Premature CAB Failure

[stanno]

Hi all;

Sometime late last year i installed new control arm bushings and now, they are failing.

I know the ones i bought weren't genuine, but i hardly think that's why they're busting up.

Lemme be specific. The half bushings that are pressed into the section that the stabilizer bar is inserted into are the ones failing on both the left and right. Could it be that i installed the retainers the wrong way? cuz somethings telling me i did. or maybe i overtightened the nut on the threaded end of the stabilizer bar?

Anyone ... help!

[blu_91_cam]

This happened to me as well on a set that I bought off ebay. I had the car aligned, then took the car back to get it aligned cause I got new tires and the tech told me that one of my tie rod was shot so I replaced that, six months later control arms were shot.

Reasons I think may have caused it
-bad alignment
-bad control arm
-I have herd that when your finally tighten off the control arm you should make sure to do it with the car off the jacks, to ensure that the full load of the vehicle is on them before finally tightening, cause sometimes we dont tighten them enough allowing for play that will eventually wear away the rubber.

I was too scared of generics so I went on rockauto and picked up a pair of control arms with ball joints from beck and arnley

[JOET/CAMRY]

Originally Posted by stanno

Hi all;

Sometime late last year i installed new control arm bushings and now, they are failing.

I know the ones i bought weren't genuine, but i hardly think that's why they're busting up.

Lemme be specific. The half bushings that are pressed into the section that the stabilizer bar is inserted into are the ones failing on both the left and right. Could it be that i installed the retainers the wrong way? cuz somethings telling me i did. or maybe i overtightened the nut on the threaded end of the stabilizer bar?

Anyone ... help!

Thats odd the bushings wore out that soon. I bought some polyurethane bushings off of ebay for the lower control arms of my 1989 Camry. Same bushings You replaced. That was around 5-6 years and many miles ago and havent had any problems with them. The inner bushings for the lower control arms are the original ones put in at the factory. BTW I cranked down the nuts on the threaded end of the stabilizer bar after replacing the bushings.

JOET/CAMRY

[stanno]

Originally Posted by blu_91_cam

This happened to me as well on a set that I bought off ebay. I had the car aligned, then took the car back to get it aligned cause I got new tires and the tech told me that one of my tie rod was shot so I replaced that, six months later control arms were shot.

Reasons I think may have caused it
-bad alignment
-bad control arm
-I have herd that when your finally tighten off the control arm you should make sure to do it with the car off the jacks, to ensure that the full load of the vehicle is on them before finally tightening, cause sometimes we dont tighten them enough allowing for play that will eventually wear away the rubber.

I was too scared of generics so I went on rockauto and picked up a pair of control arms with ball joints from beck and arnley

You have a couple good points. I haven't aligned the car and i know the rack ends on it are shot, i just never expected them to have this big an effect on the bushings :S.

I did read in the manual that you should really tighten those components after you first lower the vehicle and bouncing the front of vehicle (like you would to test the shocks) to stabilize the suspension. . I didn't do that

I figured it's my own fault, live and you learn, thank God the bushings are cheap... just the work to get the control arms back off and take 'em to the machine shop up the road from my house.

Originally Posted by JOET/CAMRY

Thats odd the bushings wore out that soon. I bought some polyurethane bushings off of ebay for the lower control arms of my 1989 Camry. Same bushings You replaced. That was around 5-6 years and many miles ago and havent had any problems with them. The inner bushings for the lower control arms are the original ones put in at the factory. BTW I cranked down the nuts on the threaded end of the stabilizer bar after replacing the bushings.

JOET/CAMRY

Polyurethane bushings? wonder if they're any more available . Would be a sweet upgrade.

I think it's my fault though, I'll be sure to follow the manual's instructions this time around.

Thanks for the help guys.
Stanno

[white90dx]

If you put rubber bushings in there and tightened them up without the car in its static position, you would wear out the bushings just like you describe. You can also tighten then up, then have the car aligned (necessary!!!) - and ask the guys to loosen and tighten everything that you worked on. Since they have the 4-post lift, they can easily get to all the fasteners with it in the static position.

You should be able to find the poly bushings on ebay (cheap ones, not performance ones) - that's what I did with my Alltrac when I bought it. it now has all performance bushings on it with an upgraded swaybar...

