I have a four bar front axel set up on my 32' 5-window. I have replaced the bushings in the front end several times. They eventually fail and come out in pieces. They don't get egged out, just brake up into pieces. There is no vibration/bump steer you can feel thru the steering wheel while you are driving. I live in the mountains with lots of curvy roads and some are bumpy and rough. It gets driven frequently when the roads are dry. The bushings are not rubber, but some type of hard plastic. If I can find them, would it be wise to replace them with rubber ones. Also they have a steel insert in them that the bolt goes thru. Any thoughts on the on going pain in the ass would be most appreciated.
Those may be urethane type of bushing material. I have herd stories of the same thing happening . As they age , used for daily driving they brake down and fail. I would recommend going to a factory type of rubber bushing material for your application. Vic
Sounds like urethene bushes. I've had some with over 70,000 miles on them and others haven't lasted a year! I think Pete and Jakes make the good ones. Many are just too tough and break up. They need a bit of flex / squish to them, but not too much! Chris
Squirrel’s right. There is a special lube for the urethane bushings.Installed dry they won’t last long.
Did you try purchasing bushings from Pete & Jakes? Ive been told the S....W.. ones do as you describe!
I have had new j bar bushings break up just sitting on the shelf. Always need to check them every so often and replace .
The first four bars that Pete and Jakes made used rubber control arm bushings from I believe 64 Chevy. You’d have to check diameters. Pete & Jakes sells new utlrethane bushings, Prothane also has bushings.
I always use the oil impregnated brass bushings.The original set I used 30 years ago are still being used. The plastic ones are long gone. . I need to expand what I said. I use them only where the other end has the freedom to rotate. I have used them mostly on leaf spring ends in shackles. I would not put them in both ends of four bar links. One end needs to be able to twist.
The bushings in a four bar setup needs to take quite a bit of movement. It may be wise to have "soft" bushings at least in one end of each bar, to handle such movement. The bushing doesn't just rotate, it twists too.
I have a Pete and Jakes four-bar system that they installed in 1997. I have yet to get the project on the road, but the bushings have since deteriorated and crumble in my hands, so I'm hoping that their bushing packs today are of a higher grade. Otherwise, I'll be looking for rubber bushings, which I'd prefer anyway.
the urethane composition has changed in the past 10 or so years, apparently due to some chemical that is damaging to the environment being removed making the material hydroscopic and degrading the bush. I have had 2 fail like this, some guys building a car over a number of years have had them fail even with out the car hitting the road. If I see 20 year old red polyurethane bushes at swaps I buy them, these typically have the older composition.
I had an O/T vw rabbit a few years ago I put urathane bushings in and they failed rather quickly. I swapped them out with prothane bushings and they lasted a long time , all the suspension bushings cam with a grease fitting and special grease that kinda looked like Vaseline but much more slippery. I ended up swapping the prothane engine mounts out back to stock rubber ones as they where way to stiff. hope this helps to get you the correct compound bushing for the application. Every application needs a different amount of flex jag steering rack bushings from the factory are so soft we used to call them cheddar cheese bushings. we would swap in TRW bushings which were still soft, but stiffer them oem and it made an incredible difference in steering feel without having the car feel rough
Everyone keeps saying the bushings are urethane. The last sets of four bar bushings I got were made of nylon. I don’t think they last nearly as long as urethane. But they don’t squeak. One set was Pete and jakes and one set came from speedway. I did drill and tap the bar ends for grease fittings, so hopefully these last longer.
I had the same thing happen to the bushings in my '32 sedan--4K miles on it. Thinking of machining some Delrin bushings and giving that a try.
I'm running a set of P&J 4 bars on my '33. The newspaper they were wrapped in is/was dated 1979, and they are the black bushings. Been on the shelf till 2018. My uncle bought them and never built the car, but he did have the foresight to also purchase the "new" (I think they're red / orange) microflex urethane bushings with them. After 4,000 miles (so far) the black ones are hanging tough - that included a trip to Knoxville and York.
I have no personal experience with these over time, but a good friend of mine swears by them and he drives his stuff. I’ve had these leftover for quite a while as I used some of them for various mounting situations other than suspension parts. If they’re still available, they did have a couple different sizes and came with an inner steel sleeve that spanned the width of a pair. Hope this helps
I used some from S----W & they did not last to the first oil change. They just crumbled & fell out. I replaced them with Pete & Jake's & have no other problems.
Last year I ordered new bushings for the 4 bar front and rear from TCI, the original were rubber with a steel sleeve's the replacements are urethane and man did it make a big improvement in handling, they replaced the 33 year old bushings. HRP
Just changed a set on my Model A and they came from Speedway. Like the one I had but the flanges had rotten off .But my panard bar was totally gone.But had them in there in the 90's.Bought them at Shades back then.Made it ride a little smoother but Maybe I just think so.
A lot of 4 bar set up's are,not really lined up well*. When installing new centers of any type,looking at how well the end not yet hook/bolted in place=line up with were it is too go? Can tell you if there is some misalignment*. The road movement dose brake up them over time,but if they start out with any misalignment strain,that makes a faster fail. I also think,as already stated,that most new bushings are not made as well. None of the hot rod parts Co. really make there own,it's a outsourced,some may order there name on them < if a big order lets them/also means cost is higher. Over the years,I just keep replacing them,knowing,I should of used rodends to start with,but didn't. When I replaced the hole rearend* n mount design I had before.
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