I'm still wrestling with pressing in front suspension bushings in Mustang II control arms.... it's been a challange.... my control arm id 'holes' are in the range of 1.240" and the bushings are between 1.280 and 1.313 o.d.

this ain't press in range... I'm thinking .002 max for a press fit. So I've been relieving the hole i.d. a little with a brake hone and chucking up the bushing in a drill press and filing it down some. some are working fine... a couple are hand fit... I can push them in with my hand... so I"m probably a .001 or two too small..

now my question... should/can the bushings rotate in the i.d. of the control... they will never make a full revolution but must they absolutely not move in the control arm

these are specifically the lower arms so the thru bolt will be moving in the bushing inner sleeve... I doubt if the bushing itself will turn...

I can snap some pics if necessary but it will be tomorrow

help me suspension gurus please ???

tia
john

 

NO, John, NO! Put down the file and step away from the control arms. LOL! The bushing MUST be a press fit into the arms. As the arm cycles through it's range of movement, the rubber in the bushing deflects and allows that movement. The inner sleeve of the bushing is firmly clamped in place by the through-bolt and the outer shell of the bushing is a press fit into the arm. There should be no rotational movement anywhere besides the deflection of the bushing. I agree that .070" difference is much more than a press fit, though. What material are your arms? If they are stamped, then you could get away with a tighter fit as the relatively thin control arm "socket" will expand a little. You could probably get away with up to .007" interference. If they are a fabricated tubular design with bushing sockets that are basically pipe or tubing, you're probably not going to get it stuffed together with more than .002" or .003" interference. Another tip - once you get the bushings in and you go to hang the control arms for good, install the through bolts through the bushings, but do NOT tighten them until the full weight of the complete truck is on the tires. The inner sleeves need to be allowed to pivot on the bolts until the suspension is in its fully loaded at rest position. If you tighten them with the suspension at full droop, it will preload the rubber in the bushings. That's hard on the bushings and can mess with the ride height.

 

John do as BOR said and put the file down. Press fit should be size on size to about
+.002 depending on the fit requirements. Not exactually sure how far Hueytown is from Glencoe (Gadsden) but I have a lathe, and mill if it will help ya out. Rick