Greasable LCA Pivots

[ChallengerHK]

Anybody have any experience with these? Good idea/bad idea?

http://www.firmfeel.com/lcapins_e.htm

[Street_Challenged73]

You would think this would be beneficial, but I've never used these and already have my OE replacements.

[Chryco Psycho]

the factory bushing is press fit a& forces the rubber bushing to flex so it will only be useful for poly bushings where the pin moves inside the bushing ,other than that it looks OK

[HP2]

Ditto.

You could mod you own to do the same if you have a drill press and a 6" aircraft drill. Heckuva lot cheaper than the extra $55 they charge for the mod.

[ChallengerHK]

Let me ask you guys this: my assumption after staring at the suspension for a couple of hours as I was taking all this apart is that the LCA receives more force than the UCA. Is this a good assumption?

The reason I'm olooking at all this is that I can get poly bushings installed for $20 when I get the LCAs boxed. I wasn't even considering polys for the LCAs because of the difficulty to lube them, but if I can use these pivots to make them easily lubable, and IF the LCA receives more force in a steady state corner, it seems to make sense to use the poly bushings and therefore the greasable pivots. Is my reasoning off somewhere?

Oh, BTW, HP, I agree with you about the cost but I run into the lack of tools again. I've only had a garage for a few months, so I imagine that it'll be a few years before I'm fully set up.  Given that state of affairs, I either get to pay for the part, or pay somebody else to mod the part.

[HP2]

My Fault. I always forget about your garage situation.

I always use poly and I've had 50-50 results with squeaks. Some do, some don't. But for that matter, I've had rubber bushed cars that squeaked, so I wouldn't say that rubber is a guaranteed way to avoid the noise either.

Since there is a rotating motion in these bushings, adding lube to them on occasion isn't a bad thing, IMO.

[LAA66]

 Well it's been a year since this topic was posted. Any squeaks? 

 I'm at the point where the grease-able lca pins need to be decided upon. FFI says $100 now. Wondering if this is a necessity? I don't want to disassemble every couple of years to grease them that's for sure. Thanks

[Roppa440]

I have used poly in mine for years and no squeaks.

I also don't have problems with the LCA moving which is something people keep telling me it will do without the stock bushing. I keep hearing scare stories about the LCA hitting the k-frame and such like because the bushing is the only thing locating the LCA fore and aft.

My argument has always been that the LCA strut stops the LCA moving and as long as you use poly on the end of the strut it will hold the LCA in position.

What are the views of people here about this?

[ChallengerHK]

It has been a year, but I went with regular rubber bushings. This was right around the time I found out that I was getting laid off, and I wanted to finish the job without putting any more money into it than necessary.

That said, I've got a bunch of other poly bushings in the car, which I've slowly been disassembling and applying poly lube to, in copious amounts. None of the ones that have the lube slathered on them are squeaking.

[HP2]

I put poly in all my cars since the early 90s, and I've never had issues with the control arm moving. I also have not noticed any huge issues with squeaking either.

I've never had any issue with strut rod poly bushings either, but I have heard of people who have because the bushing is too thick and you cannot get everything torqued down and positioned correctly. This may be more brand dependent on the poly or a case of tolerance stack up with a variety of other components, I dunno.

[ChallengerHK]

I put poly in all my cars since the early 90s, and I've never had issues with the control arm moving. I also have not noticed any huge issues with squeaking either.

I have had huge issues with squeaking with the poly leaf spring bushings (front and back). I suspect that one or both of two things have caused this. First, the tube of poly lube I got with the front bushings was very small, an dI doubt it would have covered everything. Second, the guy who installed the leaf springs for me, while very nice, may well have ridden the short bus to school. Before I got my house he did a lot of work on the car for me, and several things were left undone, so he may well have never used any of the lube.

[Roppa440]

Are these normal poly or the poly-graphite?

I used the poly graphite but I also used a LARGE tube of silicon grease while fitting. Never had any issues.

[HP2]

I've predemoniatly used poly-graphite from PST. When I get a whole kit, it is always from them. Never tried Just Suspension. I have used Energy Suspension poly in upper control arms, but never in lowers and that was just because it was a piece meal build and we didn't do a whole kit at the time.

[Roppa440]

I've predemoniatly used poly-graphite from PST. 

Yes. That is where I got mine from.

[LAA66]

 I got mine from Springs and Things but suspect they are made by one of the other two. I'm only using the LCA and strut bushings as the uppers are the rubber offset Moog units.

 I see your point with respect to the lower control arm not fixed in place (with Poly bushings) except by the strut. I was going to call FFI today to check how the straightening of the one bent arm is going, so will ask them this also.