280z Suspension Upgrade

[Captain Obvious]

Sorry for the stream of consciousness, but I've been thinking about this a little... I think that since you lowered your car, you should "re-neutralize" all of your control arm bushings. Both front and rear. All ten of them.

Reason being, if your bushings were neutral before you lowered it, it's guaranteed that they aren't neutral anymore.

Fronts are easy. Spindle pins are easy unless the bushings are rusted to the pin. Only difficult ones are the rear inners that you're already working on.

Hope you didn't think you were done! :laugh:

[jeremy93ls]

(quote)

"Works like this... You clamp the rubber portion tightly in the strap clamps and do not allow it to move. Then you pinch down on the ends of the bushing with the big flat washer and bolt until you have compressed the rubber completely. You're not tight until you have actually tightened it so much that the inner sleeve (with the toothed serrations) is held tightly against the control arm. So tightly, in fact, that the inner toothed sleeve will always rotate with the arm as the arm moves up and down.

There should be no movement of the inner sleeve with respect to the control arm. They should be locked together.

There should be no movement of the outer rubber with respect to the undercarriage. They should be locked together."

(end quote)

___________________________________________________________________________

 

Crap Crap Crap.. I just finished mine yesterday and I think I screwed this up.

Sorry to revive an old topic but this is just what I was searching for.

I went a little crazy with the anti-seize and lubed the inside of these, as well as the ends where the rubber meets the washer on the big nut. My reasoning was that as I snugged all this together and rotated the control arms up/down, it squeaked like nuts and reminded me of why I began replacing all these bushings to begin with. I bet I'll have to pull these off and clean them. I'll never get those 4 big nuts tightened down enough to keep them from rotating with all that anti-seize in there. $^!#. I should have read this yesterday.

Edited February 28, 2016 by jeremy93ls
forgot to add captain's quote

[rossiz]

well, at least when you're finished you'll only have done the work twice vs. my 3 times - so i'm happy if my thread indirectly saved you some work!

[Zed Head]

4 hours ago, jeremy93ls said:

I went a little crazy with the anti-seize and lubed the inside of these, as well as the ends where the rubber meets the washer on the big nut. My reasoning was that as I snugged all this together and rotated the control arms up/down, it squeaked like nuts and reminded me of why I began replacing all these bushings to begin with.

Sounds like you're talking about aftermarket polyurethane, not factory rubber.  I don't think that the urethane bushings will "lock down", they're round and inherently slippery, unlike the factory rubber bushings.  Some people actually drill the bushing clamps and install Zerk fittings so that they can grease the bushings.

[jeremy93ls]

These were Nissan rubber bushings. I'm slowly replacing all the original rubber bushings with rubber bushings, except the sway bar mounts/end links.

Funny thing, I pulled the two easiest ones off today and noticed they weren't slippery at all. The gray Permatex anti-seize stuff turned into more of a dry lubricant like a graphite when it dried. It wasn't slick like I thought it would be. I even tried to wipe some off the ends but it didn't wipe off so I snugged the bolts back in, lowered the car onto the tires and torqued them to spec. Maybe it will be OK..

[Zed Head]

26 minutes ago, jeremy93ls said:

These were Nissan rubber bushings. I'm slowly replacing all the original rubber bushings with rubber bushings, except the sway bar mounts/end links.

Funny thing, I pulled the two easiest ones off today and noticed they weren't slippery at all. The gray Permatex anti-seize stuff turned into more of a dry lubricant like a graphite when it dried. It wasn't slick like I thought it would be. I even tried to wipe some off the ends but it didn't wipe off so I snugged the bolts back in, lowered the car onto the tires and torqued them to spec. Maybe it will be OK..

You said "rubber" three times.  Replacing old rubber with new rubber?  You definitely don't want to grease the rubber bushings, the rubber will soak it up and might weaken.  Might be what happened to the anti-seize.  A little probably won't hurt them, it will leach back out as they go through some weathering.

[Captain Obvious]

Jeremy,

Lube on the ID of those bushings is OK. In fact, I would recommend it. You don't need it in there for the lubrication properties (because there shouldn't be any relative motion), but it will help with corrosion resistance and to help keep water out of that area.

 

And a little lube on the end faces where the big washers contact the rubber wouldn't be a big deal either as those surfaces do slide. I would use silicone lube though, not anti-seize. If you get the rubber bushing "wings" in the proper locations and torque those big bolts down tight to spec, you shouldn't have to worry about the bushings spinning in the bracket.

 

Are you sure the squeaking is coming from the rear inner bushings?

[siteunseen]

Here's something from Energy Suspension that make sense on what grease to use.

What kind of grease should I use before product installation?

Answer: We recommend Energy Suspension's Formula 5 Prelube. This is included in most kits which require lubrication and additional Prelube may be purchased from your local Energy Suspension authorized dealer. If you are unable to use our Formula 5 Prelube, we  suggest using a synthetic, water resistant marine-grade grease for optimum lubrication and retention. Energy's Formula 5 Prelube may be purchased in bulk for commercial shop use.

[jeremy93ls]

On 2/28/2016 at 0:48 PM, Zed Head said:

You said "rubber" three times

haha, yeah I know. I'm so used to adding that word to my searches lately. It seems most people go with the poly bushings, instead.

Captain- I made sure to have them oriented with the 'wings' in the proper place. I eventually realized that the squeaking I heard while lifting/lowering the control arms was indeed coming from the rear inside bushings, BUT, that was after I had already broken those 4 big nuts loose. The squeaking was from the original bushings rotating against those big washers.

It makes more sense now. Thanks to everyone for the help.

 

[Captain Obvious]

That's exactly what I was thinking. I was wondering if the squeaking you had was from not having the bolts tightened down proper. Glad to hear (get it?) you got it figured out.