With the poly bushings, you just grease everything up and you can tighten all the bolts/nuts with the car off the ground. Instead of flexing the rubber, the inner sleeve moves in the poly - so it doesn't need to be in its final orientation before tightening.

-Charlie

[stanno]

Originally Posted by white90dx

If you put rubber bushings in there and tightened them up without the car in its static position, you would wear out the bushings just like you describe. You can also tighten then up, then have the car aligned (necessary!!!) - and ask the guys to loosen and tighten everything that you worked on. Since they have the 4-post lift, they can easily get to all the fasteners with it in the static position.

You should be able to find the poly bushings on ebay (cheap ones, not performance ones) - that's what I did with my Alltrac when I bought it. it now has all performance bushings on it with an upgraded swaybar...

With the poly bushings, you just grease everything up and you can tighten all the bolts/nuts with the car off the ground. Instead of flexing the rubber, the inner sleeve moves in the poly - so it doesn't need to be in its final orientation before tightening.

-Charlie

Thanks Charlie.

The bushings i put in were the half bushings, and the section that was pressed into the control arm were metal. Are these the ones you're referring to as rubber bushings?

These are the actual bushings i installed.

[blu_91_cam]

Originally Posted by white90dx

If you put rubber bushings in there and tightened them up without the car in its static position, you would wear out the bushings just like you describe. You can also tighten then up, then have the car aligned (necessary!!!) - and ask the guys to loosen and tighten everything that you worked on. Since they have the 4-post lift, they can easily get to all the fasteners with it in the static position.

You should be able to find the poly bushings on ebay (cheap ones, not performance ones) - that's what I did with my Alltrac when I bought it. it now has all performance bushings on it with an upgraded swaybar...

With the poly bushings, you just grease everything up and you can tighten all the bolts/nuts with the car off the ground. Instead of flexing the rubber, the inner sleeve moves in the poly - so it doesn't need to be in its final orientation before tightening.

-Charlie

Hey Charlie what do you mean by "performance bushings"? Cause I only found one supplier of poly bushings for the gen 2 in all of my online searches.
Oh and not to thread jack but could you recommend a good poly sway bar bushing for the stock sway bar? mines shot and only supplier I could find was from toyheadauto.com

[atobe]

superpro makes them for our cars.. i've had mine for a long time now.

[white90dx]

Originally Posted by stanno

Thanks Charlie.

The bushings i put in were the half bushings, and the section that was pressed into the control arm were metal. Are these the ones you're referring to as rubber bushings?

These are the actual bushings i installed.

I can't tell from the picture if they are polyurethane or rubber. If the inner sleeve can rotate in the bushing, you can tighten everything up in the air, if it doesn't rotate freely in the bushing, you have to tighten it at normal ride height.

-Charlie

[stanno]

I doubt the sleeve could've been rotated inside the rubber.

[JOET/CAMRY]

Originally Posted by white90dx

I can't tell from the picture if they are polyurethane or rubber. If the inner sleeve can rotate in the bushing, you can tighten everything up in the air, if it doesn't rotate freely in the bushing, you have to tighten it at normal ride height.

-Charlie

Here is a photo that I took of the polyurethane bushings I bought of of Ebay. This kit was for to replace bushings for both the drivers and passengers side. It looks like the sleeves were 2 different lengths.



Yea, that inner sleeve was free to turn so I tightened the nuts up for the most part when the car was on the jackstands. Once I lowered the car to the ground I tightened them up more if needed. I remember lubricating them with no seize as i read online that was a better choice to use on polyurethane than regular grease. They were replaced back in 2006 and I have had no problems since. BTW I burned out the old bushings using a propane torch. I let them catch fire and burn up. Was told by my nextdoor neighbor (that worked in salvage yards in the past) thats the best way to remove the old bushings.

JOET/CAMRY

[blu_91_cam]

Originally Posted by atobe

superpro makes them for our cars.. i've had mine for a long time now.

Where could you find superpro bushings for the gen2 now a days?

[white90dx]

Originally Posted by blu_91_cam

Where could you find superpro bushings for the gen2 now a days?

Tien USA is the US distributor for them now (instead of Whiteline). I don't know how hard they are to get these days, as the ones I have are 5+ years old...

-charlie