Since I had the lower control arms off of the 65 Belvedere, I thought I would replace the original ones with Poly-urethane ones. I bought a set from Summit made by Proforged Chassis Parts. They are made with the outer shell and inner bushings on them. I have tried pressing them on with my shop press and so far, I have ruined two of the bushings. If I put the bushing on the shaft first, it presses out of the outer shell. If I try to press the bushing into the control arm first, it mangles the poly part of the bushing so much, I can't press in the shaft. I am ready to just start over and use the standard replacement (rubber) bushings or possibly the Poly inserts, that utilize the OE steel shells.
Has anyone had any experience with Poly urethane LCA bushings and could give a few tips on getting them installed properly? This is for a drag car, and I am thinking that the standard replacement ones will work just fine.

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-MattMan
LEANED & MEAN

D

Because of the LCA brake rod strut, the lower control arm (LCA) moves in a slight radius - it is anything but linear. Poly bushings work best in applications of linear movement, otherwise noise and/or bushing cracking are inevitable. The LCA is not a great spot for any poly bushing, but the upper arms certainly are. They will likely last forever in the uppers, but won't last nearly as long as you'd like them to in the lower. Just my two cents...
-C

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'68 Barracuda - taking advice on increasing street torque, power, & road handling. Click To See It

I use rubber in all control arms and poly everywhere else. Handling is still great with rubber in the LCAs and UCAs.

Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

And the perfect storm would be an aftermarket hard pivot at the brake rod strut AND a poly LCA bushing. My beef is the longevity of poly, and the fact it self destructs without warning, rapidly. I have seen this happen to poly many times over the decades, even brand new, in an unopened box. It someone felt the need for poly LCA bushings, nylon/Delrin would be a much better option IMO, and what I use.
Ask Poly reps about this typical poly failure scenario, they give you that quiet blank tilted head dog look.

OK then, it's settled.
I have ordered a set of OE replacement (rubber) LCA bushings to install. I wasn't really sold on using the Poly ones after they proved such a pain to install. MY strut rod bushings are the rubber ones as well. I purchased two different sets of those in Poly as well, but each set was so much thicker than the OE rubber ones that I didn't feel comfortable using them.
So...Rubber it is.
Thanks again for the replies on this.

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-MattMan
LEANED & MEAN

I used nylon LCA bushings from FirmFeel in my road racing Dart after reading about the issues with polyurethane in that location. I also shelled out for the FF greasable pivot pins. They seem to have held up well.

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Somehow I ended up owning three 1964 slant six A-bodies. I race one of them.
Escape Velocity Racing

Thanks for your perspective, Frank. Glad to hear it.

Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

Frank - is the nylon LCA too harsh for regular (but spirited) street use? I've always been intrigued by them.

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'68 Barracuda - taking advice on increasing street torque, power, & road handling. Click To See It

I made nylon LCA bushings for my race car back around 1999. I thought it would be terribly noisy, but the already-loud, gutted interior of the race car seemed no louder after the change. A street car might be different.

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Joshua

This is a race car with big aftermarket torsion bars, so I really can't say how much of the harsh suspension feel is due to the LCA bushings. I probably wouldn't run them on a street car, though.

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Somehow I ended up owning three 1964 slant six A-bodies. I race one of them.
Escape Velocity Racing