GavinJuice

I put my car up on the lift the other day and i found out that most of the front steering is shot. I can push my idler arm up and down about 2 inches, it flops around in there, and the wheels i can toe one of them out without affecting the other wheel.

So i guess my question would be what should i be replacing up front in an 85 gls-se? I have the Victoria British catalog sitting in front of me so i have a diagram of whats involved with this car, but i don't know whats most likely to fail, fall apart etc to know what should be replaced. Also does anyone have a parting out car with any good used parts that i could slap on the front, or should i go all new?

Lotsa questions!!!!! Thanx ~Gavin

DONNA

bump.. I think you know what you should do, for safety and risk of tearing up your car,,, have you tried any import auto parts stores for prices in your area?
hopefully some one will reply that have the parts that you need . .untill then drive it slow,,,
good luck

XLR8

iTrader: (52)

Ok, you will want everything new, bushings arn't expensive and this is your car we are talking about.

The setup:

1. The steering- You can either restore the current setup or go rack&pinion for $550 via www.cpracing.ca. A little pricey but the reviews have been impressive. For the thrifty man, you will want to replace Inner and outer tie rod ends, ball joints, brass idler arm bushings from http://www.iscracing.net/suspension_2.htm and finally, rework the steering box via http://www.mazspeed.com/steeringgear.htm or find a tighter replacement. This should be much better

2. Upgraded shocks and Springs- Many people go with different brands and spring rates. Personally I went with Suspension techniques springs $140 from www.jcwhitney.com and Tokico blues from www.genxmuscle.com for $200 shipped, Illumina adjustables are the best; genx is the cheapest I have found them. Racingbeat, Mazdatrix, Koni, and KYBs are often used as well. Stiffer is better

3. Bushings- You will want everything on the Suspeionsion Techniques page of Victoria British. www.victoriabritish.com.. Control arm, tension rod, sway bar, and endlink. It is not recommended to use Poly bushings in the Watts link for flex purposes, stock replacements work best. For a more race aproach, panhard bars can replace the watts for a much stiffer setup. Most bushings are easy, the control arm bushings will need to be pressed out, or torched.

And don't forget those good old tranny and engine mounts. Often the cause of vibration and drivetrain flex.

Good luck

inittab

Here's a list of parts to consider replacing:

inner tie-rod ends
outer tie-rod ends
idler arm
pitman arm
ball joints
tension rod bushings
sway bar bushings
sway bar end-links

Rx7carl

Idler arms rarely fail, the bushings get cooked. I just buy new plastic bushings and rock on. Sounds like your tie rods are bad too. They may need replacing. Start with the idler arm bushings, itll make a world of difference. Also do the steering gear thing from mazspeed like XLR8 said.

Rutnick

not many choices for shocks and struts for a 1980 model. KYB Gr2s or would you suggest something else? I was going to go Eibach from the Tire Rack but I may end up getting your springs instead from JC Whitney. I found bushing cheaper than VB and I will post a link when I get to work.

Rutnick

Here is that site for the bushings:

http://www.suspension.com/mazda.htm

what are the strut rod bushings?

Rx7carl

"strut rod bushings" are probably the tension rod bushings. The donut bushings that are on the rod that goes from the lower arm to the front of the car.

Rutnick

makes sense. Have you heard of the company listed above? They blow VB out of the water when it comes to Energy Suspension bushings.

Rx7carl

No, but if they are energy suspension stuff, should be the same as what everyone else carries.

LongDuck

Here's my take on your steering system, and I think you're on the right track;

What you mentioned with the idler arm bushings going out is pretty frequent for our cars. These bushings are exposed to the exhaust heat on a regular basis, which tends to break down the rubber that they are made of - particularly if they are not greased thoroughly and/or have been contaminated with grit and dirt from a sandy environment. When the rubber bushings fail, oftentimes, they will literally fall apart, with some or none of the bushing intact to keep the passenger side tire in line with the driver's side. This results in erratic toe conditions and can be felt by a tendency to wander at all vehicle speeds, and strange tire wear, primarily on the passenger side tire.

