59 American Control arm Bushings

i've been posting on and off for about a year about early american bushings. yup,t hat's what they cost, and i wont buy old (new, but old) rubber. someone told me that the ones that some AMC suppliers are selling now, are new NEW, but i'm skeptical.

new in the box, but made in the 80's, is still 30+ years old and i wont install them in my car regardless of price.

the good news is that i'm currently driving on bushings that i made, inexpensively, from soft polyurethane bushings from RideTech. the assembly process is minorly intricate but i put together a detailed assembly process for them, on this overly-long page here on my website:

http://sr-ix.com/AMC/1961-Rambler-Roadster/front-suspension/index.html

about halfway down.

though i made a jig and used a flycutter on my mill-drill, you could make the necessary cuts with a hacksaw. i'd jam them into the end of a 5/8" dowel or rod to support them then cut.

harder to fabricate is the thin spacer necessary to fill in behind the cupped washers. but all you need is any thing material that's hard (aluminum, ABS or similar plastic), some hole saws and a small drill press (for this i used my ancient tiny Delta drill press).

i think these are better than OEM-replacements, in that the particular poly is a great "hardness" for this, fairly soft for poly, and shouldn't rot. they shouldn't squeak either given the tensions.


$2 each, you need 16 for the whole car.

tomj wrote: i've been posting on and off for about a year about early american bushings. yup,t hat's what they cost, and i wont buy old (new, but old) rubber. someone told me that the ones that some AMC suppliers are selling now, are new NEW, but i'm skeptical. new in the box, but made in the 80's, is still 30+ years old and i wont install them in my car regardless of price. the good news is that i'm currently driving on bushings that i made, inexpensively, from soft polyurethane bushings from RideTech. the assembly process is minorly intricate but i put together a detailed assembly process for them, on this overly-long page here on my website: http://sr-ix.com/AMC/1961-Rambler-Roadster/front-suspension/index.html about halfway down. though i made a jig and used a flycutter on my mill-drill, you could make the necessary cuts with a hacksaw. i'd jam them into the end of a 5/8" dowel or rod to support them then cut. harder to fabricate is the thin spacer necessary to fill in behind the cupped washers. but all you need is any thing material that's hard (aluminum, ABS or similar plastic), some hole saws and a small drill press (for this i used my ancient tiny Delta drill press). i think these are better than OEM-replacements, in that the particular poly is a great "hardness" for this, fairly soft for poly, and shouldn't rot. they shouldn't squeak either given the tensions. $2 each, you need 16 for the whole car.