feelin bushed

[sovain]

does anyone have solid eyebushing in their 2gen,what the ride like?I have a set and some energy suspension parts as well,will install sometime later.

[Eric Howell]

Steel (bushings) is the best thing that ever happened to my truck.
I'd rather have new rubber then poly.
Not sure what you are asking though.

[6'9"Witha69]

I may be a first gen but, I like the overall ride better with solid everything than I did with Poly.

[86Cutlass383SR]

I have used poly bushings and the Global West Del-A-Lum bushings. The poly was in a stock a-arm and front coil spring 69 Camaro. Both upper and lower arms had the poly bushings. The arms were so tight due to binding about the only "suspension" it had was the tires. It might compress the suspension 1" if you bounced the front end by hand.

On the other hand, I had an 84 Cutlass with the GW DAL bushings in the stock upper and lower arms and 706# IROC springs and that suspension had much more movement.

Overall, the DAL let the suspension do what it was designed to do and the better ride was a result. The poly's binded the suspension and the ride was horrible even with all else being stock and new.

As was said above, solid bushings or new stock rubber.

[JRouche]

Ive changed my entire front and rear to metal on metal in one form or another. The rear has 12 QA1 XM rod ends. The front has my homemade 4140 bushings for the lower arms and SPC race shafts with metal to metal for the uppers. I do have poly for the shockwave mounts. Will prolly stick with them. There is no bind issues with. So both the front and rear are free to rotate, no binding at all. Lets the springs, shocks and roll bar do their job. JR

[Skip Fix]

My TA has had solids for 20+ years. AFCO steel in the lower, Herb Adams steel with Nyliners upper, aluminum rear spring front eyes, sold subframes. It rides smoother than my old full sized Bronco!

[tnbandit]

How do you keep the metal to metal from friction over heat? And seizing? I understand the ride quality being helped, but is it like a sealed roller bearing that replaces the bushings or what?

[Rocco]

As previously stated here, I find the Global West del-a-lum bushings to be a wonderful alternative to a pure poly bushing or stock compliant rubber. I've been running the GW bushings on my 65 Mustang since 1994. They perform wonderfully and are the closest thing to solid metal bushings while still avoiding galling and wear associated with metal to metal ( heim-joints, etc..).

[JRouche]

How do you keep the metal to metal from friction over heat? And seizing? I understand the ride quality being helped, but is it like a sealed roller bearing that replaces the bushings or what?

Bushings are old school tech from WAY back. They were used in most heavy machines before roller bearings came into play. And they worked (and still do) great. The machine designers needed to look at roller bearings for the increased surface speed seen with the higher speed spindles. But bushings have a tremendous load carrying capability, are easy to manufacture and can be made with an adjustable housing to compensate for wear.

Now thats the machine world. In the auto industry they are still used, pretty amazing if you think about it. 100 year old technology is still used in the modern high performance cars. Crankshaft and cam bearings come to mind.

Now, as for lubrication. The old machines of yesterday and the current engine bushings use a thin film of oil to separate the two metal surfaces. There is such a large surface area on the bushing that a thin film is all thats needed. And for the high surface speeds of the rotating spindle or crankshaft a thin film of oil is desired to combat friction.

Now on to the slow moving control arm bushings. Not the heat level seen in spindles so replenishing oil supply isnt needed. They arent gonna fling off a grease, like a high speed spindle will so grease is used.

But there is some high pressures. So a thin grease wont be removed with rotating centrifugal force. But it could be squeezed out of its desired location if it doesnt have the pressure load rating.

So a long wandering answer to your Q? The bushings are greased. Good quality arms have a zerk fitting to apply grease to the friction surfaces of the bushing.

There are a few types of bushings. Metal on metal, metal on plastic and plastic on plastic.

The metal on plastic is very common. Metal on metal is second. And plastic on plastic is uncommon, but IMO the best.

