Re: [Amc-list] Replacing Strut-Rod Bushings.

[Wrambler242@xxxxxxxxxxx]

My American was kind of hammered:[
Bought it in 93 for $300 IIRC, CRS syndrome here too!
One owner car with 73K+- on the clock. Little old guy suffered from CSS, Couldn't see $#!t 
There was'nt a straight panel on it! It was pretty solid for a western Pa ca though.
I put poly in everywhere but the struts. I left the struts till later as my rubber ones are good.
I was going to go poly on the mounts till I finally got the exhaust to stop touching the left strut bracket when torquing the engine on takeoff. I'd like to add a torgue link to keep from tearing the rubber mounts, but havn't found the right setup yet.
I don't know that the poly won't cause problems over time, but, I don't think I will do enough driving on it to worry too much about it.
I would have went rubber on the control arms too, but the kit was easier to purchase and the poly easier to install since they used the existing steel.
I need to go into the trunion on one side, it is not real free. Not loose but it has a sopt it wants to bind some.
I have a spare set I'd like to get bushed with bronze. I just don't know who to contact about it.

Mark Price


 -------------- Original message ----------------------
From: "Armand Eshleman" <aje1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Damn, I like your attitude John,
> When I get raked over the coals by a business I just meekly walk out of the
> place and never set foot in it again.
> 
> I worried a bit about my Javelin when I went to the poly pieces in the front
> end too, but everyone who's ever looked at my car was impressed with how
> intact it still is after spending it's entire life in MN (salty winter
> state). I would say it really only has about four and a 1/2 winters on it.
> It was built in December of 69. After 73 I had several cheap chevy stand ins
> do winter duty so the Javelin would live longer, guess it paid off. I had
> one guy look at the front troughs and tell me he thought the car was
> extremely intact so I was real happy.
> 
> Armand
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "John Elle" <johnelle@xxxxxxxxx>
> To: <amc-list@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Saturday, June 02, 2007 6:36 PM
> Subject: [Amc-list] Replacing Strut-Rod Bushings.
> 
> 
> > Snip
> > I tend to put a lot of highway miles on my old cars, maybe that's it.
> > Snip
> >
> > I dunno, I replaced the strut rod bushings on my Donohue some where
> > around in the early '80's and it is still working well, my Spirit has
> > had 35,000 miles on it since we went to St. Louis all together in 1999
> > and it is still holding up. The AMX has not had a lot of miles put on it
> > since I front clipped it and replaced everything in the front end or
> > rebuilt them. But other than age, the strut old rod bushings are
> > actually in pretty good shape and they had been on the car from about
> > 1993 to about 2001 and they are re-usable if needed! Also I am not
> > hearing complaints about other cars in the club. The only thing that I
> > will not do is put polyurethane strut rod bushings on anything that has
> > spent a lot of it's life in the rust belt. 'Specially after I cut the
> > front end off of the AMX which gave me a chance to see all of the hidden
> > places that were extensively damaged by rust. The visible places were
> > scary enough as the front end was beginning to collapse at the
> > suspension mounts, the hidden places where the structure was weakening
> > with out being visable yet, but stress cracks were beginning to develop
> > when you started looking for them convinced me that in no way was I was
> > going to subject the uni-body to the stresses caused by the jarring
> > action of polyurethane suspension components. There was an internal to
> > the box member support that was about 80% eaten away by rust which in
> > part was causing the collapsing.
> > This is not the worst one I have seen, the Gremlin that one of the
> > members bought was so badly rusted in the front suspension components
> > that he could not slide a floor jack under the engine cross member any
> > longer.
> > What I don't like about the one piece units the instructions for
> > adjusting the caster have a torque spec. to tighten the jam nuts to, as
> > they are all rubber and I would imagine the flexibility of the rubber
> > probably varies with aging and manufacturer that looks to me as a
> > potential problem area getting the adjustments to hold as a function of
> > time. 'Specially with the "Alignment Technician" border line capable of
> > reading English or any other language in many cases. And not giving a
> > damn the rest of the time, where the 2 piece unit has a sleeve that
> > serves as a stop for the nuts to be tightened up against so at least the
> > compression can be controlled by the length of the sleeve.
> > The last "specialist" that I took my car too had another routine change
> > in "technicians" who informed me that by Spirit needed about $400.00 in
> > front end work done to it so he could do both a 2 wheel and a 4 wheel
> > alignment 'cause the front end had been totally rebuilt and was all out
> > of adjustment and when I asked for a reason for this I was informed that
> > it was to complicated to understand.
> > So I went to the manager and asked him how many cars he had on record
> > that I had brought there for service, repairs and tires and when he
> > looked it up I had 7 of them. I let him know that he would not see them
> > again, and to put my Spirit on the ground I was leaving.
> > The new place I went to, another chain auto repair outfit, were a little
> > more customer oriented and have done o.k., work when needed and I made a
> > deal with them. If they don't piss me off I will bring my cars back and
> > buy tires from them.
> > 2 months ago the owner commented that I had been a steady customer and
> > one of the few that has never gotten mad when they made a mistake or
> > screwed something up. My answer surprised them.
> > That's cause you admitted it! And then fixed it.
> > I'll be back
> > John.
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--
Mark Price
Morgantown, WV
1969 AMC Rambler, 4.0L, EFI, T-5
" I was different before people dared to be different" 
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