Strut Rod Bushings

[bowez]

Is there a definitive action plan on strut rod bushings since the OEM ones are gone? I know the thermoplastic ones don't last (didn't on the wife's 5.0). What's the best option on replacements and procedure now?

 

[LukesCougar]

Im running the 1961 Lincoln continental front-frame and the oem rear-arm (i believe scp still sells the rears and the front poly kit of their own)

The poly is gonna be noisy but if installed correctly and liberally lubricated id imagine they will last a lot longer than anything else aftermarket.

Others have said it doesnt really matter what you throw in the rear control arm, and from my experience it seems to be true. ive never had them fail, always the fronts but just for my sanity i replaced them with the oems anyways

 

[LukesCougar]

Is there a definitive action plan on strut rod bushings since the OEM ones are gone? I know the thermoplastic ones don't last (didn't on the wife's 5.0). What's the best option on replacements and procedure now?

I also considered these before going with the lincoln continental bushings. claims to be natural rubber.. not sure..

More Information for MEVOTECH GK8659

 

[bowez]

61 Continental bushings?

 

[XR7-4.6]

SCP poly bushings are repackaged energy suspension bushings for a 61 continental

 

[Stanley]

I have the SCP front bushings and can confirm that they're noisy as all hell if it's the least bit cold out. I eventually need to figure out what to do about that.

 

[XR7-4.6]

I have the SCP front bushings and can confirm that they're noisy as all hell if it's the least bit cold out. I eventually need to figure out what to do about that.

Did you lube them during the install? Mine are silent and I haven’t relubed them since I installed them. I used dielectric grease

 

[LukesCougar]

SCP poly bushings are repackaged energy suspension bushings for a 61 continental

That reminds me, are the sleeves/ washers unique or did i just get swindled for a set of 40$ bushings??

I genuinely wondered if i was paying for the instructions or hardware or just getting clucked

 

[LukesCougar]

also mine are only noisy when it is really cold, hard braking. Lube was applied by the shop but who knows how good or bad of a job they did and if they remembered to lube the sleeve too

 

[XR7-4.6]

That reminds me, are the sleeves/ washers unique or did i just get swindled for a set of 40$ bushings??

I genuinely wondered if i was paying for the instructions or hardware or just getting clucked

The energy suspension Continental sleeves need to be hogged out a little bit to fit over our metric strut rods and they don’t come with washers, so the SCP premium does have some value to it

That said I was able to hog mine out using a brake cylinder hone and the very same washers in the SCP kit are less than $10 from your local Ace hardware

 

[LukesCougar]

The energy suspension Continental sleeves need to be hogged out a little bit to fit over our metric strut rods and they don’t come with washers, so the SCP premium does have some value to it

That said I was able to hog mine out using a brake cylinder hone and the very same washers in the SCP kit are less than $10 from your local Ace hardware

this does make me feel a bit better about the purchase, and bill seemed to know his stuff, the shop that installed his parts didnt

 

[Trunk Monkey]

I have the SCP front bushings and can confirm that they're noisy as all hell if it's the least bit cold out. I eventually need to figure out what to do about that.

Too cold? What to do about that? Move out Canada!

Oh, heads Carolina, tails California
Somewhere greener, somewhere warmer
Up in the mountains, down by the ocean …

 

[XR7-4.6]

this does make me feel a bit better about the purchase, and bill seemed to know his stuff, the shop that installed his parts didnt

Yeah and if I didn’t have my tools to do it I’d have bought the bushings from him. The hardware is reusable forever, and if you ever have the bushings fail you can just get the Continental polys for $20-40 to replace them if they fail. That’s why I got them, they’re not theoretically ideal but it’s good futureproofing, but like I said with mine they’ve been holding up and they’re silent

 

[Stanley]

Did you lube them during the install? Mine are silent and I haven’t relubed them since I installed them. I used dielectric grease

No idea: I have no mechanical knowledge / space to work, so I rely on shops to do what I need done, sadly. I hope one day to have an actual garage with space, but in the meantime I'm stuck. Is it possible to go and ask them to take the bushings out to grease them once they're already on, or should you might as well replace them at that point?

 

[XR7-4.6]

No idea: I have no mechanical knowledge / space to work, so I rely on shops to do what I need done, sadly. I hope one day to have an actual garage with space, but in the meantime I'm stuck. Is it possible to go and ask them to take the bushings out to grease them once they're already on, or should you might as well replace them at that point?

Sure, just make sure not to move the rear frame side nut in the process and you won’t effect the alignment. You can get the front nut off, front bushing and pull the sleeve off to lube everything up well and good. As long as the bushings aren’t physically damaged there’s no reason to replace them.

 

[Kidd-7]

Too cold? What to do about that? Move out Canada!

Oh, heads Carolina, tails California
Somewhere greener, somewhere warmer
Up in the mountains, down by the ocean …

Tails please there are too may people moving here.

 

[Grog6]

Agreed. 3 of our local garages have been bought out by idiots retiring here, and it's terrible until they realize that they can't run a business. All have failed miserably.

 

[LukesCougar]

Agreed. 3 of our local garages have been bought out by idiots retiring here, and it's terrible until they realize that they can't run a business. All have failed miserably.

In all honesty the guy running the shop in question is a good cat, but he is letting shit slide.

He only has one guy at any time as of lately that can do suspension work. If i had so much money laying around that i didnt know what to do with id toss him him 10k just to fire the guy. he obviously doesn't enjoy the job and im starting to hear more horror stories outside of my own about the same shop.

