I know little to nothing about suspension.

I DO know mine clunks and pisses me the **** off because of some sloppy pillow ball bushings.

Anyhoo, has anyone ever used the Fighters Garage rear trailing arm and toe rod replacements? Am I correct to assume that they replace all of the stock pillow ***** with polyuerthane? They are about $400 shipped and look even easier to install than pressing in new pillowballs?
http://fighters-garage.com/rx7.html

Also, there are some knock offs floating arond ebay for $200:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/93-97...spagenameZWDVW

Would either of these set ups help my pillow ball woes?

Am I full of crap and not even shopping for the right parts?

 

The pillow ***** are located in the rear control arms. The toe links and trailing arms are seperate pieces. The mazda oem pillow ball/heim joints aren't bad pieces, they last 75k+ miles. I'd recommend just replacing them, I actually have an almost new set available of anyone is interested.

Edit: I would never install those ebay crap parts on my car. Look into the set from www.rx7.com or from www.rotaryextreme.com, those come with dust seals to help with the longevity of the heim joints.

 

^^^ Shows what I know.

I have had most of that stuff off at one time or another - wheel bearing replacement... differential swap...

I just didn't think there was that much **** back there.

I still don't know where to start the fixin - I only know its broke.

 

What the heck is an almost new set of bushings? I figured once you got them in - they weren't really re-usable.

 

They're reusable, as long as they're pressed in/out carefully. The arm is softer than the pillow ball. They were meant for my dad's FD but he isn't going to be installing them any time soon. This isn't the FS section, so if anyone is interested just shoot me a PM. thanks!

 

the FD has a racecar suspension in every metric.

pillowballs is some funky name for what they really are: spherical bearings. as such, they require periodic mantainence when they develop slop. so you replace them every 50,000 miles. big deal. buy new not used. if you have a press you can easily do it yourself w a few handtools. some even can do it without a press. (not recommended).

if you want to upgrade your FD bushings-wise i recommend two switches.

the front of the lower longitudinal link has a big rubber bushing. compliance in this rubber bushing produces toe changes in braking and acceleration. a no no. swap out the bushing for either nylon aftermarket (my choice, a steel tube w a rod end, or mazdaspeeds higher durometer (stiffer) rubber bushing. the other item is the differential big rubber bushings. nylon here.

many people replace the rear toe links w rod ends... i think the OEM piece is solid enough and not a replacement item. it does contain spherical bearings which are a maintainence item.

howard coleman

 

I just replaced mine,. I did post a few pics

https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-generation-specific-1993-2002-16/pettit-launch-kit-install-812952/

another person that had the same problem
https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-generation-specific-1993-2002-16/klunk-sound-_-658778/


Everyone should read this too
http://www.maxcooper.com/rx7/how-to/...lls/index.html

 

And when all is said and done it will cost you about $500 for the pillows and $500 for the launch kit and $150 for some fromt mounts if you want the car to feel good again. And I havent started on the bushings...

 

i just replaced mine and it was worth it the car no longer clunks and is more predictable during when transitioning a slide. the cheapest place i found was malloy mazda it was 438 shipped for all six with dust seals.