DJVSMARKVIII
New member
Has anyone seen this happen to new bushing only 2 weeks old? The other side is missing!!
New Strut Rod Bushing failure!
- Thread starter DJVSMARKVIII
- Start date
LINCOLNBOY
New member
Overtighten maybe but looks cheap
+1...not as good as poly...not as reliable as rubber.
But they perform better than rubber (when their not cracking!), which is why the blue ones are still in mine.
DJVSMARKVIII
New member
They were installed correctly and as far as over compressing them goes, it felt like the end caps tightened up with very minimal bushing compression. I've heard that aftermarket bushings were bad, but I didn't expect this. I did notice that the nut is brown and there seems to be a blister mark on the bushing as if heat was applied.
I never moved the nut in hopes of keeping alignment relatively close to what it was prior to new bushings. I wonder if the Lincoln dealer may have heated the nut to move it during the aligment and the resulting heat weakend the bushings? I ended up buying Ford bushings and I'm going to machine up the replacement sleeves since you cant buy them anymore individually. The endcaps are in perfect shape. You can buy a rebuild kit from Ford that includes the end caps, bushings and sleeves for $240 PER SIDE! I got the bushing for both sides for $41. I cant believe the mark up on some of this stuff.
I never moved the nut in hopes of keeping alignment relatively close to what it was prior to new bushings. I wonder if the Lincoln dealer may have heated the nut to move it during the aligment and the resulting heat weakend the bushings? I ended up buying Ford bushings and I'm going to machine up the replacement sleeves since you cant buy them anymore individually. The endcaps are in perfect shape. You can buy a rebuild kit from Ford that includes the end caps, bushings and sleeves for $240 PER SIDE! I got the bushing for both sides for $41. I cant believe the mark up on some of this stuff.
The blister is a side effect of the bushing's manufacture...it is called thermoplastic. Whether this was any indication of defect, I don't know.
MOOG are both 'bad' and 'improved design'...they corrected their own mistake.
The absolute best would be delrin, but unless DLF makes a batch, the next best thing is poly. I don't know who they are made by, but I think Bill at supercoupeperformance.com sells them. Be prepared to drop around $300 for a set though.
The blue thermoplastic MOOG bushings are a good compromise because they perform almost as well as poly, but for only $70.
I also see that Raybestos makes a 'professional grade' set for around the same price. The picture on rockauto.com looks like poly. Can anyone confirm?
That would definitely be better than paying $300 for an entire front end set.
Last edited:
The Ford rubber bushings also cause a loss in handling and steering feel...new or old.
DLF
New member
Delrin would not be the correct material for the forward strut rod bushings, as they need to be somewhat flexible. A soft poly or hard rubber would be best IMHO.
SCP sells Poly forward bushings for $70.99.
Last edited:
DLF
New member
The complete forward strut rod bushing kits can be had for just a little over $100 a set (you need 2), or if you just need the rubber bushings, without the spacers and washers, they're very cheap @ about $4.24 x 2 and $8.46 x 2.
Oh...didn't know Bill was selling partial sets now. Front AND rears are $130 (doesn't make sense to do only the frame bushings...then the control arm ones will give out) compared to $70 for thermoplastic. Not enough incentive to change out my blue ones now, but definitely a worthwhile item if I ever have to tear everything apart again.
For everyone else out there, SPEND THE EXTRA MONEY...just not on the Ford ones.