PolyBushings.com

bremereric

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They offer some torsion bar bushings that others don't...and don't worry they arrive in black...I think they merely changed the color to make it show up better in the pictures...

Torsion Bar Bushings
Dodge/Chrysler/Plymouth

1976-1989 (see list below, left)
Replacement Bushings made from Polyurethane
Metal parts are not included!

#1100 Set includes the 2 center bushings. These are a hard polyurethane
to keep the torsion bar funtioning as it should. Includes the bushings
only, not the metal parts. You will re-use your metal parts. It does
include PolyLube. Made of high quality, suspension grade polyurethane. Part number PB1100
$49 Kit (Includes 2 center bushings and polylube)
Plus $7 Shipping (USA)

#1102 Set includes the 2 round, end isolator bushings. These are a soft
firm polyurethane to keep the torsion bar isolated. Includes the bushings
only, not the metal parts. You will re-use your metal parts. It does
include PolyLube. Made of high quality, suspension grade polyurethane.
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]These are also available in hard for race applications by special request.[/FONT] Part number PB1102
$69 Kit (Includes the 2 end bushings and polylube)
Plus $7 Shipping (USA)
Getting Both Sets-Shipping on both sets is $11 - Priority Mail (USA)

1100.gif

1102.gif

 
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8D5 Gran Fury

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What, no neon green? After I plaster my car w/JDM stickers I'll need other tacky things to draw more attention to me...
 

underdog39

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The owner of poly bushings and myself got this project started. i sent him brand new moog bushing and torsion bar bushings with shells and he sent me back the harder racing bushings which are blue. yes i was the guinea pig and shelled out the cost for new stuff for him to make molds off of. those are actually my parts in the picture on his web site that are on my car. I don't remember his name right now, Maybe Pete? but what a great guy to deal with. I advertisted for him abit and showed his stuff to the guys on Moparchat.com also. I also put his website up in the Mopar parts system called Star Parts. But he makes alot of bushings for other vehicles as well. very talented at what he does and good guy to talk with on the phone. he didn't have the black ready yet when racing season started so i got the blue ones. maybe since they are the prototypes they'll be worth something some day. LOL
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c375/dvcoo/TORSIONBAR.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c375/dvcoo/bushing.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c375/dvcoo/pivot.jpg
http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c375/dvcoo/mount-1.jpg
 

L98TPI

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Just got a set in yesterday. The inners are black and the ends are the brite blue as in the top photos. Color is not a big deal for me.
 

L98TPI

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I am in the process of splitting the shells right now. And let me tell you its a right bugger, compared to GM parts I have done the same to.

You got two methods as I see it.
1. Drill out the four spot welds. Pick a bit that is about 1/8 wider than that ovoid shaped dimple that is the spot weld on the bottom. Use a quality drill and plan on sharpening it for every weld. Its hardened in that spot from the welding.

2. Use a thin cold chisel to spread the shell halves at the bolt slot. Then cut down through the groove you made with a thin cutting wheel in a small angle grinder, till you weaken the weld enough you can break it with the chisel. Hammer the parts back flat and grind up smooth any nastiness you made.

I did 1 first and found it slow and miserable. So I had a think and tried #2. You might think you are ruining the shell. and it comes out a bit scratched up, but its so much faster. Oh yea...it might not be obvious at first but you do have to grind off that cross rivet on the end and punch it out. then the whole assembly of the sway bar mount and bushing comes off the bar end. With a little persuasion. :)
 

L98TPI

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I got back on the 5th Ave after fighting a few other fires. And I must say what a muther bleeper its been so far.

I could not budge the cross rivet after cutting off the heads on both ends. So I center punched the rivet as close as I could to the center on both sides. Progressively I drilled out the rivet, being careful not to wallow out the holes in the tubes. That would make end play in the 'strut rod' function of the torsion bar.

On the other side I am not going to cut off the rivet heads first. It makes it hard to see the dead center of the rivet to punch it. As you work up through your drill index drilling out the rivet, stop when you touch the shell tubes if you are a bit off center. Its better to under drill it a bit and depend on the puller to break off the remaining shell. Turns out the rivet is 12mm. So I need to get a 12mm hard bolt to go back, one with as few threads as possible so at least one side is not pulling on threads. And a locking nut.

Even after drilling the rivet I had to use my heavy duty bearing splitter - puller to pull the bushing/sway bar mount tubes off the torsion bar. It was a hard pull even after the last little bit of rivet sheared off. I don't know how any one with out a puller like this would get these devils, that were never supposed to be removed, off the bar. Do not think you will just hammer them off the bar. :eusa_think:

0523142100.jpg


Now to clean the rubber off the bar and shell, drill out the remainder of the rivet, install the poly bushings, re assemble and <groan> do the other side. This better be worth it. :protest:

0523142100.jpg
 
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NoCar340

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Here's a thought for the other side... know anybody with a wood stove in their garage, or a good fire pit? Burn the bushing out of the other one. I'll bet it puts a lot of tension on that casing. If you've never seen a lower control arm for an old, longitudinal-bar Mopar pressed out, they expand to about 3-4 times their original diameter. Of course, they're a lot easier to get out but the metal outer shell stays in the control arm. That can be an absolute bastard to remove.
 

