Polyurethane bushings

[rudee023]

Has anyone gone the route of replacing their bushings with a polyurethane kit? Mine are shot so I was looking to replace them anyway. How much work does the install entail?

[96_S14_SE]

Im definately sure this has been answered LAOT of times but anyway...

What bushings are you replacing, as the more you get the more it entail..... Tension rod and LCA bushing I will assume you are replacing, with conjunction of the various ASB bushings. ASB bushings are a no brainer, and should takeno time.

Tension rod bushings are also a breeze.. Step one is to get a ride. Step two find a place with a hydraulic press, my local nissan has one and my best friend is a tech, so um yeah. Jack up the cars front, remove the tension rod from the tension rod bracket and lower controll arm. Have your ride take you to the place and have them push the old ones out and press the new ones in, with plenty of lube!! Should take all of 5 mins. Go home and put back in. Oh needed tools should be a cpl of 17's and possible 19...

LCA you can do yoursefl as they dont ned to be pressed out. Same deal, only in place of a raide and a shop you need a propane torche, like found at lowes / home depot. Mapp gas would be greeat but may offer too much heat.

remove the sway bar endlinks from the LCA on both sides prior to jacking up the car to save some hassles. You could also loosen the tension rods as well but its not a big deal. With these I just jacked up one side, removed the ASB endlink and tension rod from the LCA, removed the LCA ball joint cotter pin, removed the ball joint nut with a 7/8" wrench, tapped the spindle where the ball joint goes through with a hammer to pop it out, them loosened the back part of the LCA.

Now with the LCA removed spark up the torch and burn the old bushing completely out. It will take a while and release aTONS of green black stop you dead toxic smoke, so put your back to the wind while doing this Also make sure the heat doesnt go through the lca to the ball joint.... After you push the molten slag of rubber and center shaft out hose it down, as its hot. Scrape and sand the inner portion of the sleeve out (main reason these dont like getting pressed out by the way). Take both new halfs lube them up, push them in, insert center shaft as far as possibly, gently tapping it with a hammer to insert it 100%.

Um then back track (minus the burning part of course) and repeate other side. Total tools, hammer, 14mm's 17'mms 19'mm, 7/8" wrench, bar for leverage or breaker bar, liquid wrench or PB-B, jack and stands, Propane or Mapp torch, 1 cup blood, 2 quarts sweat, time, and 10^10 foul words hehe.

See piece of cake Or you could always pay somebody

[rudee023]

Thanks for the info. The tension rod bushings are the ones that need immediate replacement. Found some good stuff from whiteline at PDM racing. Like new T/C rods with polyurethane already installed for $70

[sheadee240]

Thanks for the info, I'm about to do the front lower control arms on an S14. I'm sure it is similar, but is this for S13 or S14 that you describe. Anyway thanks for posting, I'm glad to by torch rather than get ripped of by mechanic.

Would it be hard for me to replace the Ball joints and tie rods myself, just to make sure I get rid of that pesky shimmy?

Thanks!

Shea

Im definately sure this has been answered LAOT of times but anyway...

What bushings are you replacing, as the more you get the more it entail..... Tension rod and LCA bushing I will assume you are replacing, with conjunction of the various ASB bushings. ASB bushings are a no brainer, and should takeno time.

Tension rod bushings are also a breeze.. Step one is to get a ride. Step two find a place with a hydraulic press, my local nissan has one and my best friend is a tech, so um yeah. Jack up the cars front, remove the tension rod from the tension rod bracket and lower controll arm. Have your ride take you to the place and have them push the old ones out and press the new ones in, with plenty of lube!! Should take all of 5 mins. Go home and put back in. Oh needed tools should be a cpl of 17's and possible 19...

LCA you can do yoursefl as they dont ned to be pressed out. Same deal, only in place of a raide and a shop you need a propane torche, like found at lowes / home depot. Mapp gas would be greeat but may offer too much heat.

remove the sway bar endlinks from the LCA on both sides prior to jacking up the car to save some hassles. You could also loosen the tension rods as well but its not a big deal. With these I just jacked up one side, removed the ASB endlink and tension rod from the LCA, removed the LCA ball joint cotter pin, removed the ball joint nut with a 7/8" wrench, tapped the spindle where the ball joint goes through with a hammer to pop it out, them loosened the back part of the LCA.

