Upgraded Suspension Bushings, front control arm and rear trailing/adjustment arm bushings Options

[Galcobar]

I have decent experience with a press for doing wheel bearings and such. Did you just press the old ones out and press the new ones in? Almost like a press in wheel bearing?

Interested in the how-to as well. Side question: did either end of the suspension arms (the four arms which run in lateral pairs) show themselves to be spherical bearings when you pressed out the original pieces?

It's been pretty much determined in fifth-gens that the outboard ends contain spherical bearings and the inboard ends contain rubber bushings; wondering if the sixth-gen is different since the design for the lateral arms changed somewhat.

[hurley97]

I have decent experience with a press for doing wheel bearings and such. Did you just press the old ones out and press the new ones in? Almost like a press in wheel bearing?

Interested in the how-to as well. Side question: did either end of the suspension arms (the four arms which run in lateral pairs) show themselves to be spherical bearings when you pressed out the original pieces?

It's been pretty much determined in fifth-gens that the outboard ends contain spherical bearings and the inboard ends contain rubber bushings; wondering if the sixth-gen is different since the design for the lateral arms changed somewhat.

I don't think so. You mean like a wheel bearing where there is actually rollers or ball bearings contained in it correct? If so, I didn't see any. In both sides of the two trailing arms from the cross member to the hub there were thick metal collars between the rubber and the arm. They made a pretty loud banging noise when we pressed them out and I'm pretty sure they came out very deformed, so whether we crushed them too much to be able to tell if there was an actual bearing in there, I'm not entirely sure. The larger bushings in the control arm that connects the body of the car to the hub was just rubber.

And yea, I did just press the old ones out and press the new ones in. When we did Dusin's fronts in Manny's garage we used the vice.

[Stambo]

thanks for the info. Shouldn't be to bad except getting all the bolts loose for me

[domyz]

I did front, rear bushings in polyurethane as well the polyurethane engine mounts, I also changed my shocks for new KYB GR2. It took about 12hours.
The car feel new, but needed an alignement.
It corners incredibly well and engine/clutch/steering response is tight, fast and precise.


These thing will even force me to put stickier/wider tires next year because the car is now too stiff for my Exclaim UHP 225/45/17.


P.S.: These are not a steal at 250$, this would cost more than 1500$ of parts at the dealer. I called him and he wanted 500$ for only 4 rear bushings (they come with useless new rods).

This post has been edited by domyz: Jan 17, 2010 - 5:54 PM

[OOBE]

i would have no problem forking that out

Exactly. It's either that or nothing. It didn't hurt me at all. I was happy, 'cause I found all of them. Plus, it's cool that I don't understand a single word on the tube of lube.

[Euphoria]

First Impressions:
I've only put about 150 miles on the car since the installation and most of it has been back and forth to work in traffic. I do have to say, these things are very bad for me. People already tell me I drive like a maniac and I'm usually the only person on the road who speeds up to take a corner, but now I just feel like I can go even faster all the time. I have gotten a little time with some corners and all I can think about is finding more corners and driving even faster around them. I actually got my front wheels to loose grip around a corner while the rear had not problem and just guided the car around. The car feels much more solid overall and, it might seem weird, but I feel like the steering is more precise.
I used to take 30mph curved exit ramps at 75-80mph and be scared, hovering my foot over the brake pedal just in case I needed it. Now, I have complete confidence in my 80mph exit ramp and speed up the whole way through. So far so good

(I really am not that much of a manic though... not all the time anyway)

haha sounds exactly like me, I did shocks/springs, sway bars, strut bars but had terrible tyres, got some super good tyres and now I can't help but fly around any corner I see lol.

Do sway bars, or atleast the rear sway bar, it will complete your car .

Depending how long I keep my car but I wouldn't mind doing that in the future.

This post has been edited by Euphoria: Jan 17, 2010 - 8:10 PM

[hurley97]

thanks for the info. Shouldn't be to bad except getting all the bolts loose for me

Yeah we broke the passenger side one that goes through the big bushing at the bottom of the hub, you can see the brand new bolt going through it in the pic.
And the big long bolt going through the hub the other way needs to be heated up for a while before it comes loose, you can see the discoloration in the metal.

And my car has like no rust, so that is saying something.

i would have no problem forking that out

Exactly. It's either that or nothing. It didn't hurt me at all. I was happy, 'cause I found all of them. Plus, it's cool that I don't understand a single word on the tube of lube.

I translated it word for word, it still made no sense haha

This post has been edited by hurley97: Jan 17, 2010 - 10:45 PM

[IllIllIll]

Did you notice an increase in noise from the suspension? Any squeaks? I have a convertible Celica, & I'm sure any additional noises would drive me batty after a while.

[hurley97]

Not at all. Just as quiet as before.

[RocketScott]

Any chance on doing a group buy on these and the fronts?

[stl95celica]

Any chance on doing a group buy on these and the fronts?

ohhh intrested

[ChfNix]

Any chance on doing a group buy on these and the fronts?

ohhh intrested

Me to!!!

[lburner]

im in

[str8thugginit4ya]

Any chance on doing a group buy on these and the fronts?

ohhh intrested

Me to!!!

Count me in as well. I've been saving up for this!

[hurley97]

Just so its clear, this isn't actually a group buy... you still have to contact the seller that I mentioned in the first post to buy the bushings or try to organize a group buy.

[rave2n]

Hmm, thats quite expensive for those. The materials is not to expensive, I'm sure making the mold could take a little time.

All you really need is a vacumn chamber, which is quite easy to make, and the mold....

If someone has a extra one to allow me to make a mold off of, I can make these.

I used to make air chucks for fiber tensioning spindles for textile industries. Its just a polyurathane chuck, when air is supplied in middle it expands to hold the spindle in place.



Thats what it looks like, I can even do custom colors for ya guys =P

This post has been edited by rave2n: Feb 25, 2010 - 9:29 AM

[chacha]

that would be a nice alternative....rooting for RAve2N...you should look into do all sorts of bushings and engine mounts...etc

[rave2n]

Very true on the other options.

What I can do, whomever sends me a piece to cast my mold, i'll send a set free to once completed. Of course I'll need some time to get the molds made, but once that is all completed, I can pump'em out pretty easiely. It would only take a hour a set to make.

I already have my vacumn chamber =) - I just gota seal a leak on the vacumn line i've been ignoring cause I don't really use it to often =-P

[OOBE]

Well, that's nice that you come forward with this after I spent almost $400 shipped for mine.

[Valo666]

damn, where were these when I had my celica?? I needed to change my trailing arm bushing sooo bad. I actually ended up ordering a set from TRD NZ that took like 6 months to come in and turned out to be the wrong bushings AND they were like $120 just for the trailing arm bushings + shipping.