Well I made the great discovery that my tension rod bushings are crumbleing away.
I have a couple of questions. First, what are the symptoms of bad tension rod busings on these cars? This would tell me if some of my suspension problem is related to this.

Secondly, I looked in the Factory Service Manual how to go about replaceing the tension rod bushings and it looked pretty straigh forward and simple, untill the re intallation. First the outter nut it has you torque to about 100FT/lbs. Ok no big deal, just use a torque wrench. Then it gives you the same torque spec for the inner nut once you tighten the outer one. This doent make any sence to me, because there is way way to get a socket on this nut, just an open end wrench. So how in the hell are you supposed to toruqe it without a torque wrench??

 

The rod can be threaded forward and back which will locate the lower control arm front or back and change the caster. You will want to thread the inner nut until you get the desired caster - Or - Thread the inner nut until it is in the same spot it was before. Then torque the outer nut. Since you are tightening the outer nut onto the inner nut you will effectively be tightening the inner nut at the same time.




-billy

 

I Just took a cresent wrench and got a feel for how tight the front bushing was, and took that "feel" and applied it to the back. The front nut just has to clear the hole with the cotter pin, or be flush with the bottom of the hole. I think the FSM has a measurement on how many thousandths it should be from the top. Just remember if the bushing's squish out more than the size of the washer it's too tight.

 

with the FSM giving a torque spec, for the outter nut it made sence to me that once the torque is so much on the tension rod, it should have it to the right place for having the caster adjustmetn correct.

But yes the FSM, says tighten the outter nut to torque first then the inner nut. It makes sence except for torqueing the inner nut

 

I just did this last week and torquing the inner nut didn't make sense to me either. I replaced my bushings with the poly energy suspension ones from Mazdatrix. I did this the same time as my front sway bar swap. I just didn't touch the inner nut at all because I didn't want to jack my alignment. I put on the bushings and tightened the front nut to the recommended torque. With the new bushings that nut tightened just past where the cotter pin goes through. Don't know if it's all even right but I plan to get an alignment and let them figure it out.

 

lol The nuts have to be tightened together. You can't torque the front one by itself because you'll just be adding more and more caster.

If you want to retain the same alignment setting you need to measure from the end of the tension rod to the bracket. You can't just rely on the position of the inner nut as the bushings might be a different thickness.

 

Silly me....assuming things again.

I assumed it was known you would need to keep the inner nut from turing in order to "torque" the outer nut. I guess I must be more descriptive in my post.

When you tighten a bolt or a nut you are stretching the bolt. This is how a threaded joint works. A "Torque" setting is so that you tighten the bolt or nut the exact amount needed to stretch the material an exact amount.

Since the tension rod has two nuts you can accomplish this with tightening one nut rather than both. If you keep the inner nut stationary, the outer nut torque speck will stretch the rod the correct amount to keep both nuts from coming loose.

The reason there are two nuts is so the rod may be adjusted forward and backwards within the bushing and mount. You will want to use what ever method suits you to ensure the control arm is in the same place as it was before you removed the outer nut and yes you may need to compensate for the new bushing being a different thickness.

-billy

 

Was that directed at me? I was actually agreeing with you in my post.

 

No, not at all. My sense of humor sometimes does not flow through the internet well.

I had just re-read my first post and noticed that I was not descriptive enough to be of any help....So I tried to expand a little.


-billy

 

That measurement just happens to correspond to just clearing the hole BTW. Dont overcomplicate it guys.

 

lmao!!

 

awesome, i'll do it soon!

 

matt, why dont you just use german torque specs? who needs a ****** torque wrench

 

Gutentight?

 

I prefer the Armstrong method. Or the calibrated elbow.

 

What about torquing it to a fart?

 

I have both manuals. First the rear nut should not be moved, detach the other end from the control arm before reinstall, torque the outer bolt as measured, reattaching the bar to the control arm is supposed to set the tension and position, while raised, for the interior bushing, assuming you didnt move it during disassembly or matched a new install to the old placement. then drive it and recheck.

 

Hey, New Guy - welcome aboard! You might need to recalibrate your time machine, because your post is 20 years too late.

TWENTY. YEARS.

 

I guess? It's still a correction for someone else to see that that I didn't see being made. This is why forums are great - **** lasts and can be interacted with outside of some sort of algorithm throwing up whatever.