Anyone running spherical suspension on the street?
How are the heim joints holding up?
I've got Maximum Motorsports extreme duty rear lower control arms with spherical bushings on my Thunderbird (stock rubber bushed rear upper control arms). Rides fine with no issues. They do transmit more differential/road noise to the cabin however. My solution was to turn up the radio ;).
Edit:
These: http://www.maximummotorsports.com/Extreme-Duty-Adjustable-Rear-lower-Control-Arms-1983-1989-Thunderbird-P1444.aspx
Stereo fixes almost all annoying noises.
I like the adjustability of those LCA'S.
Nice sleeper you have there...surprised a few people I imagine.
Most people don't know what passed 'em ;)
That's what I'm looking forward to once again.
Unfortunately the original drivetrain in the 85 is trashed. So I'm waiting for my transplant to be complete.
I get alot of 20 something year olds asking me
what car is that?
Just point to the "Thunderbird" script on the deck lid ;)
http://corner-carvers.com/forums/showpost.php?p=902398&postcount=5 and ive heard if you replace the uppers with spherical you get crazy and unpredictable handling and you can rip your torque boxes out so you want to retain stock rubber upper bushings as urethane bushings induce alot of bind
Maximum does not sell the correct UCA's for our cars and will give you the same advice with regards to using spherical bushing control arms in the stock locations. I am running Global West UCA's (basically GM A-Body units but they have a part number for our cars) with spherical bushings on the body side and rubber bushings pressed into the ears of the rear end which are paired with my Griggs Racing heim jointed LCA's. This setup is supposed to eliminate the binding due to the LCA's being heim jointed. With the limited amount of street time I have had in the car is seems to work as advertised.
That's what I did. Maximum Motorsports recommends always using rubber bushings in the upper control arms.
Unless you run a pan hard bar and torque arm then you don't run any :D :D :D
I'm really considering a Maximum Motorsports pan hard bar as a winter project. The car handles great with the upgraded control arms but the pan hard bar seems like it would make it even better.
With the pan hard bar you at least get to get rid of one of the UCA's. I went straight from the MM lowers and police interceptor uppers on my Coupe to the pan hard bar and torque arm...night and day difference.
Mine has been all spherical (including upper axle mount) for about 2 yrs now. Probably around 2500 miles. Transmits a good amount of road noise and you get a clunk here an there when going over bumps but it isn't that bad. I also have a Team Z ARB in the back that stays hooked up even on the street. Keeps the car remarkably flat even without a front swaybar.
Thanks for input guys
I'm replacing my upper and lower boxes
I'm not d/d' ing my car ....I'm looking for bird to hook hard and straight. My concern was if I had to replace my sphericals every year or not. 2500 miles and no issue is good enough for me.
Are you lubing the sphericals constantly?
They have a nylon protective cover that keeps trash out. I have not lubed them since they were put in.
Edit: Found out they are teflon lined. Not supposed to lube them.
I'll be sure to get Teflon lined.
Did the covers come with you arms or did you buy them separately?
I live in a rural area...not the cleanest roads around so those sound like a great idea.
The Maximum Motorsports lowers come with poly covers for the bushings.
Thanks Thunderjet
No problem.
The maximum Motorsports pieces aren't cheap but very well made. Worth the money if you ask me.