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More caster and camber


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  • 2 months later...

The bushings on the front were working so great, but then what's that I hear? A squeak from the rear. The trailing arm bushings were shot, allowing the arms to rub the subframe. Time for some urethane!

 

Superpro bushing set was $109 (and 2 months wait). That's a lot. I hunted down some bushings that with a little trimming fit perfectly. Daystar M02221, available here for $1.99/ea. 8 are needed per car.

http://www.wfoconcepts.com/pr/YJ-Small-Bushing-1.25-OD-3-4-ID/3190/3485

 

Original on the right, other two are trimmed.

2012-07-14%252020.09.30.jpg

 

Up and into the subframe with a zerk.

2012-07-14%252020.10.00.jpg

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Thanks for doing all the leg work on those bushings, I've been trying to find replacements for a while. A little fyi on your zerks - you should have a hole in the bushing so the grease can make it into the inner part, where it usually starts to squeak first.

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Thanks for doing all the leg work on those bushings, I've been trying to find replacements for a while. A little fyi on your zerks - you should have a hole in the bushing so the grease can make it into the inner part, where it usually starts to squeak first.

 

Thanks, and yes I cut a slot in the bushing (like the fronts) for the grease to get to the inside (the busings have longitudinal slots too) but you can't see it in the pic.

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  • 1 month later...

Thanks Twitch.

 

The camber made the biggest difference in tire wear. I kept having to rotate the tires because the outside on the front was getting chewed away.

 

What I noticed with the caster is that before the caster change the handling was tight (push, understeer) and after it was loose. This means that the front tires have more grip during cornering. I don't really want the car to be loose so I adjusted the f/r tire pressure from what I used to run and now the handling is just how I want it.

 

The radius arm push does tweak the lower control arm bushings. This was part of the motivation for the urethane. I don't have a ton of miles on the urethane but there is no noticeable wear. They're not terribly strained anyway though.

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Thanks for the quick response.

Mind if I ask how many washers and what size you used?

I really need to kill this tire burn. I prematurely killed a set of toyos with that crap.

Also, how close are your tires to rubbing on the front? Anything major? And have your torture tested this mod? Like, rally/streetcross or light offroading? It just don't want to rip out a radius rod midway through a corner and eat a tree. This and my 1" lift should fix my camber issues.

 

Thanks again.

 

Twitch

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Mind if I ask how many washers and what size you used?

 

I used four of these on each side, 2" by 13/16":

http://www.mcmaster.com/nav/enter.asp?partnum=98026A036

 

Also, how close are your tires to rubbing on the front? Anything major? And have your torture tested this mod? Like, rally/streetcross or light offroading?

 

It's close when the wheel is turned, yes. But still at least a finger's width away. It's never rubbed.

 

I have taken it offroad a little, and driven some mountain roads like they're meant to be driven. I'm sure my ~300 HP engine applies a good amount of force to the suspension as well.

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  • 3 months later...
I noticed the lower control arm bushings were looking sad, and I wanted to replace them. From the factory, it seems only the whole arm is available with the bushing pre-installed. No thanks. I saw that SuperPro has these bushings, but Tein quoted me a 2 month lead time! No thanks.

 

I did some digging and I found Energy Suspension 8.2105 could work, looking at the dimensions. And at $21 from Amazon (enough for three cars) they were a deal! I got them in two days. With a little trimming from the cut-off wheel they fit nice into the control arm. I reused the inner sleeve from the old bushing after removing the rubber. The sleeve is a bit small for the bushing by about 0.3mm, but it's a pretty good fit really. If you have a lathe it would take a minute to make slightly larger sleeves; mine is in storage unfortunately.

 

I had urethane on my previous cars and they like to squeak after a while. This time I wanted an easy way to grease them, so I installed a zerk. I squirted some marine grease in there and they're real smooth.

