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My findings from hands on with these Poly type bushings.
Rack bushes in Poly last a very long time. The rack dont rotate or move as such. Mine are 40+ years old and still as fitted. Failures I have seen here were purely due to ill fitment by the human.
Upper wishbone. Acceptable. The upper inner is NOT a load bearing pivot as such. Again, mine are old and OK.
Lower Inner wishbone, OH DEAR, NOT a snowflakes chance in hell. 3 weeks maybe???, and the ride quality is RUBBISH.
Sway bar "D" points, PERFECT, as long as the Pre Install Lube is done RIGHT.
Sway bar links, NOPE, there is not enough "give" and the threaded section of the Hex pins snap off, not good.
Upper shocker bushes. YOUR car, YOUR call, NOT for me. Too harsh for my liking, and very Un-Jaguar,
Rear suspension, NOT A CHANCE in my fleet.
With the bits you have, I reckon the gaps will be easily seen. Lower Inner is only area that will make speak a new language, as the spring needs to come out and the engine raise, OR the cradle lowered, to do them. I take the cradle out of the car. Many, many beers required.
Last edited by Grant Francis; 12-09-2023 at 09:00 PM.
Doesn't look like a part of a sway bar bushing, if it was the raised "edge" of a sway bar busing, it wouldn't be as thick or wide, based on the pics i have seen of the D shaped sway bar bushings.
The OD is about 1.87", as i made a tracing of the part, and continued it around into a circle.
No, this isn't an indictment on Urethane, I have no opinion, except i wouldn't use it in most locations due to squeaking. Is that an opinion???
Any recommendations for a US based rack bushing supplier?
Back in the day, 20+ years ago, some vendors were selling sub-par polyurethane rack bushings. They were known for going gooey and splitting apart after just a couple years. More than a few unhappy people out there. Including me.
Soon enough those disappeared from the market and higher quality stuff was being sold. I haven't had or heard of any problems (of that nature) for a long time.
Th rubber bits are part of the inner flange on the lower inner control arm bushing. Crap.
Urethane, for sure, probably not factory.
Going to read up on changing those.
Just glancing at it, from underneath, one would think you could just put a jack under the control arm, undo the inner side only and lower it without completely removing the spring, but that just an initial observation.*
The front of that car weighs a bunch, based on how much effort it too on the floor jack handle.
How much does that complete V-12 motor weigh?
*However, if one bushing is bad, they are all bad, if it needs to come that far apart, do everything, all bushings, ball joints, tie rod ends, etc.
The problem with replacing the lower control arm bushings in the car, is that the fulcrum shaft won't clear being pulled out without at least lowering the rear of the front suspension cross member. If you're going to do that, just pull the crossmember completely from the car.
From what I gather, lower bushings in urethane have been problematic. When I did my front suspension, I used factory bushings for the lowers, and urethane for the uppers. Probably, if I were to do it over, I'd use factory everywhere, as the stock bushings don't have that much rubber in them anyway.
What I do, FWIW, is drop the steering rack down. Not remove it entirely but pull the mounting bolts and let the rack drop. That gives the clearance for the fulcrum bolts to pass rearward.
The fulcrum bolts are often seized in place. Sometimes you can get 'em out with a BFH and a strong swinging arm. Otherwise it's time for the Sawz-All and replacement bolts.
The difficulty in replacing these bushings is why most everyone recommends using the genuine Metalastic replacements.
By comparison the upper bushings are a breeze to replace so experimenting with poly bushings (or other aftermarket types) isn't so risky.
My 1st one, S2 XJ6, took about 3 weeks. Gravity helped with the dropping, literally. Spring removal was the worst, and I had the Factory Compressor.
Compressed coil springs give me the shakes since a workmate died with one that got away, way back in the 60's when I was an apprentice.
Later, the cradle was out, on th floor inside 4 hours.
Rebuild, that is wime consumong, and the "while I am here" syndrome is the cause. About a week, if you have ALL the bits.
Those rebuildable balljoints, nope, I replace with the later sealed units. I try and find a brand with grease nipples, they are out there I suppose, its been 20 years.
Beer, shiiit loads, fill the fridge, do a midway run if needed.
AZ Doug
Very good decision to remove the front subframe.
If you have access to a ramp it makes it much easier. If not, get the front well up in the air and WELL supported on the front jacking points.
This is my basic procedure, just to give you an idea of what is involved (not necessarily 100% complete):
You will need a bar across the engine support on the wing gutters to take the weight of the engine via chains hooked onto the lifting eyes on the front of the engine. e.g. https://www.harborfreight.com/1000-l...bar-96524.html
You then need to remove the air cleaners to get access to the two nuts securing the engine mount brackets to the engine mount. These need a 9/16s spanner and a ratchet spanner is best as access and swing angle is very limited.