Now with the LCA removed spark up the torch and burn the old bushing completely out. It will take a while and release aTONS of green black stop you dead toxic smoke, so put your back to the wind while doing this Also make sure the heat doesnt go through the lca to the ball joint.... After you push the molten slag of rubber and center shaft out hose it down, as its hot. Scrape and sand the inner portion of the sleeve out (main reason these dont like getting pressed out by the way). Take both new halfs lube them up, push them in, insert center shaft as far as possibly, gently tapping it with a hammer to insert it 100%.

Um then back track (minus the burning part of course) and repeate other side. Total tools, hammer, 14mm's 17'mms 19'mm, 7/8" wrench, bar for leverage or breaker bar, liquid wrench or PB-B, jack and stands, Propane or Mapp torch, 1 cup blood, 2 quarts sweat, time, and 10^10 foul words hehe.

See piece of cake Or you could always pay somebody

[96_S14_SE]

Tie rod balls are easy as well just make sure you measure them first then reinstall to the same length...

Oh and for the info on whatr car this pertains to.... Check my user name

And in either case, its the same anyway. BEWARE of the fumes, and it will take a while with propane, and longer with 15 mph winds

And pdm seels them for 70$ each right? I think summit sells the two bushings for 30 - 35 for both. Since you have a good tension rod why buy another? If you can do them your self you will still need to take them off... And if you have a shop do it they could press them at the same time.

edit I see that they are 75$ each for the s13, or 150$ for two. The bushing is identical to the energy suspension ones only blue (vs black or red and pos. yellow). So take that plus shipping plus probably coustoms fees (had em on my sway bars back when), and the price goes up. You could probably get them installed and pressed into your old rods for less then the cost alone I would imagine. Unless your rods where bent, or rusted out, I personally wouldnt go that route.

I have nothing against pdm and think they are a good comp with nice people, but something like that I would go with the other route, is all.

[sheadee240]

Whoops, I had a brain fart!

Do I need any special tools to do the tie-rods?

Thanks again!

Shea

Tie rod balls are easy as well just make sure you measure them first then reinstall to the same length...

Oh and for the info on whatr car this pertains to.... Check my user name

And in either case, its the same anyway. BEWARE of the fumes, and it will take a while with propane, and longer with 15 mph winds

And pdm seels them for 70$ each right? I think summit sells the two bushings for 30 - 35 for both. Since you have a good tension rod why buy another? If you can do them your self you will still need to take them off... And if you have a shop do it they could press them at the same time.

edit I see that they are 75$ each for the s13, or 150$ for two. The bushing is identical to the energy suspension ones only blue (vs black or red and pos. yellow). So take that plus shipping plus probably coustoms fees (had em on my sway bars back when), and the price goes up. You could probably get them installed and pressed into your old rods for less then the cost alone I would imagine. Unless your rods where bent, or rusted out, I personally wouldnt go that route.

I have nothing against pdm and think they are a good comp with nice people, but something like that I would go with the other route, is all.

[yellow_jacket]

To replace tie rod ends all you need is a nice big hammer(basically a hand sledge), a pair of cutting dykes, and the correct boxed end wrench to install and remove the castellated nut. And then get it aligned.

[sheadee240]

Thanks, what are cutting dykes?

-Shea

To replace tie rod ends all you need is a nice big hammer(basically a hand sledge), a pair of cutting dykes, and the correct boxed end wrench to install and remove the castellated nut. And then get it aligned.

[96_S14_SE]

clippers, but I think that is in refernce to the cotter pin holding the nut in place. If so just a pair of needle nose will work to bend the pin and then pull it out.

[yellow_jacket]

It was. I don't like reusing cotter pins so I always cut them.

[signal180sx]

get new ones justincase

[sheadee240]

Did you use energy suspension or Whiteline? I did whiteline, and I didn't replace the sleeve, even though there was a slight difference between the sleeves

Im definately sure this has been answered LAOT of times but anyway...

What bushings are you replacing, as the more you get the more it entail..... Tension rod and LCA bushing I will assume you are replacing, with conjunction of the various ASB bushings. ASB bushings are a no brainer, and should takeno time.

Tension rod bushings are also a breeze.. Step one is to get a ride. Step two find a place with a hydraulic press, my local nissan has one and my best friend is a tech, so um yeah. Jack up the cars front, remove the tension rod from the tension rod bracket and lower controll arm. Have your ride take you to the place and have them push the old ones out and press the new ones in, with plenty of lube!! Should take all of 5 mins. Go home and put back in. Oh needed tools should be a cpl of 17's and possible 19...

