Rear Suspension Upgrades

[rubio9800]

i

About using poly bushings....

I'm a Chevy C10 guy & have done suspension work on @ least a dozen early truck-arm set-ups. Back in the day I had one of my trucks apart making some changes & decided to put new bushings in the arms (rear T/A's). Unfortunately, I could not get any stock style rubber bushings & had to use poly; specifically Energy Suspension brand. I swapped them in & rolled w/it. After some time on the road the creaking started. Trying to lube them didn't seem to make any impact as they'd start making noises again (you usually would hear it when doing the turn-in to a different height entrance/driveway etc). The truck was only on the road w/that set-up from '99 -'05 before things were changed/upgraded again.

I still had/have the arms since they're good for mocking things up. A guy on one of my other forums needed some info earlier this week so I pulled them out from storage to click off a few pics for him. I was not expecting the shape they were in. The feel can be described as like touching driveway/side-walk concrete. <6yrs of limited service life (3k miles a year?) & stored indoors since....

I would try to find something w/spherical joints or Delrin if feeling the need to upgrade over new rubber bushings.

interesting, never heard of Delrin, i'll read up on it

Silly question? I never done bushing replacement, all the videos i seen so far the rear end is not on the car.
Do i have to take it all out?

thanks

 

[64nailhead]

To change the two in the housing it sure is easier with the rear out. At a bare minimum I’d say pull the gas tank.

You have to hit them to get the old ones out and you have to really hit them to get the new ones in. Very similar to driving 16 or 20 penny nails - you can tap a nail 20 times and get it in about an inch or two, or you can HIT it in 4 hits and sink it.

And they go in a bunch easier if you’re hitting on them squarely.

 

[rubio9800]

To change the two in the housing it sure is easier with the rear out. At a bare minimum I’d say pull the gas tank.

You have to hit them to get the old ones out and you have to really hit them to get the new ones in. Very similar to driving 16 or 20 penny nails - you can tap a nail 20 times and get it in about an inch or two, or you can HIT it in 4 hits and sink it.

And they go in a bunch easier if you’re hitting on them squarely.

got it!!!!!

 

[melloelky]

don't rule out new rubber bushings,gotta think how old yours are,a new rubber set will be better than your current ones that are 41 years old.
poly's always a crap shoot.thing's like sway bar/end links are fine as they're small and available in grease-able form.those roto-joints from UMI offer the mobility of a rod end but in a cleaner grease-able form that's sealed up to keep the elements out that a street car sees.any bushing aside from a O.E style rubber one will transfer a SMALL amount of noise/harmonics into the chassis as they offer less insulation by design vs a rubber product.that's the trade off,you get a firmed ride w/maybe a little transfer.some people don't notice it at all.I'm running roto joints all around and it is a difference.

 

[bracketchev1221]

I would use rubber in the housing. I had solid joint bars in my 70 chevelle and still left the rubber bushings in the upper rear. Went 1.47 in 60’ going 10.50’s.

 

[rubio9800]

don't rule out new rubber bushings,gotta think how old yours are,a new rubber set will be better than your current ones that are 41 years old.
poly's always a crap shoot.thing's like sway bar/end links are fine as they're small and available in grease-able form.those roto-joints from UMI offer the mobility of a rod end but in a cleaner grease-able form that's sealed up to keep the elements out that a street car sees.any bushing aside from a O.E style rubber one will transfer a SMALL amount of noise/harmonics into the chassis as they offer less insulation by design vs a rubber product.that's the trade off,you get a firmed ride w/maybe a little transfer.some people don't notice it at all.I'm running roto joints all around and it is a difference.

thanks for sharing your experience
i'm all new to this , been tinkering around slowly

i plan to do rubber bushings with roto joints

 

[rubio9800]

I would use rubber in the housing. I had solid joint bars in my 70 chevelle and still left the rubber bushings in the upper rear. Went 1.47 in 60’ going 10.50’s.

that's the plan now, thanks

 

[deanlemans81]

For a in-expensive front sway bar upgrade, look for a 34 or 36 mm front bar from a third gen TransAm GTA. I will bolt right in using the TA bushings

 

[Rt Jam]

What improvement are you looking for? The biggest problem with the 4 link set up is locating the axle side to side. Many call it the G body shuffle.

To allow for articulation, when the axle is not parallel to the bumper. Things need to twist. The factory allows this by using rubber bushings. They have enough compliance to twist or tilt.
The reason some are against poly is that twist still happens, even more so with a solid AF control arm. Now the mount is taking a serious beating. This is best answered with roto joints, they easily can twist. In reality it's all a compromise since an angled arm or 2 is not the best way to control something. A straight one would be better. Anyone who had tried to shake a G body or a fox body side to side, then try this on a GNX or F body will understand.

 

[ssn696]

The GNX ended up with a torque arm that bolted between an add-on crossmember behind the transmission and a modified differential cover that had a mounting bracket. Side to side was controlled by a panhard bar. Both solutions were much like the 80s F bodies.