Undo top shock absorber nut
Underneath, I always remove the springs while the subframe is on the car. Also the brake calipers (rattle gun for the calmiper bolts) and watch carefully and retain any shims on the lower bolt between steering arm and upright
Undo steering arm from rack track rod ends
The rack can come off now or when S/F is off the car, but undo the pipes and also the pinch bolt connecting the column to the rack splines.
Remove hubs, undo shock absorber bottom bolts and ARB drop links.
All this take loads of weight off the subframe and makes it far easier to deal with once unbolted. You can undo the rack now or when off the car.
undo earth strap on engine bottom LHS and on the frame. It goes via the subframe so you caan leave the subframe connectio, alone.
The subframe is held on in four places: a V mounts each side at the rear and two large 'six shot' bushes at the front. loosen the fronts, undo the rears, and the S/F will swing down on the front moutings. Support it and undo the front mounts, being careful to retain the INNER sleeve on the mounting bush.
In my opinion it is absolutely essential to use genuine metalastik bushes, which if nowhere else, you can get from DAvid Manners in the UK, talk to Jack Weston.
A Rite of Passage awaits you, good for you getting stuck in.
I did mine working alone over a winter, about 3 months. It's not all that hard, especially if you have All the parts as mentioned. https://www.jaguarforums.com/forum/x...-c8673-242611/
One thing you really must do, however, as it's Critical to longevity of the bushings, after you have it all back together, you must drive it around the block, over a speed bump preferably BEFORE you tighten the fulcrum bolts! You'll see the front drop about 2 inches before your very eyes, and if you know what you're waiting for, you'll Hear It!. Then you know it's right and you can torque them.
If you don't do this one last step, the car will Never settle properly on the new bushings, and you'll be replacing them in a couple years, 5 at the most.
Just Sayin..........
(';')
I cheat when working on any part of the suspension. ( front or rear).
I put the car on my rotisserie ( using the bumper mounts.). Then rotate the car upside down.
Using the same engine hoist I used to lift the front and rear end up onto the rotisserie. I unbolt the suspension and either lift it off or do the work from the top. I have all thread rod to pull the spring pan off. Replacing each bolt with a length of all thread. Removing 1 bolt at a time and replacing it with all thread.
I do the same thing with the rear shocks, if that. Needs work.
Most of the time I don’t even have to pull the whole suspension. Sure makes it easy to work on.
Yes, you’ll need to drain all the fluids ( remove battery)
building the rotisserie took me most of a weekend. In part because I wanted to be able to roll it around on wheels and I had to fabricate 4 different outriggers for the two different sets of wheels I had. I also cheat in that. With the full weight of a car on it the rotisserie wants to spread, so once I have the car ready to go Up I put two lengths of angle iron on. One on each side. It only takes a minute for all 4 tack welds. using the stick welder. If I wasn’t so lazy I’d drill holes and bolt the lengths on.
I saw reference to a mounting bushing on the S/F to car mounting, I assume this is an additional rubber part I need?
So, for a complete job, I need, upper inner bushings, lower inner bushings for sure, also steering rack bushings.
While I am there... tie rod ends, maybe ball joints (they aren't hard to change later if need be)
My steering rack has a minor leak and torn bellows on one end, so probably a rebuilt rack is in order. Anybody ever rebuild their own rack, or just get a rebuilt? They are not inexpensive.
Am I missing anything I need to order?
Hub rebuilding, etc , can be done later if needed. Or is there some advantage to doing that with the S/F out of the car?
I have removed springs before with home made spring compressors, I ALWAYS chained the spring to something so it couldn't go far if something gave way. I really dislike working with springs of any type, under tension.
I have already moved the car into an appropriate bay for extended downtime disassembly. Everything will get cleaned/media blasted and painted before reassembly,
Changing the brake hoses all the way around and flush brake system,will be a separate project later along with rebuild calipers.
Yes the front of the subframe has one large bolt holding each side up ( total of 2 ) front sub frame bushings.
The method I listed ( using all thread rod). Is the most controlled way to work on springs. Replace each bolt one at a time, on the spring pad. with a length of All thread using a Nut on a washer . to slowly release spring tension. I just use Hardware store grade all thread.
Then once all the tension is off the spring pad, do whatever you’re going to do to the spring
To replace the spring pad reuse the all thread taking one turn at a time tighten the all thread back up until you can replace all the bolts.
2 (the V mount) bolts to the chassis rail, all you have to do is undo the nut on the stud that holds the S/F to it, and the S/F swings down on the loosended front biush.
Are there replaceable rubber bushing on the rear sub frame to body mounts also (The Vee mount area)??? I see pictures of said items on some sites, but don't really see them on one of the exploded drawing I looked at.
12-09-2023, 05:08 PM
Oh, oh, found broken urethane bits under the front of my car, 1988
