Front Stabalizer Bar Control Link Bushes.
07-05-05, 07:58 PM
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Front Stabalizer Bar Control Link Bushes.
I'm chasing suspension clunks on my '93 3rd. Gen. They occur on acceleration and braking. It sounds almost like a substantial movement between 2 "parts," where the suspension is in a stable state in either position and switches between them on acceleration/deceleration. It is not "rough road/bump" initiated.
It is very difficult to tell whether it is front or back, but my leaning is to say it is in the front
As a starting point I checked around all the suspension bushes. The only items I found questionable were the control link bushes on the front stabalizer bar. They seem to have too much movement. Physically they appear to be simple "two degrees of freedom" bushes, (the sort you get using a cylinderical outer metal tube filled with rubber and with an axial bolt or rod going through the middle. If this is what they are intended to be, there is something seriously wrong with them as they have 3 degrees of freedom (ala pillar bushings). In practice this means I can (very easily) cause the central rod to move significantly diagonally off the central axis by applying a lever to it.
My question is , "is it supposed to work this way or is it caused by the rubber being worn?" I am suspicious that this may be the way it is designed to work because both sides show exactly the same "symptom" as to how they move. However, at the same time, I believe that this could be the cause of my clunk problem because, with the car jacked up, if I lever one of the control arms, (RHS), I can create a small clunk. The bottom line - I need to understand what the bushing should do, before I can decide if it is faulty and should be replaced. I would appreciate some help here.
Also, has anybody seen a similar problem? Has anybody replaced these bushings? If so I would appreciate some advice on doing the job.
Thanks
It is very difficult to tell whether it is front or back, but my leaning is to say it is in the front
As a starting point I checked around all the suspension bushes. The only items I found questionable were the control link bushes on the front stabalizer bar. They seem to have too much movement. Physically they appear to be simple "two degrees of freedom" bushes, (the sort you get using a cylinderical outer metal tube filled with rubber and with an axial bolt or rod going through the middle. If this is what they are intended to be, there is something seriously wrong with them as they have 3 degrees of freedom (ala pillar bushings). In practice this means I can (very easily) cause the central rod to move significantly diagonally off the central axis by applying a lever to it.
My question is , "is it supposed to work this way or is it caused by the rubber being worn?" I am suspicious that this may be the way it is designed to work because both sides show exactly the same "symptom" as to how they move. However, at the same time, I believe that this could be the cause of my clunk problem because, with the car jacked up, if I lever one of the control arms, (RHS), I can create a small clunk. The bottom line - I need to understand what the bushing should do, before I can decide if it is faulty and should be replaced. I would appreciate some help here.
Also, has anybody seen a similar problem? Has anybody replaced these bushings? If so I would appreciate some advice on doing the job.
Thanks
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