After Market Upper Control Arm Rubber Bushing Will This Work?

5.0TailPipeHump · Aug 28, 2013

Well i ended up going with some after market control arms and don't want to run the uppers with polyurethane bushing but rather rubber , this is my daily driver and have a fear of binding up the rear suspension so rubber would be the choice for me if i can get this to work .

I ended up taking out the poly bushing from the after market upper and comparing it to the stock factory bushing part # M-5A638-1A and there pretty dam close to size in comparison but will not fit with out a little heat i,m sure. I'm asking you guys should i go ahead and give it a try and run my rubber bushings in the tubular control arm or should i just go ahead and remove my old upper and put the rubber bushing in that.

Control arms. http://www.mrbodykit.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=21_121_412&products_id=2897
Bushing. http://www.npdlink.com/store/products/mustang_bushing_rear_control_arm_upper-164903-6001.html

84Ttop · Aug 29, 2013

If you could get them to press into the control arms, I would imagine that they would work. I personally have never seen the poly bushings cause anything to bind. As long as they are lubricated they will perform as intended. What is the reason for upgrading the control arms if you want to retain rubber bushings? Just curious..

Noobz347 · Aug 29, 2013

I HAVE seen the 4-link bind or rather, was on the receiving end of a bind. The trouble is, everything will work great until it's too late and you're into a situation that's not recoverable from the driver seat.

Here's the wrinkle though... It looks like ALL the bushings in those control arms are poly. There's not a single solid bushing on any end of any control arm.
That being the case, I would be very surprised if that setup caused a bind in the 4-link. There should be enough give between all 4 contact points that, that shouldn't happen.

If it were me... I would install as is, go to an abandoned parking lot, get the car headed into rear end slide and see how difficult it is to recover.

When the suspension binds, you will feel the "snap". There's almost nothing you can do to counter it. If you don't feel that then I'd say you're good to go. A Watts Link or Panhard Bar can take any excess slop out of the axle.

So you're turning... turning... turning.... then BLAM! The back will come up to meet the front before you knew what happened. If you find that, in the parking lot then you've got a bind that needs to be dealt with.

mikestang63 · Aug 29, 2013

For most street cars, you DO want some give in the rear control arms, or you will end up tearing up the torque boxes unless you weld/install battle boxes. I would also stay away from boxed uppers as they stop the deflection of the arm which again causes stress on the torque boxes.

84Ttop · Aug 29, 2013

I would imagine that Poly is the compromise, they offer a stiffer feel than the stock yet still have give as opposed to solid stuff. I will admit I do not like the back of my car to slide anywhere. I want the rear behind me and full steam straight ahead!

mikestang63 · Aug 29, 2013

84Ttop said:
I would imagine that Poly is the compromise, they offer a stiffer feel than the stock yet still have give as opposed to solid stuff. I will admit I do not like the back of my car to slide anywhere. I want the rear behind me and full steam straight ahead!

Agreed. for your application of drag racing you want it planted with minimal flex. For most street cars, it is that compromise of harder ride and possible torn torque boxes unless you weld them up and install reinforcements when you upgrade control arms.

2002whitegt · Sep 13, 2013

So did the rubber bushings work with the after market upper control arms?

I'm in a similar situation, the bushings in my bbk uppers fell out, and I'm trying to find bushings locally to replace them, could only find MOOG #K8637

Noobz347 · Sep 13, 2013

mikestang63 said:
For most street cars, you DO want some give in the rear control arms, or you will end up tearing up the torque boxes unless you weld/install battle boxes. I would also stay away from boxed uppers as they stop the deflection of the arm which again causes stress on the torque boxes.

This is a little misleading and here's why...

The quote might make one believe that the only downside is torn torque boxes. Torn boxes isn't the downside, it's a symptom. The REAL problem is suspension bind. A binding suspension is NEVER a good thing whether on the street, on the quarter mile, or on a road course.

Binding suspensions cause other much larger issues than just torn torque boxes. They cause crashes, and big fireballs, and screaming, and sometime bleeding and mayhem. Folks that run solid bushings on all control arm ends for drag racing do it because they're only driving a straight line. There's no chance for suspension articulation in a turn if there are no turns. hehe

On a street car however, there's LOTS of turns so different measures have to be taken to ENSURE that the suspension can articulate. What happens if it doesn't? Imagine you're on a mild curve on a bright sunny day. The birds are singing and children are playing in the yard with a neighborhood dog. You enter the gentle turn at a moderate pace of 45 MPH. 5 MPH under the speed limit (of course). All the sudden...