LCA you can do yoursefl as they dont ned to be pressed out. Same deal, only in place of a raide and a shop you need a propane torche, like found at lowes / home depot. Mapp gas would be greeat but may offer too much heat.

remove the sway bar endlinks from the LCA on both sides prior to jacking up the car to save some hassles. You could also loosen the tension rods as well but its not a big deal. With these I just jacked up one side, removed the ASB endlink and tension rod from the LCA, removed the LCA ball joint cotter pin, removed the ball joint nut with a 7/8" wrench, tapped the spindle where the ball joint goes through with a hammer to pop it out, them loosened the back part of the LCA.

Now with the LCA removed spark up the torch and burn the old bushing completely out. It will take a while and release aTONS of green black stop you dead toxic smoke, so put your back to the wind while doing this Also make sure the heat doesnt go through the lca to the ball joint.... After you push the molten slag of rubber and center shaft out hose it down, as its hot. Scrape and sand the inner portion of the sleeve out (main reason these dont like getting pressed out by the way). Take both new halfs lube them up, push them in, insert center shaft as far as possibly, gently tapping it with a hammer to insert it 100%.

Um then back track (minus the burning part of course) and repeate other side. Total tools, hammer, 14mm's 17'mms 19'mm, 7/8" wrench, bar for leverage or breaker bar, liquid wrench or PB-B, jack and stands, Propane or Mapp torch, 1 cup blood, 2 quarts sweat, time, and 10^10 foul words hehe.

See piece of cake Or you could always pay somebody

[96_S14_SE]

I used ES, as I also had the ES tension rod bushings..

The ES ones dont come with a sleeve and must be burnt out, where the WL bushings do. One could press out the sleeve / bushing and install the supplied sleeve with the new bushing, but I dont think it would really matter...

So how did it go? Did you do it yourself?

[cow]

Does anyone have a particular preference of poly bushing brand? I remember reading somewhere that Whiteline's bushings were inferior but no real explanation was given. I find this hard to believe since Whiteline is one of the bigger names in 240 suspension.

I'd tend to believe all bushings of a given material are more or less created equal, but I could be wrong. Any input is appreciated.

Oh yeah.. I dread the day I have to go through this process. I didn't realize it was such a pain. :|

[sheadee240]

It went pretty smooth...the tie rods were cake, and we had a little too much fun burning out the bushings...FIRE-FIRE!~

The ride is significantly stiffer, more than I expected, but its all good clean fun. Thanks again, now onto the rear suspension, can I burn the upper and lower control arm bushings out back there too, I hate paying mechanics. And what about the rear sub frame align and lock bushings (whiteline) should I put them above or below the subframe (for auto-x)? or do some people buy two kits and install both in the name of super stiffness or what..I'm confused..

Thanks brutha man

Shea

I used ES, as I also had the ES tension rod bushings..

The ES ones dont come with a sleeve and must be burnt out, where the WL bushings do. One could press out the sleeve / bushing and install the supplied sleeve with the new bushing, but I dont think it would really matter...

So how did it go? Did you do it yourself?

[96_S14_SE]

OH OH OH go with the super cheap ghetto spacers for the subframe... If the bushings in the subframe are good still I would, or should I say just did, this... Seeing as how new the car is I would go the spacer route. Itll be stiffer but its a relatively non wear item.

I pulled the link off of FA and did it when I could get to the nut and bolt place. It consists of 8pc x 3" x 1 3/8" and 8 pc x 3 1/2" x 1 5/8" flat washers. They are a little weighty at about 5 lbs total but for 11.33$ and the stiffness they add they are so worth it.

It was about 20 cuts in the washers total (8 smaller ones cut to a "C" to pass around the stud at the upper end of the bushing but fit over the metal spacer in the bushing, so it holds them in without having to drop the subframe) with a metal chop saw and 10 mins of install time.

The cutting took longer then the install as 3/16" cold rolled steel is a pig. But for 11$ it made allmost all my problems with rearend slop go away, with some added road noise. Eventually Ill slam in aluminum mounts / or get the 8 pc spacer to save weight but thats 100$ minimum for the ones I want...

Ill post the link and answer any questions in here, if you are interested in it. Ill have auto-x exp with them in on the 6th... I might be able to run equal pressures or a psi more in the front now as I have been running 1 - 2 more in the rears my last 4 events.

I havent really looked at the rears as far as the poly goes but I may drop some in while im in this auto-x class (sts) and go to spherical when I enter SM. But as with most bushings you can burn them out, and if they have an additional outer shell, cut that off after.

edit: haha I see you have found that link anyway

[Bobby_Wu]

what about Nismo's derlin bushings???anyone have any input on those??

edit:..i just found this too

http://www.back-yard-productions.com/cu ... mounts.htm