What to replace during suspension overhaul?

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SlushboxTeggy

SlushboxTeggy

It's only stupid if it doesn't work
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The Teg is approaching 195k. Its as sound as ever, minus the suspension. It rides like a hardtail. So I decided that I should replace the shocks. Then I decided I should see what else I "should be" replacing while I'm at it. Searching around created more questions than answers.

So I figured I would ask here. While I'm in there, should I replace LCAs, tie rods, bushings, what? Obviously I'm looking to improve the ride, but I clearly want to avoid a catastrophic failure while on the highway first.
 
Damn dude... With that many miles on the factory rubber underpinnings, im pretty sure they are all rotted out... Along with the struts, you want to inspect all the control arm, trailing arm, upper control arm, toe arm, and sway bar bushings... If you want to retain a smooth factory ride quality, use oem bushings... Stay away from the cheap ones as they will tear prematurely and you will have to do it all over again... If you want a firmer ride, you can go with polyurethane bushings... These improve and firm up the car's overall fell massively.... At the expense of the smooth ride quality...
 
Well after nearly 10 years, I'm just trying to improve the ride quality. As far as the other parts, is it just more of inspecting it and replacing it as needed? There aren't particular mileage markers?
 
nope. you get underneath and start shaking shit. if you see cracks in the rubber, or if things sag easily, replace.
 
At 195k, about 130k put on by me with nothing changed, do you think there is a damn thing under there that doesn't need to be changed?
 
i just went through the front end of my integra with 200k+ miles, and once i started really looking at it, pretty much everything was bad. the worst things were the ball joints and tie rods, they were in sad shape. if you dont mind spending a few extra bucks look into hardrace, they make really nice stuff that is just like oem but a little stiffer and tougher, but less harsh that poly bushings. I have their engine mounts, and many, many suspension parts, not much more expensive than oem either.
 
I need to go through my suspension again as well. I can see it being close to a weeks worth of work.
 
front end on my car was one day (probly 4-6 hours) tear down, and one full day (7-8 hours) to put back together... this was doing axles, and installing a traction bar in addition to replacing all the bushings, tie rods, doing alignment, and ball joints. must add, i had all the necesary tools, including air tools, and a good helper to get it knocked out. it was a bit of a job.
 
FLounder said:
front end on my car was one day (probly 4-6 hours) tear down, and one full day (7-8 hours) to put back together... this was doing axles, and installing a traction bar in addition to replacing all the bushings, tie rods, doing alignment, and ball joints. must add, i had all the necesary tools, including air tools, and a good helper to get it knocked out. it was a bit of a job.
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A BIT OF A JOB?!?! Are you kidding me?!?! When i did my poly bushings, and strut/spring swap... Every goddamn bolt broke... Every bushing was dry rotted... And this was at about 100k miles... The ride is considerably harsher, but the car is so much more responsive. It took me about two hours for the front, and about a zillion hours for the rear...
 
SlushboxTeggy said:
The Teg is approaching 195k. Its as sound as ever, minus the suspension. It rides like a hardtail. So I decided that I should replace the shocks. Then I decided I should see what else I "should be" replacing while I'm at it. Searching around created more questions than answers.

So I figured I would ask here. While I'm in there, should I replace LCAs, tie rods, bushings, what? Obviously I'm looking to improve the ride, but I clearly want to avoid a catastrophic failure while on the highway first.
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If you plan on keeping the car, replace all bushings. While I had mine apart, I did the brake flex lines, wheel bearings, and seals. Even replaced the exhaust hangers - used polyurethane on everything including the shift linkage. I won't argue with anyone on neoprene -vs- polyurethane and how tight it makes the ride. I will simply state - I like it mucho better than worn out OEM. Used Energy Suspension bushings with the silicon lube in the kit - no squeaks so far and it's been 2 or 3 years ago I did the upgrade.

Be prepared to use some brute force. A large vise is pretty much mandatory, a torch is good to have, a good drill and some old bits in the 1/4" to 3/8" range to drill out old bushings. I took the front LCA's to the machine shop to have the old bushings pressed out as they were a royal mofer with steel outer sheaths. Impact guns are also nice to have for this work. The new busings are pretty easy to slide in - large "C" clamps or a large vise and some old blocks of wood to protect them works well.

It will make your car drive like a new one. It will stop in a straight line when braking hard and tire wear, once it's aligned again will be good.

It's a lot of work, but well worth the effort.
 
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FLounder said:
front end on my car was one day (probly 4-6 hours) tear down, and one full day (7-8 hours) to put back together... this was doing axles, and installing a traction bar in addition to replacing all the bushings, tie rods, doing alignment, and ball joints. must add, i had all the necesary tools, including air tools, and a good helper to get it knocked out. it was a bit of a job.
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The problem here is, I only have one day at a time. My days off are not consecutive and this is my only vehicle. Maybe for the moment, I'll change out the shocks, then when I find the right XJ I've been looking for, I'll sideline the DC and do a proper overhaul.
 
buy everything you need first and then do a little at a time. as you finish stuff up, you're going to need an alignment.
 
SlushboxTeggy said:
The problem here is, I only have one day at a time. My days off are not consecutive and this is my only vehicle. Maybe for the moment, I'll change out the shocks, then when I find the right XJ I've been looking for, I'll sideline the DC and do a proper overhaul.
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I did the front end first on one weekend, then a month or so later did the rear. Plan on the possibility of machine shop help with old bushing removal on some of the components.

I used 1 1/2" & 2" sanding drums on a cordless drill to clean up some of the holes where I drilled/burned out the old bushings. Rear trailing arms were one I remember sanding drum use on.
 
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TurboMirage said:
buy everything you need first and then do a little at a time. as you finish stuff up, you're going to need an alignment.
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I'd prefer do it all at once. I don't think it'd take more than a few days, I just want to make sure I cover my transportation bases if something gets stuck or breaks.
 
There are some "shortcuts" you can take to speed things up a bit... Like purchasing the upper control arm assembly ( napa sells them including the ball joints and the bushings) rear adjustable toe arms, and camber arm, and lower control arm, (all of them will come with pre installed bushings for ease of installation, and the only bushings you will have to tackle are the front lower control arms, trailing arm bushing (royal pita) and figuring out how to remove the broken bolts...
 
Energy suspension bushings are easy to put in, as long as you have a shop press or even a buddy with one. One thing I learned about removing the old bushings, instead of wasting time about bashing them out, simply burn the old rubber with a torch, then take either a sawzall, or a hack saw and just make two cuts on the old bushings outer ring. They'll simply fall out, and the new bushings will pop right in.

When I did a poly urethane kit on my cb7, with megan race springs and skunk2 shocks. It was night and day for me.
 
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