nice save. Now come help me with my p/u! :depress:

[1stMerc]

Good catch Bob, Good deal it all worked out. Feels good to have a solid rear end.

[lifespeed]

45K miles doesn't sound so great for bushings. I suppose you greased them regularly?

I guess you do have more than stock horsepower hammering on them. I'm going to grease my Metco suspension arms right now . . .

Edit: Those bushings should be made out of Delrin or UHMW. Or maybe Nyloil (http://www.norvaplastics.com/nyloil.asp). Would last a lot longer and not split. They pivot in-plane so no binding moment requiring bushing compliance like triangulated four-link in the pre-1998 cars.

[justbob]

45,000 miles of me driving, remember fun play toy, not a commuter. That coupled with multiple 1.7 60's on stickies. I can't ask for too much more?

I don't abuse, but I did build it to be driven hard and besides a couple aftermarket failures, and one oops on my part, this old girl has never once let me down. This car is tighter, more confident, and down right nothing but better all around than when she was new.

A little OCD on maintenance goes a long way. I would never complain about 2 hours work and $4 each for bushings lasting this long under these conditions. Food for thought. These lasted longer than four sets of rear tires, and one set of cobra diff clutch's. I can live with that! :D


Self proclaimed Builder Of Badassery.

Buy it, Break it, Build it BETTER.
"Since 2004"

[babbage]

Those cleaned up great, good job. look new. 4$ is cheap !

Got the henious control arms for 40k at least and think they are ok still. (have to check) car still feels tight rear end control is still way better than stock- bushings are graphite impregnanted, so no grease at all.