You hear a loud snap and can feel it through the floor boards. With no other warning whatsoever, the back of the car careens left and you go to correct it while applying the brakes. The rear then screams around to the right hand side and makes another thump before you can even bleed another 5 mph off your speed...

You plow into a bus load of nuns. The resulting explosion kills the kids in the yard and seriously injures the dog (he may never fetch again). The birds stop singing.

Why? Because someone read a magazine ad containing some blonde bimbo with really big knockers, holding up a pair of knock-off control arms, with another image of an NHRA drag car in the back-ground, burning rubber.

2000xp8 · Sep 13, 2013

I know from experience bind and snap oversteer is extremely dangerous.

Get the tool and put new rubber bushings in the rear itself, then buy ford racing upper control arms.

stykthyn · Sep 13, 2013

Noobz347 said:
This is a little misleading and here's why...

The quote might make one believe that the only downside is torn torque boxes. Torn boxes isn't the downside, it's a symptom. The REAL problem is suspension bind. A binding suspension is NEVER a good thing whether on the street, on the quarter mile, or on a road course.

Binding suspensions cause other much larger issues than just torn torque boxes. They cause crashes, and big fireballs, and screaming, and sometime bleeding and mayhem. Folks that run solid bushings on all control arm ends for drag racing do it because they're only driving a straight line. There's no chance for suspension articulation in a turn if there are no turns. hehe

On a street car however, there's LOTS of turns so different measures have to be taken to ENSURE that the suspension can articulate. What happens if it doesn't? Imagine you're on a mild curve on a bright sunny day. The birds are singing and children are playing in the yard with a neighborhood dog. You enter the gentle turn at a moderate pace of 45 MPH. 5 MPH under the speed limit (of course). All the sudden...

You hear a loud snap and can feel it through the floor boards. With no other warning whatsoever, the back of the car careens left and you go to correct it while applying the brakes. The rear then screams around to the right hand side and makes another thump before you can even bleed another 5 mph off your speed...

You plow into a bus load of nuns. The resulting explosion kills the kids in the yard and seriously injures the dog (he may never fetch again). The birds stop singing.

Why? Because someone read a magazine ad containing some blonde bimbo with really big knockers, holding up a pair of knock-off control arms, with another image of an NHRA drag car in the back-grh ound, burning rubber.

i like bimbos with big knockrs

Noobz347 · Sep 13, 2013

stykthyn said:
i like bimbos with big knockrs

Shhh... This is a tech thread.

5.0TailPipeHump · Sep 13, 2013

2002whitegt said:
So did the rubber bushings work with the after market upper control arms?

I'm in a similar situation, the bushings in my bbk uppers fell out, and I'm trying to find bushings locally to replace them, could only find MOOG #K8637

I am going to replace the stock uppers bushings with the stock arms i got on the car now and just go ahead and do lowers with poly. I did try to get the bushing to fit by throwing some heat at it to try and squeeze it in but no go but it's not far off from going in , i suppose a person could use a dremel and shave a couple milometers off from inside the control arm or remove the metal around the bushing it self and use that.

So you think stock uppers + new rubber bushings and tubular lowers with poly bushings for my daily commute will put a smile on my face :O

5point0stang88 · Sep 14, 2013

I bought these upper and lowers because they allow for articulation from the poly wrapped steel ball design

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After Market Upper Control Arm Rubber Bushing Will This Work?

5.0TailPipeHump

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84Ttop

They make new pistons every day, so why worry?

Noobz347

Stangnet Facilities Maint Tech... Er... Janitor

mikestang63

84Ttop

They make new pistons every day, so why worry?

mikestang63

2002whitegt

Noobz347

Stangnet Facilities Maint Tech... Er... Janitor

2000xp8

stykthyn

I want to measure mine. It doesn't look that tall.

Noobz347

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5.0TailPipeHump

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5point0stang88

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After Market Upper Control Arm Rubber Bushing Will This Work?

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They make new pistons every day, so why worry?

Stangnet Facilities Maint Tech... Er... Janitor

They make new pistons every day, so why worry?

Stangnet Facilities Maint Tech... Er... Janitor

I want to measure mine. It doesn't look that tall.

Stangnet Facilities Maint Tech... Er... Janitor

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