Poly Suspension Upgrade (all pics) (Page 4/16)
MulletproofMonk SEP 05, 09:02 AM

quote
Originally posted by USFiero:

All the trouble you went through, and you didn't replace your ball joints? Especially the lower fronts? You reall, really, really want to replace those.




No, my ball joints are all in great shape. The car only has about 70k miles and has that surface rust because it was parked so long without moving...

-Brian
Blacktree SEP 05, 11:13 AM

quote
Originally posted by Hudini: I asked because I had read you are *supposed* to torque it down with the weight of the car on the suspension... Don't really know what difference it makes with poly.


With urethane bushings, you don't have to worry about that.
Jeckel SEP 05, 01:26 PM
This is a great write up. I need pictures to go from as well. Are you going to post pics of your brake upgrade too?
MordacP SEP 05, 01:36 PM
This is a great write up. I'll probably have to refer to this when I polyurethane-ize my suspension.

PS, I hope you plan on doing ALOT more before you drive the car. Dont have lots of confidence in those rotors.
katatak SEP 05, 02:46 PM
Great Write up.... In the process of doing this on my 86. I tried a couple different ways to remove the old cradle and a arm bushings. All of which worked. This is what worked for me:

I took a 1/4" bit in my cordless drill and started to drill along side the inner steel tube (bolt tube). The drill bit pulled itself into the rubber but also would rotate around the outside of the steel tube breaking it free from the rubber. As I pulled the bit back out, it pulled the tube out too. I had to tap it out the rest of the way with a punch. At this point, I was going to burn it out but when I went to light the torch, empty! So I took my sawsall and made several cuts in the rubber from the inside out to the cradle. Then, ran the sawsall around the outside of the rubber and pushed the pieces of the bushing out. I still had to go get a refill and finish burning what was left of the bushing. Of course the first one took the longest as I was "learning" the rest went very quick and I did not have burn that much rubber. In the long run, I used a combination of others ideas and it worked well. I even gave a hole saw a try. It works to but you have to have a deep one so that you can cut clear through the bushing. I have 2 a arms left to do. I will try and take pics for an update.

Pat
NW-Fiero SEP 05, 02:59 PM
When I burned all my bushings out my neighbors were not impressed with the smoke or smell. But what the heck... they don't know how to change oil either.......

------------------
Mark
In the Great Northwest!

theogre SEP 06, 03:46 PM
1. Polly joint covers are crap. You get far less protection as they do not seal anywhere near as well as the original ones. (Leaving out torn ones for now...)

They will let in dirt and water. If you hit them with a pressure washer, you can wash out the lube and and drive water/dirt into the joint so deep you never get it out.

The OEM type have a reinforced hole for the joint stem and a spring in the bottom to keep the big end shut. The major reason that these fail isn't age but morons with grease guns, especially power grease guns, that force them so full they cannot move properly. That's when they don't burst them when adding grease.

When rubber covers look like balloons, you've got way bloody too far much grease in them. You have to let some out. That is done by using a bit of dull metal, a small screwdriver usually works, to shift the small end so that grease can get out. Many after market ones that come on replacement joints are formed to have an easier escape path here than allot of factory ones had. Even then sometimes you've got to slip something between the top of the cover and whatever so that grease can get out.

2. Never split a joint you intend to reuse with a fork. Besides trashing the cover, you very often damage the joint itself that way.

3. Now that you're fairly stuck with poly covers, make sure you check the grease frequently. Make sure you use a grease that is hard to wash out. This is on top of the regular greasing poly bushings often need.

------------------
Dr. Ian Malcolm: Yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should.
(Jurassic Park)

The Ogre's Fiero Cave (It's also at the top of every forum page...)

[This message has been edited by theogre (edited 09-06-2008).]

Steven Snyder SEP 06, 04:23 PM

quote
Originally posted by MulletproofMonk:
My build thread is not what you should do, what you should use, it is simply what I did and how we did it. I happened to buy everything there on eBay for $100.00 (minus the dogbone and cradle bushings).



A lot of people are going to end up using your thread as a guide, so it's important that they are aware of the problem.

See Ogre's post above mine for a more detailed explanation of why the polyurethane dust boots should not be used.
Fierology SEP 06, 04:39 PM
ABOUT POLY DUST BOOTS:

I was told by I forget who that the polys work well on the tie rod ends. Do you guys agree? Should I use the rubber, or can I stick w/ poly? I haven't torqued it yet, I believe, so it should be easy to switch them out.

thanks
-Michael

------------------
"A guy know's he's in love when he loses interest in his car for a few days." -Tim Allen

He who dies with the most toys... still dies.


Check out my restoration!

Steven Snyder SEP 08, 04:12 AM

quote
Originally posted by Fierology:

ABOUT POLY DUST BOOTS:

I was told by I forget who that the polys work well on the tie rod ends. Do you guys agree? Should I use the rubber, or can I stick w/ poly? I haven't torqued it yet, I believe, so it should be easy to switch them out.




I would use the rubber ones as long as they aren't badly torn. A little hole would probably be alright; once you fill it with grease some will squeeze out of the hole and keep the dust out...