Replacement of these bushings (there are 2, one on top and one on bottom), is a 30 minute fix once you have the parts. One cotter pin, on 14mm nut and then you can remove the 2-14mm bolts that hold the idler arm housing in place. These are accessible through the passenger side wheel well and are bolted firmly through the frame. From here, just lift the housing out and you can remove the old grease and bushings and replace with new.

Best installation method is to place the bottom bushing into position, grease it thoroughly, then drop it down over the idle arm and bolt the housing into place. Now, you can fill the cavity with grease, grease the upper bushing and idle arm shaft, and then reinstall the upper washer, castle nut, and cotter pin.

In my experience, this will likely fix both of your problems with the idle arm being loose, and also the ability to cause the toe in to change - as they are connected. From there, you may want to lift the car again and take a look at the other rubber components that may need to be replaced. These may or may not include steering ball joints, which tend to last quite a while.

On my 84SE, this year I had to replace lower control arms due to inside bushings (at the frame side) that were cracked - these are cheapest through Mazdatrix as they include the balljoint (for upright and strut) and the inside bushing mounted and ready to install for less than VB when you have to part it together - plus, you need a machine press to install the balljoint. This resulted in a much softer ride with less 'banging' in the front-end, and restored highway driving comfort. Replace both at the same time (if you can afford to) to prevent having to do the work twice when the other goes out - which it soon will.

Front tension rods are the round rods that lead from the top of the lower control arm to the front of the car. These have round rubber donuts at the frame mount which may crack with age. Replacing these will help to restore ride comfort as well, and may help to alleviate poor tire wear (excessive toe out), and strange sounds when cornering or hitting potholes. These are easy to replace, but require the right wrench (a 25mm, IIRC).

Lastly, you may need to replace your steering balljoints - these are more complicated and expensive, and are usually only required if you have a bent shaft or a split grease seal. For the money, I would recommend starting with the other components, and then, if the problem still persists, go forward with replacing steering balljoints. Good luck, and report back,

TexasGunRunner

I have found a better price on Tokico shocks at Shox.com but they are higher than JC Whitney on the springs, and about equal on the sway bars with NopiOnline.

--Brian

GavinJuice

so i threw my car up on jacks today and found that just the idler arm bushing are non-existent all my ball joints and tie rods seems to be in good condition with no movement.

i went through the victoria british catalog and so far i have as follows: new rear sway bar bushing set, front sway bar bushing set, front and rear end link bushing set, new tension rod bushing set, new idler arm bushings and maybe control arm bushing set and pitman arm.

is there anyway i can get a new pitman arm seal/bushing, or is it one complete package?

Thanks everyone for the info.

LongDuck

Control arm bushings are a problem to replace and you'll need to burn out the old ones and press in the new ones. If you have a machine shop near you, they can likely do this for next to nothing, but you're going to have a hard time installing new lower control arm bushings (frame-side) without an arbor press or something similar. They are press-fit into place and have a steel insert that bolts into the frame location.

When I purchased my new lower control arms from Mazdatrix (VB was more expensive and parted out individually), I also ordered Suspension Techniques Poly lower control arm bushings. Once I had them in-hand, I decided to forgo installing the Poly's since it was more trouble than it was worth, and besides, I'd be burning out brand new Factory Mazda lower control arm bushings just to add the aftermarket ones.

I kept my old lower control arms and may go through adding the Poly's to those at some later date. Anyway, that's my scenario.

I'm glad that your inspection revealed the idle arm bushings to be the cause. I did this same exercise to identify a problem with a 'banging' in the front suspension, and replaced the idle arm bushings as a course of action - my old ones were probably okay, and didn't end up fixing the banging...

About 2 weeks later, I was turning a corner and heard a really loud 'BANG' followed by my hood popping up - on inspection, I found that only the driver's side of the hood had popped up! Open the hood to find that the upper strut mount on the driver's side had blown the rubber donut causing the shock rod to extend out of the mount and whack against the bottom of the hood, pushing it up on one side, only.

Needless to say, I replaced the upper strut mounts on both sides and this magically (!) fixed the problem. The new idle arm bushings, lower control arms, and such didn't hurt, and now I don't have to worry about rebuilding these components in the future. HTH,

Rx7carl

Whats wrong with your pitman arm?