308 Rear Suspension Rebuild with Pics

Ric,
Ditto on the surprise.

I knew the rubber bushings are bonded & assumed the poly ones were also. Both my & Jonathan's ES bushings thae poly insert fits tight enough on the inner & outer sleeves that I didn't detect they weren't bonded by handling them. This little tidbit never came up in any of the suspension rebuild threads I've read!

OK Jonathan, you win(LOL),
w/the poly bushings sliding inside & around the metal cyls you don't have to have the suspension loaded when you torque them down.

IMHO, not having to deal w/suspension loading after installing the bushings is enough to justify going to poly bushings all by itself!

Sometimes years of experience gets in the way of recognising something has changed...

Embarassedly,

 

Is it possible to leave a old bushinghouse in place, cut one site of the metal ring of the inner cylinder and burn or cut the rubber out of the bushinghouse.? Then you can put the new polyurethane bushing in the old bushinghouse with the new inner cylinder (if the diameter is the same). It will save you work and welding of the new bushings. Anyone did try this??
Guido

 

With luck, I should finish the complete suspension rebuild today. Having read all the posts I spot welded the rear inner bushings but only used red "Lock Tight" on the front inner bushings. I'm considering spot welding the front also - shold be able to get at it without removing the components again. When the car is down on its wheels it seems to sit 2 or so inches to high. I trust (read hope) that it will settle after it is driven. Comments on this???Then an alignment should complete the job.

 

I just had to say that I loved the pic of Verell with the press...
I imagine my face looked about the same while doing mine, except when I was uttering choice words of encouragement to the bushings,... mother*#@..

Not much progress on my 308 lately as I have been dealing with the joys of recovering from a flooded basement.
But I did order a new radiator with shroud and fans from Ron Davis Racing,
and I'll post pics when it gets here.

Thanks for the great posts guys!

 

I dont have any old bushing here, otherwise I'm shure would find out if its possible or not. Let me know the result. Others will thank you also for it, I'm shure. With some picture to show us how it will be....thanks,
Guido

 

Looks like more trouble than just replacing the whole shebang.

 

Hmm, since the old rubber is bonded to both the inner & outer sleeves, it'll probably require taking a torch to the bushing to get it apart. Then would have to thoroughly clean the inside of the outer sleeve with a wire brush. Can't sandblast as the poly bushing rotates inside the sleeve.

Once it's apart & cleaned up, the oem sleeve's dimensions need to be checked to verify that they exactly match the poly bushing's sleeve. In particular, the ID must match. Probably could be a couple of thou undersize, but can't be oversize.

An interesting experiment.

BTW, Jonathan, I can't remember if we tossed the old bushings at Earls or not. If not, may still be in my trash. Will try to remember to ck when I get back.

 

I took apart one of my old bushings just for fun and would think you could not rebuild one.
the rubber is pressed into the outside sleeve- then inside tube in inserted-- then the (2) outside "washers" parts are pressed onto the inside tube and the tube is rolled out or flared to capture them.

PS the best way to get one apart to play with is to drill out the center of one side washer just a bit and it will pop off. then take a larger (like 3/4) drill and bore down thru the rubber..

 

Verell and Atlantaman,

You can pry off the washer and hammer it flat to reuse. Then use a pair of dikes to bend the lip of the inner sleeve straight again. Us a socket the same diameter of the inner sleeve and just press the inner part out on a press. Then the rubber inners come right out. See my post on 348 suspension rebuild with my new race spring/shock combo from Rob Shermerhorn on this list. I rebuilt my suspension using Delrin rod I cut on a lathe. It is really easy and the performance of the delrin is amazing with imperceptable ride quality degragation but huge handling improvement. You can do this easily on the 308's

 

Are those the bushings or rubber bushings on the right ?
Seems to me,once the outer ring from inner cylinder is cut, and all rubber is removed, the poly will fit. Someone find out the externel diameter of a poly bushing and internal diameter of old bushinghouse ?
Guido

 

Where will I find this tread of your rebuild suspension, are there pictures to ??

 

I dod not know. I am not very computer literate but it is on FC. Under 348 suspension or 348 suspension rebuild I can't remember and i am not computer literate. There were pictures.

 

I just asked that question, because I feeled sorry for the havy efforts Verell whas making to press the bushings in again.(see pictures with his red face.)
Birdman, you still could powdercoated the arms but completly. Still a nice job you did there. Thanks for sharing it with us.
PS : now that we are almost shure, we can put poly bushings in the old shell, maybe we can get new bushings without outer shell, will save us some money, dont you think ?
Guido

 

If we could just get the Tuna to eat the mayonnaise.

 

CONGRATS Birdman. Enjoy the Drive

 

I'll be ready to replace all my bushings within the next 2 weeks or so. Anything learned yet on installing the polly bushings into existing housings without grinding entire bushing assy? Has anyone tried yet?

 

Dave, are you getting new oem bushings or going aftermarket? Where is the source for your bushings? (can you give me contact info)

I am going to upgrade to aftermarket shocks springs and sway bars but I do not know where to start looking for all the needed bushings and not get taken to the cleaners.

 

I did this but used the stock bushings, to load the rig I jacked up the hub until the car was just off the stands. I tried to tig weld them in but it was to hot had to mig weld them and yes be ready with a wet rag!!! I also slipped a bar the same size as the hole 9mm? through the bushings when I welded them in, not sure this is important but was suggested by another f-mechanic so i did it! I wish i used poly bushings but now I need to do the fronts!!!

 

I just ordered new shocks, springs, and poly-graphite bushings from http://summitracing.com.
For all four corners it was just over $1K. About half the stuff was on back-order but they say it will all ship within three weeks. Haven't found out about sway bars or bushings for them yet.

Edit: the bushings were $18.99 each!!

 

Talk to Nick (Nick's Forza). Just left a message with him today. He has the graphite impregnated bushings. I'm also looking for a front/rear swaybar up grade so let me know if you find anything. Just saw another thread tonight that suggests he may have the swaybars as well.

 

Thanks guys, I will look into this more when I get my car back and have the new wheels installed (and hopefully the interior completely hammered out at that time.)