Death Wobble CONTINUED

[Wwaterman]

Alright, so I still get a nasty wobble on the highway, especially when, say, turning and letting of the gas to shift (for example). I redid all of the rear control arm bushings. Made it better, but did not fix it. I used rubber bushings and I regret it, I should have used poly, but I figured new rubber ones would have to be better than old rubber ones. I had my mechanic do my front lower ball joints recently too, because they were extremely shot. The job was not cheap, cost me $500! Anyway, now I'm also kicking myself in the a** because you can find whole new front lower control arms with bushings for like $40 online! I should have had him replace at least the bushings while he was under there working on the ball joints. Anyway, I've decided to have him replace my front lower control arm bushings with poly. Job is going to cost me $115, which I'm more than willing to pay. Getting those rear control arm bushings out were a pain in the a**. Can anyone recommend poly front control arm bushings? 4x4parts.com?

I have a 1996 Nissan Pathfinder that is in great shape with 201,000 miles on it. Everything works, even all of the hydraulics on the rear door/window etc. I just can't get this damn wobble to quit.

[Wwaterman]

I finally realized: I replaced my rear upper and lower with ACDelco from Autozone. THEY DIDN'T EVEN LAST A YEAR AND THEY'RE SHOT! COMPLETE GARBAGE! AHH!! I just spent the $200+ on poly from 4x4 parts for front and rear (not doing the rear upper yet because pain in the a**). Don't EVER buy ACDelco bushings.

[Wwaterman]

Somewhere I read that the poly bushings you don't need a machinist press to put in. Is this true?

[AlanAZ]

Can anyone recommend poly front control arm bushings? 4x4parts.com?

I'll be doing this myself soon, and the only ones I've seen are on 4x4parts.

Somewhere I read that the poly bushings you don't need a machinist press to put in. Is this true?

If they are the split ones, that is correct. Even the one-piece poly bushings can be put in with a decent, and large enough, vice. I have the split, and they work great. Just use lots of silicone/poly bushing grease to prevent squeaks.

[Wwaterman]

Hey Alan, I'm in Prescott BTW. So, do you put the grease on the outside of the bushings (where it connects with the control arm) and where the bolt goes?

[Wwaterman]

All-in-all, I think I just spent about $240 with shipping on bother of the front control arm bushings (both sides) and enough rear bushings to just do the lower control arms. I'm hoping this stiffens things up. I'm not going to do the rear uppers yet -- they're a real pain in the a**.

[AlanAZ]

Hey Alan, I'm in Prescott BTW. So, do you put the grease on the outside of the bushings (where it connects with the control arm) and where the bolt goes?

Yes, liberally grease both sides, of every surface that contacts the poly (eg. inside of control arm, outside of poly bushing, both ends.) Grease the outside of the metal bolt sleeve, and inside of bushing, but not the bolt. I was surprised, once I pressed them in, that more grease wasn't expelled, so it does find places for it to go.

[Wwaterman]

Did you use a bushing tool or were you just able to press them in with your hands?

[AlanAZ]

Hands? No. We used a bench vise, with nylon and metal vise jaws to protect the poly. Put the metal bolt sleeve in after the bushings are all the way in, that way it can burp air. I used half a 3 oz tube of Super Lube Synthetic Grease on the 4 lower rear bushings. There are several good threads here on how to do replace the rears.

Two other things I did: The FSM specs replacing the big bolts and nuts. On my AZ only truck (no road salt), I only replaced all the nuts, ordered (cheap) from the dealer. The FSM says to retorque the big bolts and nuts with the truck at normal ride height [is NOT required with poly bushings where the metal bolt sleeve is not attached to the rubber.]

Check and adjust the rear brakes since you're there. After I adjusted mine (for the 1st time), they were way loose. After, I found the e-brake adjustment to be way off, so it seems the places it had been serviced before, hadn't done a good job, the the rear brakes were hardly acting.

[AlanAZ]

This early bushing failure thread could explain why your bushings failed quickly:

When the trailing arm bolts were tightened, was the truck on a lift/jacked-up, or was the truck on the ground?

No i tightened it off the ground no tires. That would make alot of sense if their suppose to have weight on them.

Yep, they should be tightened while on the ground. The OEM bushings use rubber that is bonded to an internal metal sleeve and an outer one. That rubber twists/flexes with up and down travel. If you simulated down-travel only while it was off the ground and tightened everything up, then you've put a pre-load on the rubber at its static height. Up-travel will then add only more load, effectively shearing the rubber from the bonded metal over time.

Poly doesn't have this issue because it's not bonded to the metal...you can tighten it at any height, but no harm in also doing it while the vehicle is on the ground.

[Wwaterman]

Update:

I replaced all of my bushings with 4x4parts.com poly bushings and my 1996 pathfinder ride AMAZINGLY on the highway. After only about 6 months or so the AC Delco bushings were COMPLETELY shot. I could rotate the rear/lower control arms with my hands while still on the truck. Complete garbage.

[MisterH]

Glad it worked out well. There's no doubt the poly bushings have less flex to them and they will last considerably longer....but to be clear, the reason your other bushings gave out in six months is because you tightened them without the vehicle being on the ground- that would have happened no matter what brand of rubber bushings you had installed

[rgk]

I put a complete set of new Moog upper and lower arms on the rear of my 02 4x4 pathfinder. I believe they were rubber and they have lasted nearly two years without any issue. The entire set cost $200 on rockauto. A set of nuts and bolts from 4x4parts cost $50. Removal and installation was not bad at all and I didn't have to mess with pulling anything out or pressing anything in. My .02.

And yes, I torqued down the bolts after dropping the rig.

[AlanAZ]

Anyone notice, just prior to replacing the rear bushings, that the rear tires were looking really chewed up? And worn more on the sides than the middle, but not the edges.

Mine were, and I'm trying to ascertain whether I need a wheel alignment, or was due to geometry movement because the bushing were shot. Thx.