Random Thoughts... [Automotive Edition]

Update on the suspension saga
The bar is measuring at 24mm as expected for a stock rear ARB on my car. However the opening on the bushing is 21mm at it's widest and a hair under 19mm at the narrowest, I am fairly certain that this ain't gonna work.... Guess I get to talk to Ford peeps tomorrow...
 
Not familiar with how the link attaches to your bar, but I assume a stud bolt of some kind. Is there a possibility there was a sleeve inside the old link's bushing that stayed stuck to the stud instead of coming off with the old link?

Edit, never mind, the blurry Photobucket pic from the linked thread shows they slide onto the bar. There's definitely some fuckery afoot.
 
Hm...different revisions with the same part number while in production? Or maybe something from a lower trim level?
 
Hm...different revisions with the same part number while in production? Or maybe something from a lower trim level?
It's the latest revision for that part, what's even stranger is that the bushing does say "24mm" on it. My guess is that someone fucked something up when making the bushing itself.
 
Yeah, call the Ford Performance tech line tomorrow, I'm sure they can shed some light as to whats going on.
 
It's the latest revision for that part, what's even stranger is that the bushing does say "24mm" on it. My guess is that someone fucked something up when making the bushing itself.

A return to the "Ford, you BONEHEADS" era of quality control, perhaps.
 
This is down to poor aftermarket parts design or a misunderstanding of what the car originally came with?

I was hoping to burn the rest of the Mercury’s fuel this weekend but since the weather isn’t cooperating, it seems that’s not happening. It has fuel from late May of this year...
 
This is down to poor aftermarket parts design or a misunderstanding of what the car originally came with?

I was hoping to burn the rest of the Mercury’s fuel this weekend but since the weather isn’t cooperating, it seems that’s not happening. It has fuel from late May of this year...

It appears it's a mistake at the factory/supplier. It's a Ford standard replacement part and the car has the bar it's supposed to have. The "correct" factory replacement part isn't fitting like it's supposed to. Prizrak hasn't gone to aftermarket parts yet from what he's posted.
 
Last edited:
Yeah it’s a factory/supplier issue for sure, gonna try giving Ford a call today and see what we can figure out. Aftermarket is gonna be last resort type of thing if only because everything I’m finding is poly bushings and this car is harsh enough on the “wonderful” NYC roads.
 
The saga continues...
Calling Ford to see if they can help me with the part, I was told a different part number, however when looking it up on the Ford parts site it comes back with the same one I got because the part they have showing has been superseded by the part that I received, that doesn't motherfucking fit....
 
Yeah it’s a factory/supplier issue for sure, gonna try giving Ford a call today and see what we can figure out. Aftermarket is gonna be last resort type of thing if only because everything I’m finding is poly bushings and this car is harsh enough on the “wonderful” NYC roads.

Copying and pasting something germane I posted to a Bronco forum when I had that POS to save myself typing:

Another thing to consider: When dealing with polyurethane bushings, be advised that they're not all of equal hardness. They are graded by a property called durometer, how resistant they are to distortion or bending. Put another way, the 'softness' of the polyurethane. Poly can be made in a wide spectrum of softness to allow you to tailor the bushing's properties to where you want them for a given application; for any given application you can hypothetically have bushings as hard as rocks or have them soft like a gummy bear though bushings as soft as the latter aren't terribly useful in most vehicle applications. A higher durometer number is harder.

This means that by carefully selecting bushings, you can tailor how your vehicle handles and rides. Sometimes you will want the hardest bushing for least distortion and suspension binding, sometimes you will want a softer bushing for shock absorption and better ride. While all manufacturers will tailor durometer for each bushing application, they tend to certain biases. As a gross general rule, Energy's bushings tend (and this is not a hard and fast rule even within similar applications) to be harder than Prothane's. There are other reputable manufacturers too, like Daystar and PowerFlex; you can inquire with vendors as to what "Shore A" durometer they are using. (Also, the other makers don't necessarily have a graphite impregnated option for every application, so inquire first.)

Here is a related article for additional reading, from the point of view of European car guys that explains about Shore A durometer numbers and what you're looking for there - decent reading although not everything applies to Bronco application bushings: https://www.eeuroparts.com/blog/2120/how-to-shop-for-poly-bushings/

Both Energy Suspension and Prothane Suspension offer poly bushings in red and black. The black ones have an advantage over the red ones - the black ones are graphite impregnated so that when the lubricant eventually goes away they will still be self-lubricating and will resist squeaking. I recently verified this again with Prothane and Energy - Energy themselves pointed out that the part number suffix indicated the composition with "R" for red and "G" for the graphite impregnated black.

