Johnny joints and struts....

Looked at Karsten's thread there about JJoints and was thinking of my VBP struts I have in the rear of my car, I suspect they maybe getting worn once again, as that urethane bushings in there have no rotational give in there at all, so was wondering .....

is it worth worrying about?? I have seen a post where a VBP strut actually rusted out internally on the loop end, and broke with the torque....

what are the failure rates on these things, and is it worth worth worrying over???

I am on my second set of bushings in them now, but this last time I wanted the car on the road and somehow had a set of bushings from a earlier vette with smaller loops, and so shimmed them up with some material I had on hand....that's what's in there now....I would imagine there is more slop in there at this time, but it's been some 5+ years now....

Guess I"m just looking for experienced comments....

The smallest joint is still 2" wide, you will have to cut the sides to make it fit the strut rod bracket. the thread is 3/4" LH and RH
http://www.currieenterprises.com/CESTORE/Product.aspx?id=1262

At $40 each I'd say it's a little spendy ($160 plus shipping)

You can make stock rubber bushings fit these strut rods, Stinger12 (Jeremy) did this if I remember correctly...

MYBAD79 said:

The smallest joint is still 2" wide, you will have to cut the sides to make it fit the strut rod bracket. the thread is 3/4" LH and RH
http://www.currieenterprises.com/CESTORE/Product.aspx?id=1262

At $40 each I'd say it's a little spendy ($160 plus shipping)

You can make stock rubber bushings fit these strut rods, Stinger12 (Jeremy) did this if I remember correctly...

Click to expand...

Yeh, can't do the 160 bux....thought of just doing the spindle ends, but thinking again, it's not enough....damnit...

another trip to NAPA and compare rubber inserts I guess.....

damnit, it's COLD here wind is howling must be 62F and I freezing my ass off....

:cussing:

Use a grinding stone on a die grinder to open up the ends of the struts so that you can have a little bit of a press fit for real rubber bushings.If you have too much of a press fit, your bushings will not fit and they will get distorted real bad when pressed in. I learned this that hard way - I ruined 2 brand new bushings before I was able to get the procedure down right. You will be opening the bore up using a die grinder, so the hole will not be perfectly round (which is okay). Around 10 thou crush on the strut bushing (approximate because the hole in the strut rod won't be perfectly round) is the measurement Mike gave me I think. I'll try to find a picture for you of my mod.

stinger12 said:

Use a grinding stone on a die grinder to open up the ends of the struts so that you can have a little bit of a press fit for real rubber bushings.If you have too much of a press fit, your bushings will not fit and they will get distorted real bad when pressed in. I learned this that hard way - I ruined 2 brand new bushings before I was able to get the procedure down right. You will be opening the bore up using a die grinder, so the hole will not be perfectly round (which is okay). Around 10 thou crush on the strut bushing (approximate because the hole in the strut rod won't be perfectly round) is the measurement Mike gave me I think. I'll try to find a picture for you of my mod.

Click to expand...

Yeh, I got a brake hone around here, it should work for that, make a nice smooth cut/finish too, stronger...question is....which bushing??? have a # plus do I have to modify it???

I need look into those struts, because they have ONLY had the urethane changed and that was long time ago...I could tell from the way it goes together both times that there was too much binding in there, never was very happy with them that a ways....

:skeptic:

Gene, you only have to enlarge the hole a little to fit the stock rubber bushing. It seems the urethane bushings are smaller diameter than the rubber ones, thus the need for opening the hole. You don't do anything to the rubber bushing, other than pressing it in the strut rod.

I have four stock strut rods, two are bent..... wouldn't take much to cut and weld a 5/8" NF bolts on there and use two threaded tubes off Ebay or Speedwaymotors.... hmmmm.... another project.....

MYBAD79 said:

Gene, you only have to enlarge the hole a little to fit the stock rubber bushing. It seems the urethane bushings are smaller diameter than the rubber ones, thus the need for opening the hole. You don't do anything to the rubber bushing, other than pressing it in the strut rod.

I have four stock strut rods, two are bent..... wouldn't take much to cut and weld a 5/8" NF bolts on there and use two threaded tubes off Ebay or Speedwaymotors.... hmmmm.... another project.....

Click to expand...

Yeh, them damn stock bars are always bent, I dunno if it's from jackoffs jacking it up by that, or maybe trying to align the thing with worn bushings....

damn rare to see straight ones, for sure.....:bonkers::flash:

Half ass alignment job.... it seems bending the strut rods was (or maybe is) common practice.... :bomb:

Often enough the lower shock mounts won't move so you have to add another $200 for parts (shock mounts and bushings) and another two hours of labor to the alignment job if you want to have it done correctly ...

A brake hone will not work - I tried that. It needs to be opened up quite a bit, and the brake hones are way too fine; you'd be sitting there for 10 years before you are ready to install a rubber bushing.