Well, as usual I have a problem that has me stumped. I have just pressed in a set of prothane polys on the upper a arm (85 se). I used a large c clamp and was very careful. The polys are now a little longer, (due to being compressed?)Which means the inner sleeves are now too short? Also, because there is now less space between the a arm legs, I can not get both the thick inner washers back in. I don't think the a arm will pivot right if those inner sleeves are too short. I did a forum search with no related posts. Please tell me I'm not the only person in fieroland thats had this problem. I am not willing to press in the rest of the polys until I get more info on what I need to do, so I'm dead in the water right now.

That last 1/8" of bushing is a pain to press in. I used a tiny bit of the grease they provide to help press them in, but that's probably to late now. Keep trying, but be very careful not to tweak or bend the control arm. It will fit in like a glove when everything is seated properly.

Once the bushings are in as far as they'll go, since the poly does compress slighty, you can try to "carefully" force the control arm into place a bit. Once it starts slipping into place, use a block of wood (on the ball joint end) and a hammer to tap it in the rest of the way. Good luck.

[This message has been edited by batboy (edited 03-25-2001).]

Actually, I had gotten both bushings completely in but they have somehow streched out longer leaving the inner sleeves too short. Also the problem with mounting the arm is putting back the 2 thick original washers. there is not enough room now that the bushings have streched out.

When I installed my poly bushings, I didn't install the bushings all the way. I left a 1/8" gap on the outside egdes. That way I was able to put all the washers back then I tightened the long bolt which pressed in the bushings and seated everything correctly. The inner sleeves were slightly smaller but once everything was seated it was fine. (Bushing has to compress a little)

[This message has been edited by Oreif (edited 03-25-2001).]

Thanx for the tips guys. Is this streching bushing and lack of room problem only happening to some of us? I haven't seen this problem mentioned, I know tons of you guys have gone poly. I would think that this same problem would have happened to everyone unless perhaps the original metal shell casings are of slightly different diameters there by compressing the bushing (and lenthening them) more on some cars than on others. I guess my question is this...Is this a problem that you all have had or is it an unusal situation?

[This message has been edited by William (edited 03-25-2001).]

I had the same problems with the front A arms. All I can say is I got my washers back in, and I did alot of swearing, and alot of prying, hammering. I then kept repeating the process, with a few extra swearing as the day progressed.

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SCCA Region 72
#47 CSP

Our lady of blessed acceleration dont fail me now!

You have to remember that quite a few of us poly installers installed poly on our '88s, so we didn't have to screw around with washers and such.

Something similar happened to mine. I don't think they streched, they just didn't fit right. If you do what Oreif said, then try and pull the control arm back and fourth along the bolt a little bit while tightening the bolt to make sure everything is evenly seated. It's hard to explain, but it did work right. Be sure to use lots of grease when putting the control arms back on. Your ears will thank you later.

Well I was about to try Oreifs fix but I then got a return email from Prothane. They state that the bushings MUST be cut down so that they are again the same size or smaller than the inner sleeves. They indicated that this is a known problem and the kit is to be revised soon to fix the problem. Bummer! Now I got to figure out of to make them shorter? I still can't believe that with all the poly installs going on that this hasn't been well discussed here. School of hard knocks I guess.

That's exactly what I discovered on the front cradle bushings. Squeezing them into the sleeves makes them longer (makes sense). On top of that, they are milled wrong on the lip that goes against the sleeve. I had to correct that and then cut them down once they were in the sleeves.

Terry, What method did you use to cut them down

A lathe.

I had some trouble with the inner sleeves being too long when I installed protahne on my rear control arms.

The control arm mounts were no longer flat. I made a tool to pull them back flat using a bolt and a 1.5" hole saw. It destroyed the hole saw, but I got the sleeves to fit in properly. Then I "sqoushed" the bushings to eliminate the press in stretch using flat metal plates and a bench vise.

I used TONS of grease (4 tubes). Every surface was coated including the crade where the bushing facings might contact.

There's no squeek and handling has improved. I will be doing front ball joints and prothane front control arms soon. I guess it is good to know that the work ahead will be much the same. Working on the car keeps me from watching too much TV.

william... i haven't heard that b4! i hope you haven't cut them yet. did you get my email?

i had the same problem, wound up backing the bushings back out a bit, so that i could get the washers in to place.

everything works properly now. the argument i have against cutting the bushings down, is that the removes part of the reason for having the poly in the first place... tightening everything up!

hoop