Something else - you should buy an additional small tub of the bushing prelube they put in the box. What comes in the box is really not enough and if you have a tub you can slather the stuff on there. I've been doing this for fifteen years in various vehicles and never had a squeak that poly bushings were responsible for.
 
Copying and pasting something germane I posted to a Bronco forum when I had that POS to save myself typing:
As usual you are a wealth of knowledge, thanks. Related question, how does one put the bushings into the end link? Does it require a press to press em in or is it just a matter of squishing it in there? (I'm sure I can cut or burn the old bushing out)
 
As usual you are a wealth of knowledge, thanks. Related question, how does one put the bushings into the end link? Does it require a press to press em in or is it just a matter of squishing it in there? (I'm sure I can cut or burn the old bushing out)

Varies by design, but in types like that with no outer or inner metal sleeve, it's usually just a matter of squishing it in by hand if it's soft. Harder ones usually come in halves that look like top hats that you just push in place.
 
The saga continues...
Calling Ford to see if they can help me with the part, I was told a different part number, however when looking it up on the Ford parts site it comes back with the same one I got because the part they have showing has been superseded by the part that I received, that doesn't motherfucking fit....

Did you ask them why your bushing says 24mm on it despite not being 24mm. I’m a bit suspect of it being a different part number when literally no website says that, and your new part number matches the old part number you took off. If what they told you was true, your old link would not have fit, but it clearly did.
 
Varies by design, but in types like that with no outer or inner metal sleeve, it's usually just a matter of squishing it in by hand if it's soft. Harder ones usually come in halves that look like top hats that you just push in place.
I posted a pic upthread, but basically in my case there is an outer metal ring that holds it in.
Did you ask them why your bushing says 24mm on it despite not being 24mm.
He wasn't very helpful tbh, he was basically just "that's what my shit says here" and since the part number I got was not the same as the part number he pulled up (even though that's what comes up with the VIN) he said that maybe I got the wrong part.
I’m a bit suspect of it being a different part number when literally no website says that, and your new part number matches the old part number you took off.
I have a sneaking suspicion that there is a batch of these things mislabeled as 24mm when they should be 20mm, though I think the V6 used a 22mm bar so even that makes little sense. My last ditch effort will be to go to local dealership and measure w/e they give me, if it's still off I'm just getting energy bushings and calling it a day.

Or maybe I'll just do the latter since the energy bushing set is under $30 vs nearly a $100 for another set of Ford stuff.

Thanks for all your help though :)
 
I posted a pic upthread, but basically in my case there is an outer metal ring that holds it in.

He wasn't very helpful tbh, he was basically just "that's what my shit says here" and since the part number I got was not the same as the part number he pulled up (even though that's what comes up with the VIN) he said that maybe I got the wrong part.

I have a sneaking suspicion that there is a batch of these things mislabeled as 24mm when they should be 20mm, though I think the V6 used a 22mm bar so even that makes little sense. My last ditch effort will be to go to local dealership and measure w/e they give me, if it's still off I'm just getting energy bushings and calling it a day.

Or maybe I'll just do the latter since the energy bushing set is under $30 vs nearly a $100 for another set of Ford stuff.

Thanks for all your help though :)

If you go with the Energy ones, check with the company first but in an application like your picture shows they usually require the old bushing's rubber material to be torched out and the old shell left in the part.
 
If you go with the Energy ones, check with the company first but in an application like your picture shows they usually require the old bushing's rubber material to be torched out and the old shell left in the part.
That's about what I figured, and also seen on some forums.

This is the OEM part, the bigger piece is what goes onto the ARB and is just a big piece of rubber. The smaller part is what gets bolted up to the body itself and has a metal insert in the middle. Looking at the pics of energy (below the OEM) bushings seem to come with all the needed hardware, and the only part I need to keep is the actual hunk of painted steel that holds those bushings.
1573764856890.png

1573765172814.png
 
That's about what I figured, and also seen on some forums.

This is the OEM part, the bigger piece is what goes onto the ARB and is just a big piece of rubber. The smaller part is what gets bolted up to the body itself and has a metal insert in the middle. Looking at the pics of energy (below the OEM) bushings seem to come with all the needed hardware, and the only part I need to keep is the actual hunk of painted steel that holds those bushings.
View attachment 3556567
View attachment 3556569
I suggest adding this to your bushing purchase if you go Energy: https://www.amazon.com/Energy-Suspension-9-11104-Formula-Prelube/dp/B000CN7B4I

Which reminds me, I need to order the Energy Suspension kit for the front of the 4Runner - I've already got Whitelines to put in the lower control arms but nobody seems to make a separate upper control arm bushing set. At least the ES kit is cheap and I can probably sell off the rest to someone wanting the lower set.
 
Last edited:
Top