TRD bushings

[suprabad]

I haven't replaced mine yet, but I'm going to order a set of these today.

My car feels pretty tight and the stock bushing appear to be ok, but I have a suspicion that this is one of those things wherein:

you don't realize they were getting worn untill you replace them and feel the difference.


Anyone surprised at the difference these made on a car you "thought" might not "need" them?

 

[mk3ukr]

of note, when installing you MUST drill/tap a hole for zerk fittings so you can regrease as necessary.

Don't take this warning lightly. I had these G.Mohler bushings on my car and greased them every 2-3 weeks, after few months some of them were impossible to press through with grease gun. Then one day transverse arm broke, rear left wheel toed out and car went off the road. Was lucky speed was not very high, but I hit 2 parked cars.
http://www.mk3ukr-supra.com/Rear arm 01a.jpg

 

[Mr. Sinister]

I haven't replaced mine yet, but I'm going to order a set of these today.

I think shaeff got the last set from them years ago. Try contacting them anyway to see what they say. If they don't carry them anymore, I have a set for sale (the guy suprahero was referring to in post #8). PM me if you're interested.

 

[shaeff]

as it's been stated numerous times thus far:

the bushings in question are the unobtanium motorsports units. i have that exact set.

i purchased the VERY LAST set from jeff watson @ champion toyota, and paid about $750 or so.

yes, they're much harder than the poly you all see on most car suspensions. they are solid- not semi-solid.

i'll be installing the rest of them in the rear, and probably the rest in the front as well this winter while the subframe is out for repair.

 

[TurboStreetCar]

Bushing sets for supras are so ridiculously priced......

 

[bgrieger]

low volume, low demand = gotta pay to play.

 

[Poodles]

Don't take this warning lightly. I had these G.Mohler bushings on my car and greased them every 2-3 weeks, after few months some of them were impossible to press through with grease gun. Then one day transverse arm broke, rear left wheel toed out and car went off the road. Was lucky speed was not very high, but I hit 2 parked cars.
http://www.mk3ukr-supra.com/Rear arm 01a.jpg

holy fuck...

wouldn't install em on my car after seeing that... even if the chance is remote, it's still a danger...

 

[drjonez]

holy fuck...

wouldn't install em on my car after seeing that... even if the chance is remote, it's still a danger...

the same danger applies to poly bushings....install anything incorrectly and it is dangerous.

 

[IJ.]

Installed my RK Poly's quite a few years back greased em up with Castrol LMM and haven't had to touch em since, when I fitted the 9" I got a chance to check the rears and they're perfect, ditto on the front when I had the front subframe out to paint the engine bay last year.

 

[suprahero]

You're all the time bragging about something................If it's not about painting your engine bay, then it's bragging about your nine inches.............:biglaugh:

 

[Asterix]

...it's bragging about your nine inches......

What? You don't have a 9" exhaust? :icon_razz

If you look carefully at how our rear suspension works, you'll notice that all three lower arms can't rotate nicely around the pivot points. All of them must be able to swing perpendicularly to the mounting bolts. The whole idea behind the 5-link suspension is controlled squishing for good toe control as the wheel moves up and down. Toyota carefully chose the compliance for each bushing. There's a spherical bearing on one end of arm #1 and a tie rod end on one end of arm #2. Those points being more rigid than the others is much of how the systems works.

So, when you constrain these arms with sleeve bearings that are too inflexible, something is going to lose. I'd say the combination of that nylon sleeve and the sway bar attachment was just too much for the poor metal, already weakened by a weld.

A more appropriate material is 85 or 90A polyurethane. It's stiff, but squishes enough. Mine are still going strong after 160,000 miles.

However, the upper arm does rotate nicely around it's pivots. I use graphite-impregnated 75D polyu for those. That's almost as hard as nylon 6/6, but much tougher and self-lubricating.

Asterix

 

[suprabad]

i purchased the VERY LAST set from jeff watson @ champion toyota

Right as always, I just got off the phone with Jeff and indeed they are no longer available. :cry:

*[begin whining sequence]*-I wish companies (not picking on Champion) would keep their websites up to date so I wouldn't get myself all jacked-up over some part that hasn't been avilable since Nirvana was still making records.-*[whining sequence complete]*

I guess it's back to the drawing board.

 

[IJ.]

You're all the time bragging about something................If it's not about painting your engine bay, then it's bragging about your nine inches.............:biglaugh:

Hey it's a BIG 9"

 

[annoyingrob]

I guess it's back to the drawing board.

Here:
http://www.horsepowerfreaks.com/price/Toyota/Supra_86-92/RK/Suspension/Bushings

Now stop whining

 

[TurboStreetCar]

low volume, low demand = gotta pay to play.

a 240sx kit is 250, ours is 750, thats a little extreme........

 

[suprabad]

a 240sx kit is 250, ours is 750, thats a little extreme........

It does seem like a lot of money for what you are getting, but I couldn't tell you what manufacturing costs are, maybe they're expensive to make.

And as someone pointed out low volume production means higher end-user price.

Whatayagonnado? :icon_conf I you gotta have 'em, you gotta have 'em.

 

[suprageezer]

The more people who take the time to write Summit Racing and Energy Suspension the sooner we'll have an affordable set of poly bushings to buy.

 

[Asterix]

It does seem like a lot of money for what you are getting, but I couldn't tell you what manufacturing costs are, maybe they're expensive to make.

Mine were turned on a lathe from tube or solid polyu stock by a relatively inexpensive machine shop. Typical price was $20-$25 each. The shafts were fairly cheap, maybe $10 each, since I bought 1" 316L rod already ground to +/-0.002. They just needed to be drilled and cut to length.

Labor cost for 22 bushings: 22 x $25 + 22 x $10 = $770.

I'll have to dig further for my materials cost.

Casting is where the money savings are, but you have to make a bunch to make up for the (large) tooling cost.

Don't even ask me about the development time & expense. I bought one of each arm from a junkyard, hogged out the old bushings, measured, and drew pictures. That took many hours.

Asterix

 

[supraguy@aol]

The more people who take the time to write Summit Racing and Energy Suspension the sooner we'll have an affordable set of poly bushings to buy.

Already wrote Energy Susp. awhile ago.

 

[TurboStreetCar]

Mine were turned on a lathe from tube or solid polyu stock by a relatively inexpensive machine shop. Typical price was $20-$25 each. The shafts were fairly cheap, maybe $10 each, since I bought 1" 316L rod already ground to +/-0.002. They just needed to be drilled and cut to length.

Labor cost for 22 bushings: 22 x $25 + 22 x $10 = $770.

I'll have to dig further for my materials cost.

Casting is where the money savings are, but you have to make a bunch to make up for the (large) tooling cost.

Don't even ask me about the development time & expense. I bought one of each arm from a junkyard, hogged out the old bushings, measured, and drew pictures. That took many hours.

Asterix

Exactly my point, a custom set, of one off pieces, that ONE person made with there own resources, are the same cost as a full kit made by a major company that already has the tooling and measurements for all of them.