Front end work -- findings and some questions
 

Hope everyone is having a great Memorial Day weekend!

Last month, I took my '90 GXL on a 900 mile road trip and noticed that my front end and steering felt looser than normal. I had been planning to do some work on my front end, which I finally got around to this holiday weekend. I spent nearly all day Saturday working on my front suspension /steering. I replaced front LCA bushings, ball joints and outer tie rod ends. I did the S5 to S4 LCA "upgrade" in Aug 2009. So, it has been nearly 9-years or almost 79k miles since I last replaced these items. I installed the Mazda 40% stiffer LCA front (FBY1-34-470) and rear (FBY1-34-460) bushings, ball joints (Moog K9427) and outer tie rod ends (AC Delco 45A0572). I went with with Moog ball joints on the recommendation of another forum member. The Moog ball joints were physically identical to the Mazda ball joints, but a little less expensive. Using a Snap-On 35-ton hydraulic press, the bushings were a breeze to replace. I wouldn't recommend doing this job without a hydraulic press. The dust covers on the old ball joints had deteriorated to the point where the boots literally split in half once they were removed. Although, the old ball joints still seemed pretty tight. The old tie rod ends were still in pretty good shape, but I wanted to replace them with greaseable tie rod ends. The AC Delco tie rod ends were physically identical to the Mazda ends, but with the exception that they had zerk fittings. Also, they cost about half as much as the Mazda tie rod ends.

I have to admit that I probably should have done this job a couple years ago. The car rides and handles much better now. The 40% stiffer bushings make the car ride much firmer now, but not too much harsher than with the stock bushings. I had a weird vibration problem before that now seems to be gone. When accelerating between 20 to 30 mph in 3rd gear or 30 to 40 mph in 4th gear, the whole car would vibrate very noticeably. I thought that it was maybe the motor mounts, but this vibration now seems to have gone away. Not sure what was causing it...maybe the LCA bushings?

I also noticed that my right inner tie rod was noticeably looser than the left side. No detectable "slop", but it was much looser. I last replaced both L&R inner tie rods in May 1999 or about 197k miles ago. Maybe it's time to replace them again? The last time I did this job, I removed the R&P steering unit from the car. I really don't want to do that again unless I absolutely have to. How difficult is it to replace the tie rods with the rack in the car?

Not yet sure if I should stick with Mazda inner tie rods or go aftermarket. I can get after market inner tie rods for about half (or less) what Mazda charges. After doing some research on the web, it seems that there's only a couple companies that make tie rods and everybody just repackages and resells them at whatever price they desire. Rockauto sells economy and daily driver inner tie rods ranging in price from $6 each all the way up to $38 each. Not sure what the difference is between them all? Any recommendations on good aftermarket inner tie rods?

Also, I want to replace my original steering rack bushings. After looking at Atkins' website, the left rack bushing (FB01-32-124) is NLA from Mazda. Atkins is selling a replacement PU rack bushing set (https://www.atkinsrotary.com/store/8...-are7401-.html) for $55. These look the same as Ricochet that I can buy on Ebay (https://www.ebay.com/i/122942212416?chn=ps) for $29. Has anyone bought either the Atkins or Ricochet rack bushings? If so, any fitment problems with either of these? Any noticeable improvement in steering performance with the PU bushings?

This is interesting. I have replaced all my bushings except the powersteering bushings...I need to look into this.

How difficult to replace the bushings? any write ups on how to do this?

I've done this job probably about 5 or 6 times already. You might find bits and pieces if you search, but I don't think that there's a complete write-up for the FC3.

If you have the right tools, than LCA bushing replacement is fairly easy. You will need a bearing separator and a hydraulic press. The front bushings can be pressed in/out fairly easily. You can even use a vise with various sized sockets to press in/out the front bushings. The rear bushing can be more difficult. I used the bearing separator with press to remove the rear bushing. I pressed on the new rear bushing using the hydraulic press with a 1/4" metal plate between the ram and the rubber bushing. I used brake fluid to lubricated the new bushings before pressing them on. Use the FSM for guidance. The FSM has illustrations showing how to position the LCA in the press. Sometimes it takes some creativity to fixture and position these arms in the press.

I first attempted this job a few weeks ago only to discover that the hydraulic press was broken. I already removed one LCA from the car before I found out that the press was broken (i.e., no hydraulic pressure). So, I attempted to replace the bushings using a big ass vice. I know in the past some folks have posted about replacing these bushings using only a vice. Well folks, the big ass vice didn't work for me. Maybe it's because these were the 40% stiffer rubber bushings. I got the bushings on one arm, but they got all mangled up during the process and the job looked like crap. So, I managed to get one arm back together and on the car in about 7 grueling hours.

Fast forward until last weekend. Once the hydraulic press was fixed, I removed and replaced bushings on both LCA's and had the car back together in about 6 hours. The 40% stiffer bushings were probably more difficult to install over stock rubber bushings. With the correct tools, this job is fairly easy.

yep the key is having the equipment...managed to do all the rear bushings and bearings with a bs press cobbled together with a 5 ton jack and the careful use of heat and cold..workarounds can work but it's annoying time consuming and makes the job full of colorful words.
I'm trying to do the fronts also but since the arms are shaped awkward it's more difficult to do the front bushings on the arm without a proper press...I'm guessing the rear arm bushing can be done with a bearing separator and a puller sans press.

That's how I removed the rear bushing without the press. It didn't work very well for the install of the new bushing.