RE: Front Lower A arm bushings

[Hirsch <Catenary@domain.elided>]

Bob Brady wrote:
>> I am getting a little front end shake (if I let go of the
steering wheel on the highway, or under very heavy braking).
Upper arms have been replaced as have the castor arm bushings
and all tie rod ends... <<

Are you using FRAP upper control arm with their stock castor
bushings? When I last got FRAP arms they normally come with
the old style caster bushings which require plastic washers
that were unavailable.

The solution to this problem is to replace the stock caster
bushings in the Frap arms with caster bushings designed for
"washerless" applications. I just did this and the "clunking
on hard braking problem" does disappear. (To do this, I had
to remove the control arms, cut out the old bushings and
press in the new ones, although one AD poster did this
in situ).

Comparing the new bushings to the old, the new ones have
substanially smaller voids in the rubber and are quite a
bit stiffer. Another way the new bushings differ is that
they have an outer shell of urethane, rather than steel.

One other thing I've noticed about Frap suspension components
in general, is that if you remove the boot from a Frap ball
joint, you'll see a very small dollop of grease. I always peel
back the boot and add more good quality grease. I don't know
if this increases the lifetime of these joints any, but it
makes me feel better.

Rich
'87 Milano
'78 Spider
'67 Duetto
'66 Sprint GTV
Editor, i Saluti, St Louis AROC
Website: http://www.catenary.com/victor/isaluti

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