 

Here are the photos:

2012-05-11%252010.43.07.jpg

 

2012-05-11%252010.45.52.jpg

 

2012-05-11%252010.43.30.jpg

Very nice!!! I"ve been wanting to do that but have been lucky enough to have cars that have been good still-but the time will come I"ll have to fix them...:(

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Is there some meat left between those holes on the cross member I'm interested in that modification but I'm not sure if it would past tech for Rally Cross

 

There's a little bit. The strength is from the bolt clamping down.

 

I've gone back and filled in the old holes with the welder, and then ground them flat. Can't even tell they were there. There were no signs of slipping before that though.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I have done crossmember conversions in the past using toyota hilux(Tacoma maybe in the USA) bolts for the contol arms.

They have a built in offset washer arrangement really thick and strong compared to aftermarket types,Similar setups used on Ford Falcons.

 

You slot the hole horizontally in the crossmember and weld some decent 1/4" thick metal for the location of the washer arrangement on both sides,Then you twist the bolt and the offset washers rotate within the welded sections and the inner Control arm locating bolt moves in and out as needed adjusting the camber.

The advantage of doing it this way is it is a factory type setup and gives adjustment individually for both sides for correction purposes also.

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  • 4 months later...

So the control arm hole you drilled looks like about 1/2" out? Is that correct? I ask because I've been entertaining the idea of lengthening my lower control arms between the bushing and the lower brace at the mid section and then sleeving them as well. Since I weld on a regular basis and have a boat trailer I built hauling a 4200lb Mirage (for the last 15 years with no issues), I'm not worried about anything breaking.

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So the control arm hole you drilled looks like about 1/2" out? Is that correct? I ask because I've been entertaining the idea of lengthening my lower control arms between the bushing and the lower brace at the mid section and then sleeving them as well. Since I weld on a regular basis and have a boat trailer I built hauling a 4200lb Mirage (for the last 15 years with no issues), I'm not worried about anything breaking.

 

Yes, I'd say just about a half inch.  It's the bolt diameter plus a few millimeters.

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  • 1 year later...

This is an old thread.  

How are the bushings holding up???

 

 

I've read about shimming the radius rod will cause undue wear to the bushings.

http://offroadingsubarus.com/radius-rod-extensions-increase-caster-angle/

http://offroadingsubarus.com/83-subaru-leone-4dr-4wd-radius-rod-mod/

 

I was thinking of replacing the bushing with a uniball.   This would also get me adjustable camber from the bottom.  

Thoughts????

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I'd be curious to hear how the rear bushings have fared.

Because the pivot point through the rear arms isn't along the bolt centre line, the bushes actually twist & compress, which I think would flog out urethane versions in short time.

 

I've also never liked the washers on the front radius rod idea either. The threaded section is thinner than the bar, which is normally within the mount, but now its pushed out of its "cocoon"

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Frankly I haven't paid them any attention since I put them in.  There are no funny noises or looseness.  Just got new tires (Yokohama AD08 R), still handles awesome.  Old tires wore perfect!  I'll take a peek and let you guys know if the bushes are wearing at all.

 

A uniball will work fine I imagine, just be noisy and clunky!

 

The reason urethane is used is due to their ability to be firm yet flexible.  In all sorts of suspensions the rotational axis is not the same as the bushing axis, not really a problem.  On the radius rod I have installed a steel sleeve the same O.D as the bar over the threaded part; this is what allows everything to stay clamped together, so this not a problem either.

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and, not for those willing to do their own engineering, more for those with money to spend and for EA81 only ? not sure...K-Mac suspension in Sydney, Australia do a kit to get camber adjustment up to 2 degrees ? out of the lower control arm inner. Is weld on item and uses Ford or Ford style camber adjuster bolts

 

Happy to report that the link for the $1.99 bushings stil works, important question is about the sleeves - did you fit the bushes up sleeveless or did you reuse, or buy metal sleeve inserts? If so, size choice of two ...thinking half inch ones ?

Edited by jono
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