POLY LOWER CONTROL ARM BUSHINGS?

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?

Aren't the problem solvers for the UCA's? They're the offset bushings that compensate for fatigue in the suspension mounts, aren't they? I'm not aware of problem solvers for the LCA's, but I haven't looked, either.

Clair

as far as i know problem solver is a product line MOOG has. not just the correction bushings offered for mopar uca's.

Thanks, Clair for your input on the polys, and the pictures. mike

Thanks for all the input guys. I'm gonna do some more research before I tear the front end apart. I don't drive the car aggressively (except in a straight line) so maybe rubber lowers would be a better way to go. Have a Merry Christmas everyone

the "problem solver" bushings are just what they say they are: a problem solver bushing! they have the center hole offset. they were meant to be installed in cars with tweaked/sagging front contol arm mounts. the trick is,to install one bushing with the offset one direction and the other bushing with the offset the oposite way(not the way they were intended)...this gives you much more positive caster adjustment.