Steering rack bushings. Rubber vs urethane.

[Ptero]

I'm trying to replace all many bushings with rubber due to how our roads are up here; however, the parts below are no longer available through Nissan. Am I now forced to use urethane for these or is there a 3rd party that makes these? I can't imagine the Urethane steering coupler makes much of a difference but the other 2 I'm wondering about.

Rack Bushing Drivers Side (54445-E4101)

Rack Bushing Passengers Side (54444-E4101)

Steering Column Coupler (48073-78500)

[jfa.series1]

Beck/Arnley made OE-equivalent replacement rubber bushings, but those are getting hard to find. Rockauto recently had a single unit on closeout, the P/N's you would be looking for are 101-3630 and 101-3631. I found one side at Rockauto and the other on eBay I'm not aware of any 3rd-party rubber coupler. Good luck with your search.

[pbarcher]

Try Mike McGinnis at Banzai Motorworks. I recently bought rack bushings from him that he described as NOS Datsun Competition. They were just installed, so the verdict is pending. Prior to this I had OEM rubber, but they only lasted three years.

[Zup]

Rack Bushing Left 70-73 Rubber: Steering/Suspension Z - Bushings - 70014-EBU - Z Specialties Online Store - If we don't have it in stock, we can get it!

This link is for the left side ---if you look around the site there is a right side listed for 240's as well. The text goes on about urethane bushings available, but these units are rubber.

HTH

Jim D.

"Zup"

Edited March 1, 2013 by Zup
fixed link

[Ptero]

Thanks for the replies! I'll look into these options.