How can I tell if my strut rod bushings (at the chassis) are bad?

phils89sc

Registered User
I was just wondering if I should be concerned with this. My car has 90K miles on it and on the SCP site, they said if it has more that 60k miles, chances are they are shot. Mine does have the rattling noise while going over bumps, but I thought that was due to the sway bar end links being bad (those are shot as well).

Thanks
 
Replace the sway bar links first those are easy. Strut rod bushings are not fun to do, I just finished doing the frame ones last night. Not easy. There are two sets one at the Frame and one where it meets the lower control arm. And you only want rubber on the front ones. I bought a set of hard rubber ones from Napa just to try it out, My hardware is shot and thats over $200 bux from ford if the hardware is shot, if you hardware is not shot and can be reused you can get just the bushings from ford for $80~. There is a discussion over on TCCOA. If you want the best Ford soft rubber is best.

All others, aside from the NAPA premium ones, seems to be thermoplastic and they shatter when under stress.

You can test by using a large bar on the tire and seing if it moves from front to back or back to front. Up and down checks for ball joins.

http://forums.tccoa.com/showthread.php?t=132113
 
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Having pulled most of the hair out of the top of my scalp, I can tell you this. Check everything... The things that wear out most of the time and cause rattling, clunking, vibration, excessive tire wear are:

1) Lower ball joints
2) Upper ball joints/bushings
3) sway bar links
4) Inner tie rods

After those, the next most frequent but not nearly so obvious are:

5) Upper shock mount (the 2 rubber bushings)
6) strut rod/arm bushings
7) control arm/frame bushings
8) sway bar bushings

The upper shock mount will drive you nuts because you won't be able to figure out where its coming from. The shock top rod goes through 2 bushings and the center hole of the mount. With wear, the small tips of the bushings break off and this allows the rod to contact the mount itself. Steel on steel. You can buy a new mount or like me, cut a sliver of garden hose about 1/4" long and shove it in the gap. :D
 
they said if it has more that 60k miles, chances are they are shot.
And if the parts have been replaced with cheaper aftermarket/or Ford parts :mad: and the mileage is more than 36k miles, chances are they are shot :eek:

Ford let me down by selling replacements which were less than OEM quality.(Specifically the LCAs). And its so easy to get lulled into buying the lower grade chain store parts. If you want it to last, you have to request the best part$ available, generally Moog "problem solver". They cost more, but when you compare them side-by-side you can see the difference. I never waste time anymore with low end or bargain ebay :(

SCP sells good parts that I know of.. I've bought bushings from Bill before that were quality parts.
 
And do not forget the rattling of the inner tie rods. Another easy item to check. Jack it up and see if the tire moves side to side.
 
I agree with pretty much everything said here. Pay for the best.

I am not sure that your strut rod bushings at the frame will be bad at that mileage, but of course, the age is getting high. The bushings at the arm seem to go bad sooner.

You can check visually - any excessive cracking will be obvious. You can also ask someone to drive the car on a flat surface while you watch. Drive forward at a few mph, then stop. Shift to reverse and start moving. Pay attention to how much the front tires shift relative to the body when the car reverses direction. It shouldn't be very noticeable.

I wasn't aware that anyone sold a rubber strut rod to frame bushing except Ford. I will have to look into that Napa part. I think the Ford part had gotten more expensive and is now more like $80/side than $80/total.
 
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I was on www.rockauto.com and they had a set of the Moog "problem solver" ones on there which do both sides and the bushing at the control arm where the strut rod goes through it for about $45.00 plus shipping! Are these a good part?
 
Moogs are blue thermoplastic. So no. Autozone are also plastic, Advance is also plastic, and the Cheaper Raybestos are also Plastic.
The Napa ones are rubber and say Ramcoa stamped on it. It is very hard rubber and not as soft or made like Ford ones but my hardware is rusted and broken so I needed a full kit so I sprung for the Napa ones I wanted a to find a cheaper alternave. But I did my share of investigating Napa is as close as you are going to get from what I gather.

So like I mentioned before if you can salvage the OEM hardware Ford is still the best alternative. I dont have that kind of money so Ill try out the Napa ones, I hope they hold up. I feel confident though. You can get it from Napa Online. Do not overtighten the nuts you will swell up the thin metal sleeves that come with the aftermarket kit.

If you buy a set that ends up being plastic post here so we can avoid them.

Ive been running a set of plastic ones rod bushings at the ARM and they seem to be holding ok. They came with the Control Arms I bought. They are holding up well. I dont think you should worry about plastic or rubber there. I think either one will hold, But Ford is the best at this location also.
 
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Ive been running a set of plastic ones rod bushings at the ARM and they seem to be holding ok. They came with the Control Arms I bought. They are holding up well. I dont think you should worry about plastic or rubber there. I think either one will hold, But Ford is the best at this location also.
I have the same setup.. blue Moog bushings at the control arm which are holding. They are not hard plastic but rather have a stiff rubber feel. Whats the issue with the plastic front ones?
 
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I have the same setup.. blue Moog bushings at the control arm which are holding. They are not hard plastic but rather have a stiff rubber feel. Whats the issue with the plastic front ones?


They will hold at the control arm, but not at the frame. Thermoplastic has some give but its mostly very hard. That has just been my experience.
 
Has anyone ran the energy suspension parts on there car.

I have used them with very good results on rx7 (SA-FB) cars and they use a strut tension rod like our cars...
 
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