As someone has mentioned before its another shitsuation of the head doesnt get hands on. while i have tried to be respectful to the guy ( he attempted to have my car fixed for free multiple times and lost money in the process) He seems to be clinging to techs that dont know what theyre doing.

 

[Kidd-7]

I wouldn't be surprised if mechanics are a dying breed. who wants to get their hands dirty and work hard nowadays, AI gonna take care of it all...

I'm having a terrible time trying to find a couple electronics techs to hire.

 

[bowez]

I wouldn't be surprised if mechanics are a dying breed. who wants to get their hands dirty and work hard nowadays, AI gonna take care of it all...

I'm having a terrible time trying to find a couple electronics techs to hire.

Off topic but the issue is, Mechanics can make more money and steady in Industrial Maintenance.

 

[White Lincoln]

In reading through this post, I wondered if these struts, as they age can begin to "fall apart" (per say) and make a lot of ratteling noise. Don't mean to hijack the post, just speaking out loud from a thought I had.

Edit: Never mind, I found this article:

The Noises Bad Struts Make: Diagnosis and Fixes - Z Auto Service

Hearing clunks or pops over bumps? Discover what strut wear sounds like and how Z Auto Service diagnoses and fixes faulty suspension parts.

zautoservice.com

 

[White Lincoln]

I wouldn't be surprised if mechanics are a dying breed. who wants to get their hands dirty and work hard nowadays, AI gonna take care of it all...

I'm having a terrible time trying to find a couple electronics techs to hire.

Become a plumber instead.

 

[Grog6]

I wouldn't be surprised if mechanics are a dying breed. who wants to get their hands dirty and work hard nowadays, AI gonna take care of it all...

I'm having a terrible time trying to find a couple electronics techs to hire.

Critical thinking skills are going away. No one tries to figure stuff out; if they can't find a YTvideo or someone to do it for them, it just never happens.
Techs are nonexistent these days. People get 2 yr degrees, and learn nothing about troubleshooting.
I had 2 yrs of hs electronics, worked in manufacturing test for a year, field service board swapping computers, but I didn't realllly get electronics until I spent 7 years repairing consumer electronics. No schematics, just see what's wrong and fix it. VCR's are really really complex.
No one is learning the old stuff, and the computerized nature of everything makes repair difficult.

Off topic but the issue is, Mechanics can make more money and steady in Industrial Maintenance.

A lot have left wrenching for maintenance and assembly type jobs.

 

[bowez]

In reading through this post, I wondered if these struts, as they age can begin to "fall apart" (per say) and make a lot of ratteling noise. Don't mean to hijack the post, just speaking out loud from a thought I had.

Edit: Never mind, I found this article:

The Noises Bad Struts Make: Diagnosis and Fixes - Z Auto Service

Hearing clunks or pops over bumps? Discover what strut wear sounds like and how Z Auto Service diagnoses and fixes faulty suspension parts.

zautoservice.com

Like most topics here, going off the rails is SOP.

 

[XR7-4.6]

I wouldn't be surprised if mechanics are a dying breed. who wants to get their hands dirty and work hard nowadays, AI gonna take care of it all...

I'm having a terrible time trying to find a couple electronics techs to hire.

I don’t think it’s as simple as that beyond the pay being pretty terrible for the dirty hard work that it is.

Beyond that, what’s the attraction to the industry for a fresh mechanic? Cars have changed so much in the last 25 years and it’s up to them to learn and get certified in all the technologies, not to mention make the personal investment in their tools, all to grind out flat rate work on modern cars that all suck to work on.

 

[White Lincoln]

I feel very lucky that I retired just as AI was coming on board to take my job. I really loved what I did because I had to do problem solving everyday and worked with my hands to fix problems. Probably why I like working on cars so much, even if I don't know what I am doing.

 

[KevinVarnes]

My son went to high school tech for Diesel and heavy equipment. He started working as a lube tech at a local Chrysler dealer part time during his junior year. He is now a full time mechanic there as of last June after he graduated. Granted he works on mostly newer/non-rusty stuff, but he is probably a better mechanic than I am already. Definitely better at electrical troubleshooting than I'll ever be. They pay to train him and treat him well.

I think there are a lot of younger people who see a general four year degree in some non-marketable major as the waste of money and time that it is. A lot of kids in our area are opting to go into a trade rather than college out of high school. We've had the line of "you have to go to college to do anything" rammed down our throats for so long and it simply isn't true. Somebody has to actually be able to do stuff with their hands. All we've been doing is financing colleges through government student loans for the past 40+ years. Now all of the colleges are crying foul because people are waking up to it. College is useful/needed for some jobs, but not everything as they'd have us believe.

I'm not sure how this post is related to strut rod bushing, but there you go.

 

[Grog6]

AI could have done the engineering and pcb layout jobs I had, if someone had programmed all the old tech. Vacuum tubes, new detector technologies; all front-edge stuff. Amplifiers that can amplify 20 electrons/sec into a usable signal.

 

[LukesCougar]

On the topic of the thread? does anyone know if these bushings are actually what they claim to be? i thought about ordering a couple sets just for the off chance these scp bushings explode or are too firm. These claim to be natural rubber like our oem bushings and look like it too but i wouldn't be surprised if i ordered and received the blue black thermogarbage

More Information for MEVOTECH GK8659

More Information for MEVOTECH MK8659

 

[KevinVarnes]

Their own website does say natural rubber so they very well may be. For $10 it might be worth ordering them to find out. It is interesting that they specify thermoplastic for the strut rod to control arm bushings. I never really cared for the split sleeves that all the aftermarket sets come with.