Bad bushings do they all need replacement?

scotty96lsc

scotty96lsc

Registered
Well I got the bad news from my Ford mechanic neighbor -- the suspension bushings are all worn. He said to replace all of them and then the alignment would be $700, his discount. Do I need all of these done at one time?
Is the car safe to drive?;(
 
RE: Bad bushings do they all need replacement?

maybe, maybe not. depends on how bad it is. But you might as well get them all done at once. By "all bushings"... what does he mean? Do you have a list of what bushings that includes?
 
RE: Bad bushings do they all need replacement?

Hmmm. Let's see what he told me.
Upper and lower control arms. Spindle something. Basically, I thought, everything that has a bushing as far as the suspension goes.
As you can tell if me and a monkey had a screwdriver and 10 minutes to put in a screw, the monkey would win.
 
RE: Bad bushings do they all need replacement?

FWIW, I paid $800 for new ball joints, control arms and bushings with labor and 4 wheel alignment.
 
RE: Bad bushings do they all need replacement?

$700 doesn't sound too bad if it includes parts. If you're paying someone to do the work, i'd get two new lower control arms, two new upper control arms (officially, the bushings don't come seperately), and new strut rod bushings. If you can get all that done with an alignment for $700, and your car needs half of it, do it. An alignment costs $40-$80 and would need to be done any time any of those parts are changed, so it's a good idea to get them all done in one shot if they're all showing signs of wear and some are worn out.
 
RE: Bad bushings do they all need replacement?

That is my out-the-door price -- parts, labor, etc. So good deal then?
 
RE: Bad bushings do they all need replacement?

Yes. You may want to have them upgrade the bushings to polyeurethane rather than rubber however.

Advantages:

They last forever and actually improve handling.

Disadvantage:

They will make the ride slightly harsher.
 
RE: Bad bushings do they all need replacement?

I'd say it's a pretty good deal. I do all that stuff myself (except the alignment) but with the price of the parts, the hours wrenching, and having to take the car in for an alignment anyway, I'd be tempted to pay someone else for that out-the-door-price.

You might want to ask if that includes the sway bar bushings too. They are easy to relpace while you're in there, and they caused an occasional clunk or thump, coming from the floor in my red Mark.

As far a safety goes, I think I'd worry more about the ball joints (which come with the new control arms) than the bushings.

With your lower mileage they shouldn't be too bad but, I like the added security that comes with new ball joints.
 
RE: Bad bushings do they all need replacement?

Once it's appart it doesn't take much more effort or cost to do it right. Use all the Moog components. Rock auto had some real good prices on them, and you also want to check out the prices for the MN12 frames as the control arms show up cheaper than the Marks do even though its the same item.
 
RE: Bad bushings do they all need replacement?

Roadboss, you have a link and part numbers for some of that?
Thanks.
 
RE: Bad bushings do they all need replacement?

[div class="dcquote"][strong]Quote[/strong]
Once it's appart it doesn't take much more effort or cost to do it right. Use all the Moog components. Rock auto had some real good prices on them, and you also want to check out the prices for the MN12 frames as the control arms show up cheaper than the Marks do even though its the same item.
[/div]

Do NOT use the moog strut rod bushings. They are a total piece of crap. Thermosplastic bushings deform and allow for a lot of play in the suspension within few thousand miles. BLUE moog bushings are NOT problem solvers, they are problem creators.

As far as a good parts list for a complete rebuilt:

lower control arms (use tbird units from Murray's or Rockauto TRW parts) $80-90 for a pair
upper control arms (use Mark8 units from Murray's or Rockauto again TRW) $130 for a pair
Strut rod bushings (use OEM parts, $50 x 2 for the front bushings (at frame), $10 x 2 for the rear( at control arm)) $120

Check tie rods and end links, replace if necessary with TRW/MOOG parts.
 
RE: Bad bushings do they all need replacement?

[div class="dcquote"][strong]Quote[/strong]
Do NOT use the moog strut rod bushings. They are a total piece of crap. Thermosplastic bushings deform and allow for a lot of play in the suspension within few thousand miles. BLUE moog bushings are NOT problem solvers, they are problem creators.
[/div]

This is the first I've heard of this. Has this been your experience? I've had the MOOG stru rod bushings on my 93 and 96 for many thousands of miles with no issue.

Though I do want to point out that MOOG did make some strut rod bushing kits with an incorrect shim(?). They made them about 1/4" too long, so when you put it all together, there is still some play in it. All you need to do it hack off a 1/4" from the shims and they'll work fine.
 
RE: Bad bushings do they all need replacement?

[div class="dcquote"][strong]Quote[/strong]
[div class="dcquote"][strong]Quote[/strong]Do NOT use the moog strut rod bushings. They are a total piece of crap. Thermosplastic bushings deform and allow for a lot of play in the suspension within few thousand miles. BLUE moog bushings are NOT problem solvers, they are problem creators.[/div]This is the first I've heard of this. Has this been your experience? I've had the MOOG stru rod bushings on my 93 and 96 for many thousands of miles with no issue.Though I do want to point out that MOOG did make some strut rod bushing kits with an incorrect shim(?). They made them about 1/4" too long, so when you put it all together, there is still some play in it. All you need to do it hack off a 1/4" from the shims and they'll work fine.
[/div]

There is more to it that just wrong sized sleeve. The bushings are crap. Do a search on tccoa and you'll be surprised how bad they really are. Modifying the sleeve to even shorter than 2.3/4 and cutting off the lip about 1/8" seems to work ok, but still.

Do this test for me. put your car in gear, drive couple feet. Then stop, put your car in reverse, and start backing up. Then tap your brakes rapidly. That clunk or rather thump you hear, yes, it's the moog strut rod bushings at work.
 
RE: Bad bushings do they all need replacement?

After I put in my moogs I started reading threads especially on the tccoa about this issue with the moogs. They do seem like overly hard bushungs. But they have been on my car over a year so far (knock on wood) and no problem yet. But seeing some pics of what has happened I'd go with the ford rubber on this too. They arn't hard to change out that's why I just am leaving them on there for now. But the damn things are hard as rocks with no give.

Jeremi, with mine I don't get any clunks at all, I'm just lucky I guess!
 
RE: Bad bushings do they all need replacement?

front____.JPG

this every thing i need
 
RE: Bad bushings do they all need replacement?

I can't stress this enough. Please use the stock strut rod bushings. They are priced similarly to the moog parts, but in most cases they last 100k miles. No Moog crap will do this.

OEM parts (quoted by Dan)

2x strut rod bushings at frame $41.91 ea (retail $55.88ea.)
4x strut rod bushings at lca $4.10 ea (retail $5.46)

Then buy all the control arms if need be. Moog parts are ok there.
 
RE: Bad bushings do they all need replacement?

I still don't understand the need to go with T-bird control arms. Why? Do they come with grease fittings?
 
RE: Bad bushings do they all need replacement?

[div class="dcquote"][strong]Quote[/strong]
I still don't understand the need to go with T-bird control arms. Why? Do they come with grease fittings?
[/div]

It's not the fitting, it's the price. The Tbird LCA costs less than half of the Mark LCA. And these parts are exactly the same, with different numbers. Check it out the pricing at Rock Auto.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top