Lower control arm bushing question

I've done many, many of these in the past. With every one that I've done, I press the bushing into the control arm first, then press the shaft into the bushing. Question? How important is it that the shaft be tight in the bushing? Every one that I have done, the shaft was pressed into the bushing, and was tight. This past weekend, I replaced the bushings for a friend. One shaft was tight the other was not. I could actually pull it out of the bushing by had, very easily! (NOT sloppy loose, just snugly loose) I'm thinking the bushing is defective? With that, will anything be affected having the shaft loose?

the two things that come to my mind is, the bushing is defective or the shaft is excessively worn.

I had to press the shaft out of the old bushing,so I'm leaning toward the new bushing being defective. So, the question still is, how important is it that the shaft be tight?

When the LCA moves up and down throughout the suspensions travel, the LCA bushing is supposed to deflect. If the pin is loose in the bushing, my guess is the inner metal sleeve is going to spin on the pin. That is going to wear the pin...probably very quickly.

This is exactly what I was thinking. I have already told my friend to order another bushing.

What brand bushing?

Don't know what brand. He bought the parts. They came in a Rock Auto box!!!

Moog quality control sucks these days and that is the exact problem with the bad Moog parts.

Join the crowd!!! Seems it is a significant issue with very poor off shore manufacturing quality control. Here is my recent experience. I have several more bushings on order to see if they fit.

https://www.forabodiesonly.com/mopar/threads/lca-pin-loose-in-bushing.465142/

Jim

Does anyone know what brands are good or are they all made by the same factory and and put into branded packaging?

They are not all made at the same factory. The 2 Moog bushings I have are made in India and both are junk.. the 2 AC Delco bushings are made in Mexico and one is good, the other is junk. I have 2 more free replacements coming, so I’ll soon know if they are ok or not. I have 2 Powerforged ones coming later this month. Some have said they are ok, but we will see. Spicer Professional Series is another make and I ordered a couple of those as well!!

The answer to that question About which ones are best is not yet known, from my perspective.
Jim

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Doing this install the way I described, has always worked for me. Doing it the way you suggest, I really don't see any reason to make the job harder? The end result will be the same.

It doesn't matter which order you do them, BUT if you press the bushing into the arm first you must support the inner sleeve from inside the torsion bar socket while pressing the pin in.

Check out my video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2Op00pO6Kw

I have always pushed the bushing into the arm first. Only because I found it easier to support the inner sleeve with a properly sized 1/2" drive socket while pushing the shaft into it than it was to reach around the shaft to push on the outer shell.

But which ever way the installer finds easiest will work. As long as the inner shell is properly supported during the push.

And we had always used Moog suspension parts. Until the last few years. Now they are CRAP! What a shame.

Got another AC Delco bushing today (to replace the bad one) - it was also junk. 0.814" ID vs the Delco spec of 0.810.

Well then either way is OK, but that inner shell needs support.

Is the shaft in spec? I had a case where a new bushing rotated on the shaft. I then tried the same bushing on a different shaft and it fit tightly. So in my case the shaft was out of spec and/or the respective parts were at the opposite limits in their tolerance window.

When I removed the OE shaft, it was tight on the bushing, so, just an educated guess, that the shaft is within specs. The other side went together without any problems. Everything is pointing to the bushing being defective.

My shafts are 0.810" and 0.811" and both were pressed solidly into the old bushings, which were Moog K791 purchased back in 1999