And when I say plastic I am talking about modern plastics. Like delrin also known as acetel and several other trade names. Teflon is also used in the mix as with delrin AF.

Now metal on metal bushings, thats what you asked about. I made some for my lower control arms. Kinda a touchy situation there. Correct clearances are a must. More expensive to used metal/metal bushings if they are made correctly. If the clearances are too loose then there is excess movement and the grease will actually be pushed out sooner do to the slop between the bearing surfaces. So a tight clearance is needed. But the tighter you go the more precision you need. Parallel surfaces, otherwise you cant get the tighter clearances without binding. Then once you have the precise bushings made you may run into parallelism issues with the control arm ends and frame. So then you will get binding from that issue. Helps to have a machine shop at home to test the parts as you make them

So, metal to metal bushings are greased.

I made mine from 4140 PH steel for a lil added toughness so if they do get in touch too much they will have a better wear property than mild steel.

And I did a weeks worth of grease research. I learned more about greases then I thought I would. It came down to one for me. Lubriplate "special auto-marine grease". It has some excellent specs. There is a synthetic that came pretty close, that was my second choice. I think it was an Amsoil synthetic. All greases are NOT the same. Oh, one very high pressure great I liked was way outta my price range, and I think it was only available overseas. I forget which it was, all the info is on my other computer. But they use this stuff on multi ton shafts. It had a large portion of soft metal in it. I wanna say it was a Castrol product.

Anyway, GREASE, answer to your question LOL I kinda went off on a tangent LOL JR

[tnbandit]

So who makes good quality metal bushings for my 78 T/A? Or plastic? Or would I be better going with the del-a-lum bushings? I'm always on a tight budget, just looking for best product with best cost. It will be a street driver not any Auto-X or serious racing. Just want a better handling car. What all bushings should be replaced?

[MonzaRacer]

Give Global West a shout, for street use the del-alum units will give good service and not be "weird" or need a lot of constant maintenance.
some people have issues with polyurethane bushings but my issue is everyone I saw use them had like a small spot of lube, say a teaspoon, to lube like 10 or 12 bushings. When I installed the last few sets I had access to Might Automotive products silicone brake lube, used probably a whole bottle (same size a antiseize bottles) then wiped things off after assembly.
BIG difference over the limited amount that came with them. But I have only done front end work for 20 years. and I have also fount that assembly, leaving bolts just snugged up then dropping ti down, and short ride around block then final torque of fasteners helped immeasurably.
Lee Abel
AFTERMARKET PERFORMANCE

[JRouche]

So who makes good quality metal bushings for my 78 T/A? Or plastic? Or would I be better going with the del-a-lum bushings?

The del-a-lum is plastic. Delrin IS plastic. So yeah, plastic bushings are a good move. The del-a-lum busings are expensive for what you get. But if you dont have a lathe then yer stuck. JR

[79T/Aman]

Delrin is a registerd trade mark of Dupont, that is why it is capitalized

[sovain]

So if i put the solid eye bushing in front and put the poly in back i should have no problems correct?Just as long if i use enough grease.

[g6t6o]

As previously stated here, I find the Global West del-a-lum bushings to be a wonderful alternative to a pure poly bushing or stock compliant rubber. I've been running the GW bushings on my 65 Mustang since 1994. They perform wonderfully and are the closest thing to solid metal bushings while still avoiding galling and wear associated with metal to metal ( heim-joints, etc..).

x2, the del-a-lum while expensive, are amazing!

[79T/Aman]

So if i put the solid eye bushing in front and put the poly in back i should have no problems correct?Just as long if i use enough grease.

I think your original question left much to assumption, but reading this last post I guess that you were asking about leaf spring bushings.
There are many types of "bushings" it is important to list the application in order to get the correct answer.

For leaf spring applications you need to keep the front eye compliant with either rubber or spherical, at the shackle you may use poly.

[sovain]

yeah... sorry about that fella`s!!