Wish yours was a 65/66.  I want to take my adjustable ones off and put stockers back on.  Getting tired of the noise.

.
i would use the stock arms but add the bushings below if you want improved steering.

http://www.maierracing.com/earlybushings.html

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/gls-srb-5/overview/year/1967/make/ford/model/mustang

they are harder than stock rubber but softer than urethane and allow good movement of the arm.

 

Last edited by barnett468 (2/11/2015 12:03 AM)

MustangSteve wrote:

Wish yours was a 65/66.  I want to take my adjustable ones off and put stockers back on.  Getting tired of the noise.

MS, we will be removing the stockers from my son's 66 in a few weeks.  I can send some pics, once removed, if you have any interest.  Same car the pedal support came from....
 

Does all of these adjustable variats have any kind of bushings to absorb the shock of the road? Some of the ones I looked at didnt seem to have them.

kdgt500 wrote:

Does all of these adjustable variats have any kind of bushings to absorb the shock of the road? Some of the ones I looked at didnt seem to have them.

there are no afternarket adjustable rods with rubber bushings.

i wouldn't use rods with no bushings for a cruiser.

 

MustangSteve wrote:

TimC wrote:

MustangSteve wrote:

Wish yours was a 65/66.  I want to take my adjustable ones off and put stockers back on.  Getting tired of the noise.

MS, we will be removing the stockers from my son's 66 in a few weeks.  I can send some pics, once removed, if you have any interest.  Same car the pedal support came from....
 

Thanks, Tim.  You bet, I am interested.  Just check under the bushings for rust and shoot me some pics.  We can come to some agreement on a swap or I will buy them from you.  He is going MII, right?
 

Steve, I've got a set off the 66 - if they're like most of what I've pulled off the car they're dirty but in good shape. I'll take a look when I get home and can send you a pic. You can have them if they look good.

I have a set of massive sperical bearings rated for high impact radial loads from RRS that I think are worth consideration. I like that the articulation point is just forward of the chasis mount as opposed to just behind it like those that utilize a standard heim joint, and the size of these things well- they're just seriously strong.

http://www.rrs-online.com/strutrodproducts.php

John Ha wrote:

MustangSteve wrote:

... they make noise and that is just not acceptable to me.

Sorry about hijacking the thread but can you be a little more specific?  What kind of noise?  Is it there all the time or just under certain conditions?

Thanks!
 

If I can break into this with my experience.  I have closer to 20,000 on my adjustables.  Whenever you hit something that makes your suspension move - like a pothole at worst to roughness in the road at best, you can hear it and feel it.  The sound in mine is like hitting a piece of thick sheet metal with a hammer.( because that is what is actually happening)  Of course the volume of the sound depends on how hard the suspension is hit.  Roughness in the road is felt more than heard.  Remember the stock rubber bushing is there to make things smoother and quieter.  All that energy will be transmitted thru the body which will make other things squeek and rattle.  It works the same way as your tires.  The lower the tire profile the greater the stiffness since there is less sidewall to absorb the hit.

Running down the freeway or on a boulevard will not be a problem, but rough roads like I live on or even the bump going into a driveway will be heard and felt.

Last edited by lowercasesteve (2/12/2015 4:08 PM)

There are several different types and a few different grades of heims . . some if the aftermarket adjustable rods that use heims might claim they are aircraft grade but may notr be or may not be the right spec for the app . . the quietest type of heim is one woth sa rubber budshing instead of teflo,delrin or brass etc . . the highest load rating I have seen for one of these lately is 1000 lbs, and it accepts a huge 1”  threaded rod.
 
Heim types and sales.

http://rbcbearings.com/rodends-industrial/index.htm
 
 
elastomeric rod ends page 86.
 
http://www.westernrubber.com/wp-content/uploads/LORD-catalogue.pdf


 
 
.
 

Last edited by barnett468 (2/12/2015 4:42 PM)

MustangSteve wrote:

The rubber bushings are loaded more in compression in line with the rod, mainly during braking where the weight of the entire car is trying to compress the rear bushing.  Under acceleration, the front bushing is compressed, but only to the extent it has to pull the front suspension and wheels along as the car accelerates.  That rear bushing take a beating!  I am wondering if it would make sense to put a stiffer rear bushing in it to help the car stop straighter.  Any movement makes for a caster change which makes the car pull while braking.  The heim joints take care of that 100% but just do not like the clank/clank on every little imperfection in the road.

if a car pulls noticeably to either side under hard braking, it is not due to a caster change caused by strut rod bushings providing they are requal to the factory durometer at the minimum . . also, since the brakes should abbly equal pressure at the same time, there is no reason for the bushing on one side to compress more than the bushing on the other side, especially if the car is in a straight line during braking.

if the sleeve on the steel portion of rubber or urethane mount being used is long enough, you could use a urethane bushing on the side you want but you "should" use the soft rubber one on the other side and also add around half af a soft rubber one to that side, otherwise the stress on the rod will be increased and i have heard of a couple cases where the rods broke after the installation of urethane bushings but i have never seen this for myself.

it might also be possible to simply cut the stock rubber bushing in half and add the half to the side you need it on.

Last edited by barnett468 (2/12/2015 7:56 PM)

Jon Richard wrote:

I have a set of massive sperical bearings rated for high impact radial loads from RRS that I think are worth consideration...

http://www.rrs-online.com/strutrodproducts.php

I mispoke, I meant "high impact axial loads", big difference. Here's a pic, it should be readily appaerent how these units work in a completely different plane. I've only had mine on the road a year so I can't verify, but in theory they should exibit a longer service life- no clunking- due to larger contact surface area and shear mass. Also, there is a greater distance from the LCA to the articulation point, so a little less change in castor as the suspension cycles.


 

I had posted this before, but I can't find any first hand knowledge with one in this application:

Johnny Joint

These are used heavily for off-road and the claim is that they give a smooth ride, but thats pretty subjective.  My strut-rods are in poor shape, and so I was going to try them out, worse case it's too harsh and I have to go retro.  I want a car that rides like a new performance car with 50 year old suspension that was designed with a slide rule.  May not be possible on a low budget, but doesn't mean I don't want it.

Jon Richard wrote:

Also, there is a greater distance from the LCA to the articulation point, so a little less change in castor as the suspension cycles.
 

The change in caster by increasing/decreasing the strut rod by an inch either way only accounts for about 1/10 of a degree difference in castor change at the two extremes, and making it longer adds camber during compression, making it shorter reduces it during compression.

The reason is the upper control arm axis is rotated out of line with the lower axis when you shim it for your initial alignment, making the strut rod longer increases the mis-alignment of the upper and lower rotation axis.

I say this with pretty high certainty since I wrote a program to model the front suspension to know what was really going on since there was too much conflicting information on the net.  The only reason I can't say 100% is that it is a little hard to get accurate ride-height and some other measurements when my car is completely stripped and sitting on stands.

I have been meaning to post what I had done to see if I could get some more verification on the measurements and the results.  It has all the dimension off my 65 in it and it allows me to do some standard/non-standard mods, compress the front/rear or lean it and turn the wheels as if in a turn and see lots of stats.  I need to finish the roll-center calculations and a few other things, but I could make this available for download if anybody is interested.