Torsion Bar Bushings

[Sub03]

I was not happy with the polys on my torsion bars. The right hand side bushing started to squeak a little after a few months, and the pivot bushsing never looked right with a gap underneeth.


Like a miracle I got hold of two new end bushings from a part vendor here in Norway. I was searching the Moog part number on google and gave up on finding any, when I just tossed in the number on a local shops website. I guess they've had them on the shelve for a decade or two... but I just have to live with the pivots.

 

[XfbodyX]

Fix whats bent and things will align properly.

 

[XfbodyX]

Nos T bar show bottom plate a bit concave, FF are flat. These poly in the last pic are 15 years old and still take and spit out red grease every year, zero noise and no gaps.

 

[Duke5A]

Well SOB. I'm running the FF stuff on mine and have the EXACT same issue. Thanks @XfbodyX.

Where the hell am I going to find factory plates now? lol.

 

[Duke5A]

As for squeaks, I'm using poly bushings on almost everything on the front end. The squeaks weren't noticeable until I installed FF tubular upper control arms on the car. They come with poly bushing already installed and shit do they make a lot of noise. Bound the front end up and down and all it does is squeak. Everything else seems fine though.

 

[volare 1977]

Not sure the pivot area is bent in the pic. It looks like the shim is causing it to not lay flat. BTW, I was never successful installing the NOS pivot rubber bushings. I tore them trying to get them in place.

 

[volare 1977]

Duke5A, I don`t see why you can`t concave the flat plates some in a press or something.

 

[XfbodyX]

I should of explained better in my posting sorry for any confusion.

The op-s pic to me shows the plate might be bent a little bit and I do not understand the spacer put in, the gap the spacer makes is equal to the gap at the bottom of the T bar and bushing.

The firm fell plates are flat and so are the oem ones we remove, do they all start a little concave. maybe due to the production process, I have one noce set of nos T bar assemblies I can check but last night I did find a old plate in my metal bucket and it is flat as well.

 

[XfbodyX]

Forgot to post this... blown up a bit, I dont get the spacer and to me the plate looks a bit bent vs flat???

Who knows, I suck at everything but the two sets ive got seem to fit/sit well with no gaps or issues. Maybe just dumb luck.

 

[M_Body_Coupe]

Forgot to post this... blown up a bit, I dont get the spacer and to me the plate looks a bit bent vs flat???

So that spacer is actually an OEM plate that's serrated. It literally has a boat-load of hooks that "bite" into K-frame and I believe are meant to prevent any sort of motion (sliding) of the T-bar anchor assembly, see Mopar part# 4014073, "PLATE, Sspring Pivot Cushion Friction (Also in Bush. Pkg., 41061530).

When restoring my coupe I had actually installed these, sourcing them at a dealership was no problem some 20 yrs ago...LOL, my price was $1.89 ea, and not planning ahead far enough I ordered...TWO!!

 

[volare 1977]

I never quite understood the way the friction plates were installed at the factory. The used pivot plates I removed from other cars only appeared to have the friction plates mostly on the one end which seems to make it uneven and not lay flat. I would have thought it would have been all the way across from bolt hole to bolt hole but for some reason they didn`t do it that way. I wonder how important it is to even use the friction plates when using aftermarket bushings? Maybe not needed? My one car the poly bushings are worse than the ones the SUB03 shows in his pics. Things have keep me from redoing them at this time but i will get them apart and look at it again.

 

[XfbodyX]

Ive never used the friction plates on the aftermarket FF parts and never had one move. You can see in the one pic of the old backing plate the friction plate does bite well.

I cant see a grease fitting in the op-s pic and I also wonder if all poly is created equal in density as for some it seems like the overall weight placed on the bushing compresses the top and helps create the lower gap.

We all know there are many oem things we omit on our cars without issue. With the bar greased it still would have side to side movement if there was movement to be had and the plates are not slotted front to rear so I see no use for the friction plates.

Here is a low mile untouched car. The plate cant really move front to back and the poly greased bar can move side to side on its own so I wonder if bolting the plate on flat to the K keeps things from bending?

 

[volare 1977]

I question the poly bushing quality also. The bushing seems too soft to me and it does look to be carrying a lot of weight in that area. I wonder if the density of the bushing could be upgraded. I wonder how many have that same issue? I don`t know who made the first set of poly bushings that were used but I now have the firm feel ones for this time around.

 

[kmccabe56]

OK, you've all convinced me that the poly bushings will be OK. Time to get them ordered!

 

[volare 1977]

Have fun installing them.

 

[Sub03]

and to me the plate looks a bit bent vs flat???

I think you have som valid points XfbodyX. Thank you for pointing that out.
I'll check into it the next time I feel the urge to get on my back under the car for a few ours again.

Like Volare 1977 said, the friction plate is made with a slotted U-shape to slide them in from the front, and they are roughly half the size of the bottom plate making the hole assembly look strange.

I even thought of cutting a 1/8" thick square piece of metal (in red in figure under) and install it between the bushing and bottom plate to compress the bushing a little.

BTW my bushings was ordered from polybushings.com. Had to reuse the metal stuff so no grease fitting.

 

[Mikes5thAve]

The pic xfbody has shows the bushing as round where it wraps around the bar which is like stock. The other ones look like the side that goes against the frame is flat like a sway bar bushing. Maybe that manufacturing difference is what's causing the gap.

 

[Aspen500]

The Firm Feel bushings come with grease fittings and instructions on where to drill the hole. You also need a different top plate. They're wider than the originals to support the bushing.