duster bushings question

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beerboy

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need some advise on my bushings on a 73 duster. car is strictly a street driven cruiser, no racing or whatever.how do i know if my rubber bushings are really wasted? after a visual inspect--not on a lift--the ones i can see look dry with some cracking. sway bar ones do not look bad, any way, sould i go to poly or moog rubber if they are bad? seems to be different opinons. car is driven a few times a week during the summer. i don,t have the time or experince to do these.what do you think this would cost? i know the parts are not bad but with labor at 90 an hour , just wondering. again how do i know they are wasted for sure ? thanks
 
Hey BeerBoy,

I'm not a suspension expert, but if the existing bushings are dry and cracking, you are probably looking at the original rubber bushings, which would mean they are about 42 years old and should be replaced. Rubber bushings should be fine and are a little less expensive for the parts. Labor costs shouldn't be any different, but you may get a little tighter ride with the poly bushings (that just seems to be a matter of preference). I've heard some people complain about squeaking with the poly bushings, but it doesn't sound like it's a really big issue. Most of the old A Bodies squeak a little anyway. You may end up with a mix of rubber and poly depending on what's available in the kit, but I would recommend just going with the least expensive kit if this is just a daily driver and you're not planning on track racing. I think a good suspension shop should be able to complete a front-end rebuild within a day (or less) assuming they have all of the parts available. Front-end work does take a little expertise and some special tooling and/or creative know-how, but it's not an insurmountable task and could be done by anyone willing to take on a little challenge. However, you probably won't get it done in a day if you take it on yourself. But with a couple weekends and a few cases of beer, you should be able to do it yourself (but you'll wish you had paid someone else to do it ;-)). Again, I'm not an expert, just another A body guy with an opinion.

Good Luck,
 
cidVicious said:
Hey BeerBoy,

I'm not a suspension expert, but if the existing bushings are dry and cracking, you are probably looking at the original rubber bushings, which would mean they are about 42 years old and should be replaced. Rubber bushings should be fine and are a little less expensive for the parts. Labor costs shouldn't be any different, but you may get a little tighter ride with the poly bushings (that just seems to be a matter of preference). I've heard some people complain about squeaking with the poly bushings, but it doesn't sound like it's a really big issue. Most of the old A Bodies squeak a little anyway. You may end up with a mix of rubber and poly depending on what's available in the kit, but I would recommend just going with the least expensive kit if this is just a daily driver and you're not planning on track racing. I think a good suspension shop should be able to complete a front-end rebuild within a day (or less) assuming they have all of the parts available. Front-end work does take a little expertise and some special tooling and/or creative know-how, but it's not an insurmountable task and could be done by anyone willing to take on a little challenge. However, you probably won't get it done in a day if you take it on yourself. But with a couple weekends and a few cases of beer, you should be able to do it yourself (but you'll wish you had paid someone else to do it ;-)). Again, I'm not an expert, just another A body guy with an opinion.

Good Luck,
Click to expand...

I HATE squeaks, so my car doesn't and it has all poly bushings.
Everything else you wrote is agreeable though. :D

Some have a problem with poly because of the squeaks but I have not had a problem with it.
 
yea i bought the car 2 years ago or so, and never really looked at the rubber on the front suspenson stuff. guy was a mopar dealer mechanic that owned the car for 30 years and restored it to near mint condition. i have not driven the car on the expressway alot, but during a recent return from a cruise night got on an interstate and noticed the car seemed to wander some and did not feel tight, a bit of a shake over 55--- so alignment may need attention i know i should start out at the top as in wheel balance and alignment. and work from there tires are brand new on new cragar ss. just trying to not to get jacked by a shop telling me stuff thats not really wrong.
 
beerboy said:
yea i bought the car 2 years ago or so, and never really looked at the rubber on the front suspenson stuff. guy was a mopar dealer mechanic that owned the car for 30 years and restored it to near mint condition. i have not driven the car on the expressway alot, but during a recent return from a cruise night got on an interstate and noticed the car seemed to wander some and did not feel tight, a bit of a shake over 55--- so alignment may need attention i know i should start out at the top as in wheel balance and alignment. and work from there tires are brand new on new cragar ss. just trying to not to get jacked by a shop telling me stuff thats not really wrong.
Click to expand...

Do wheel balance first, then shocks, then bushings, then alignment.

Balancing the tires will give you a bit more indication of the shocks condition, and if you can do it replace them anyway if they look older.
Even a balanced tire will bounce if the shock is bad.

You can sort of test shocks buy pushing down hard on the front end an see how it acts after it comes back up (it should return and stop immediately) with zero movement after it returns.
Of course there are two of them in the front of the car so it's harder to tell if just one is bad.
(the tire should show that with cupping of the tread surface if it's bouncing at speed)
 
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