Preparing the A-arms for rebuilding the suspension and need to confirm I am doing this correctly...



So...for rubber bushings, that sleeve needs to be pressed out and will be replaced with the new bushing...but for poly, I leave the sleeve in...right?

I burnt my old rubber bushes out - the metal sleeve I left in but I used sand paper to remove any traces of the old bushing and then used plenty of teflon greease inside the sleeve and the poly bushes and so far so good no squeeks and great perfomance with new the bushes.

good luck
jon

Let me re-phrase the question. I am going with rubber bushings....that sleeve gets pressed out, correct? I am about to powdercoat them, and don't want to have to press them out after the powdercoating.

I just did my control arms using stock rubber bushings. Yes, the metal sleeve gets removed, the new bushings come with metal sleeve.

Thanks for the confirmation... I thought that was the case, but kind of hard to put it back in if I was wrong. Is there an easy way to get them out?

quote Originally posted by CowsPatoot: Preparing the A-arms for rebuilding the suspension and need to confirm I am doing this correctly... So...for rubber bushings, that sleeve needs to be pressed out and will be replaced with the new bushing...but for poly, I leave the sleeve in...right?

You are correct. The new rubber bushings will have the new outer steel bushing on it you are looking at there in the picture. Be careful as they stick in there pretty good sometimes and try to deform the control arm while pressing them out.

Kevin

I cut the old shells out by placing one end of a hacksaw blade through the shell opening and then reattaching the blade to the saw. I then carefully cut through the shell, but stop before I cut into the control arm. It is also necessary to cut the ends of the shell that protrude outside the control arm. You can then squeeze the shell with large channel locks or hit it with a hammer. The cut in the length of the shell will release tension and allow you to easily push it out of the control arm.

quote Originally posted by jon m: I burnt my old rubber bushes out - the metal sleeve I left in but I used sand paper to remove any traces of the old bushing and then used plenty of teflon greease inside the sleeve and the poly bushes and so far so good no squeeks and great perfomance with new the bushes. good luck jon

I thought greasing the sleeve was a no-no?

I would have done the same thing since it seems like you want the pivot to be as free as possible without slop.

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Jonathan

'68-69 GTO Nose - The Project has Begun!
My '85 L67 Build Thread

Just curious, what did you think the down side was with going poly? It ends up being a lot easier to do and you get a much more stable suspension. Larry

1. Stiff ride - Harshness
2. Noise - squeeks
3. pushing in poly in easy- replaceing the complete bushing is more demanding (1988)


For daily drivers on rough roads stick with rubber- ? 99% of all new cars have rubber.

I you have Germany built autobon for roads to drive on, then the poly in the best for handling when you are taking high speed turns. or on race tracks
Young bodies seem to like Stiff rides with extra loud music!!!!

For the A arm bushings I don't see any advantage of rubber over poly in smoothness of ride, engine mounts and cradle mounts could be, but the A arms just pivot on the bushings. Just curious, but I will wait for the person who owns the thread to answer. Larry

Yes, new rubber come w/ new steel parts. See any Moog etc catalog.
You didn't need to remove rubber from shell... Just use right tools. Takes minutes to remove/replace a rubber unit.
See https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum2/HTML/125401.html

Note...
Mask the inside of hole where bushing lives. Is a pain to remove after heating. Need heat resist tape...
Why? Bushing Needs metal to metal contact.
Powder coat changes inside diam of hole and can cause problem when installing new bushings.

quote Originally posted by trotterlg: what did you think the down side was with going poly? It ends up being a lot easier to do and you get a much more stable suspension.

Down side of Polly? FlyFieroGT post is a start... # of threads on PFF and even I'net how to grease Polly... and many more.
A lot easier to do? Again, Just use right tools to use rubber, often available in loaner tools from Autozone etc. You can make tools too.
More stable? Comparing to New rubber? No.

Polly is good in some applications, like cradle bushings. (Areas that parts do not move much.)
Polly often can wear out with no noise in a few months to a few years when used in control arms.

Rubber is Cheap? No. Parts and assembly time to make a rubber bushing cost a lot More that Polly.
OEM use rubber bushings besides people comfort. Rubber protect the car. Requires No maintenance for 10-20 year life. etc.

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Thanx for confirming all my suspicions, everyone. Again...easier to double check what I think I know than to fix a mistake. I gave +s to all who didn't already had one.