Sublime440

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I just joined this site as I'm working on an '89 AHB. I'm replacing the tbar bushings this weekend and I'm very confused on how exactly you replace the end bushings. Do you have to drill out the rivet or is there a way to split the shell? Or, can you drill out the rivet and replace the end bushing without splitting the shell? I couldn't see how you would slide the shell back over the bushing with the large flange on each end of it. It looks like you separated the shell in the picture of it being pull off the bar...how did you separate the shell? Why did you have to remove the rest of the hardware just to replace the bushing after getting the shell off?

Thanks
 
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L98TPI

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I finally finished this night mare. So I am updating.

0529141618.jpg

FIRST! Mark deeply where the bar end trunnions are in the receivers with a cold chisel, BEFORE you back them off.

For the 2nd side.

On the end bushing shell. I just kept chiseling in the split till I weakened the weld enough to crack. The end shell is rather thin and drilling the spots or bending open the split and cutting with the thin cut off abrasive wheel, wasted to much material.

For the pivot bush shell I did the split the bend, cut with the wheel less and chiseled more. I could barely lift my arms after a couple hours of that.

0528141934.jpg
Drilling the rivet.
On this 2nd go round I didn't cut off the rivet head first. I jigged it up in my mill drill making sure it was square and level so I wouldn't drill into the bar. After center punching the rivet head I drilled up in three stages ending up with 7/16" which is shy of the slightly under 12mm hole in the bar. This left a shell that was easy to punch out. The 7/16" is under size enough that if you are off a taste you wont cut the shell holes or drill in to the bar. This pic is after drilling the rivet, here I am drilling the hole out a few 10ths of a mm to 12 mm. Because...

0528141934b.jpg
End bush ready to go.
Turns out the hole in the shells is just clearance for a 12mm bolt. So the bar hole had to go to 12mm. The 1st ends had to be pulled off. See above post. The 2nd just tapped off with a mallet. :confused3: go figure.

0529141120.jpg
Bolt length.
I selected a 12mm bolt and washers that would put the most un-threaded shank into the bar. Tightened them to 55 ft-lbs.

I could have drilled out to 1/2" ...13mm but I didn't want to cut into a part like a torsion bar any more than necessary. I recommend at least a drill press to do this. It's tough free hand to drill accurately enough. So over sizing to 1/2" might be a back up plan if you have to when you cut the holes in the bar wonky.

All this hole size fuss is because the torsion bars are also the lower strut rods. A clever arrangement. I didn't want to create a situation where there was any slack to work out the holes down the road.

When its all together crank the bars back to the marks you made. Anti seize on the jack bolts is a good idea. Its likely, if the height was cranked up to compensate for bad bushings at some point, it will be an inch or so high. The height should be 12-1/2" from the tip of the forward sub frame mounting bolt to the ground. A little lower like 1/2" is ok if the rear has sagged a bit. Make sure the height is right before alinement. Just changing the T bar bushings shouldn't change the alinement, but I had to change the idler and steering arms and some dummy had tweaked the toe with worn parts in place. :cussing:

It drives good so far. After an alinement and a set of tires? We shall see. But let there be no doubt this is a miserable job. All day, a long day. I had to break mine up over a couple weeks, due to pulling my back, maybe that kept me from cussing and throwing things. :tongue3:

0529141120.jpg


0528141934.jpg


0528141934b.jpg


0529141618.jpg
 
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L98TPI

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The end bushing "holder" is actually two pieces. One long tube with the big end washer welded on and then the sway bar connector end, that slips over the longer tube. The whole shebang slips over the bar end, all the holes lining up.

One final word about how to split the shells. If you have a welder and are careful not to melt the poly bushings. Then drilling out the spot welds may be the quicker way. But the spots are hard from the welding like most welds are, so top quality drills and a Drill Doctor handy to keep them sharp. Then plug weld the drill holes.
 
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L98TPI

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Here is why the book is just wrong on driving the rivets out.
0626141604.jpg

When the factory assembled the bars to the tubes they used a great honking hydraulic press and squeezed the rivet shaft out into the slightly larger bore of the sleeves. That locked the two parts together nicely but complicates getting them apart. I found this drilled out rivet when I was cleaning up the shop.

0626141604.jpg
 

MoparKidD-4

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Sorry to bring back an old thread but I'm thinking about replacing the t-bar bushings on my '88 5th Ave and after reading about how much of an ordeal it is to get the bar end bushings off, would it still be an improvement to replace just the front support bushings and leave the bar ends alone? The end bushings on my car don't look too bad but the front ones are pretty torn up. I also have a problem where the car likes to pull to the left under medium-hard braking, much like my '70 Duster did before I replaced the strut rods with aftermarket adjustable units; my guess is since the T-bar on FMJ cars is also the strut rod, having those front bushings worn allows the T-bar to move back and forth thus allowing the LCA to move back when the brakes are applied...? I lubed up the sliding caliper on the pass. side but that didn't really help the pulling issue, I'm gonna do the same to the driver side but I'd still like to put new bushings in. I know I also want to replace the K-frame pucks with something harder like polyurethane.
 
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