Getting ready to do the front end. I have a complete polygraphite kit from PST but I've heard that you should use rubber bushings in the lower control arms. Whats the advantage of rubber in the LCA's?

SOME people claim the bushing comes out of the shell easily, causing the alignment to change. I've been running poly lower bushings since the mid 80's myself & have NEVER had one little bit of trouble with them in 4 different cars. As a matter of fact, if you understand the concept: "for every action there's an opposite & equal reaction" then look at how the front end is layed out, you'll see that it's all but impossible for the bushing pull out of the shells.

Now, let's hear the naysayers scream about how bad poly bushings are... (they wear out too soon, they transmit too much force through then hurting the chassis, they transmit too much vibration making the ride bad, they easily come apart when used in the lower control arms, etc., etc., etc....)

Yeah the real advantage of using rubber is that you won't have people telling you what a mistake you made by installing poly.

...

With remarks like these, I'm not even gonna post about the problems I had.

post them,post them.

Well I have them so I may as well use them. Is there anything else I should replace while the fronts apart? Somthing that's not in the kit?

I used a PST kit on my Dart over two years ago and zero problems. I did change out the inner tie rod ends also. I think the kit only comes with the outers, used new tie rods also.

What about the pitman arm and center link. Do they ever wear out? There has to be some wear on the pivot points

Pitman and idler arms need replaced.

Centerlink is a non-wear item.

copy thanks. What do you think for LCA bushings; poly or rubber?

To me, there are 2 advantages of the rubber LCA bushings over any polyurethane LCA bushing. First, they increase spring rate since the rubber twists in the bushing shells. I think E-berg popped off something like 20 in-lbs extra spring rate over the sliding poly bushings. If you're upgrading t-bars, that may not be a big deal, but if you aren't, the reduced effective spring rate may be noticible.
Second, the rubber bushings are bonded to the shells, which are press-fit to the LCA pivot stud. That locks the LCA in place, and takes care of much of the production tolerances you may or may not find in the suspension. Poly bushings do not do this, and are designed to slide. If all of your suspension is set up right, you won't have a problem.

IMHO, if you're just going to be driving the car, put rubber LCA bushings in. If you're going to be pounding on the car, or driving in a more sporting way, use poly. Be prepared for squeaks, though, especially when it's cold out. After you've driven a bit, the squeaks tend to go away. And if you DO use poly, measure how your strut rods relate to the K-member. Until I sorted that out, I had a helluva time getting a decent alignment in my car. YMMV...

Clair (no rubber bushings anywhere on the Valiant)

I'm at about eight years with poly LCA bushings. Still waiting for any squeaking. If you put in the poly lube the crap out of them when you install them. I did and I haven't had any problems or squeaks.

Yeah, I need a wordfile I can just link to everytime this question comes up.

I had poly LCA bushings in my wagon for a short period of time. The ride was down right SCARY! Any kind of bump or dip in the road, I never knew which way the car was gonna go. The bushings were NOT holding the LCA in place, making the car feel as if I had bald bias-ply tires on the front (darting about, following ruts, etc)

The problem always happened when the suspension was unloaded, ie; the inside wheel when making a turn, the rebound from hitting a bump, etc, etc. On smooth, fresh pavement, all was great.

Oh, and I was getting a real bad CLUNK sound during this too.

Putting the wagon up on a lift (with the suspension just hanging), I WAS able to physically move the LCA back at the bushing using a pry bar. Not a lot, if I had to guess about an 1/8th of an inch or so, but isn't ANY fore-aft movement bad? Doing nothing to the front end except swapping out the lower bushings back to rubber, eliminated ALL the problems I was having.

Now, let me take my best guess as to why things were moving on me as a lot of people seem to not have any problems. '73-up B-bodies have an 'isolated' crossmember for the T-bar mounts. This crossmember is mounted with rubber bushings. It can't move a lot, but it CAN move. I think when the LCA was moving due to the poly bushing, the crossmember was moving some too, exaggerating what was going on. I didn't think to look while the car was on the lift, but its the only explaination I can think of as to why things were moving so much.

If you use them and have no problems, great! The point of my posting is only to show that there is a chance of having a problem with the poly LCA bushing, its not meant as a bash on poly bushings in general.

Satilite73, Listen here Buster, I have the Polys and ,,, Just Kidding. thanks for posting. I have been considering the Polys myself so I like to see everybodys experience. I definatly appreciated yours. I may just stick with the rubbers. I have the 73 A Body Kmember so maybe the polys wouldent be a problem. But your problem with the LCA sliding back and forth was not good and down right dangerous. I dont know what would cause that. I would think the polys would keep the LCA more perfectly in a stable in its travel. But I am not at all familer with the way either of those bushings go together. I am going to learn though because I just peeled what was left of my 1973 factory rubber LCA bushings out by hand. And there wasnt much bushing left. I pretty much made my last pass of the year with no LCA bushings at all. Again thanks for your input. mike

my 30k mile duster still has the original rubber lca bushings and they are fine, so thats what i am putting in when i do a v8 swap and rebuild the front end. USE MOOG problem solver series bushings, they are the best if you decide to keep the rubber style.

in my opinion you really only need the poly if you agressively race the car.

What's the difference between "problem solver" and stock rubber LCA bushings?