Front Lower Control Arm; Poly Bushings vs Complete Arm Replacement

02LincLS

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I've been having an issue with a "loose" wandering feeling on the highway accompanied by what looks like toe out tire wear. There is a slight amount of movement when moving the tire/wheel in a 6:00 to 9:00 motion but there is no obvious source of play. The car's alignment has been checked many times and suspension inspected by different shops. There is no clunking or excessive tire noise at speed, or squeaking, or settling when stopping. There is heavy tire noise at 19mph, +/- 3mph. About a year ago, lower ball joints (moog), upper control arms (motorcraft-ford dealer), and hub bearing assy's on both sides (motorcraft- rockauto) were replaced along with the steering rack (motorcraft reman- rockauto) which also came with new inner tie rods. The knuckle and LCA are original, and outter tie rod ends (motorcraft-rockauto) have about 46K miles (or 2.5 years) on them with no signs of wear/play.

I bought replacement outer tie rods (moog) anyway to eliminate that factor. I also decided to (try to) buy Moog RK80734/5 control arms (rockauto) since I don't want my daily driver apart in my driveway if bushings don't fit. However, I am less than impressed with the control arm I got (I have yet to get shipping info for the passenger side arm 1 week after placing my order and it was available at the time of order). My major issue with the arm is that the machining for the ball joint was off center, and the large chamfer extends into the radius on the edge of the part. Its hard to tell if the casting is bad, or simply the machining. Either method is not very confidence inspiring. After a few go-rounds with rockauto, they contacted Moog who agreed the part is bad (even though some schmuck put a green paint dot on it to presumable pass inspection). If they can get me a replacement, and the passenger side arm in a timely manner, I may still use these. Obviously I'll be scrutinizing them closely. They may just end up as back up parts if the poly bushings option fails for some unforeseen reason. Here are some shots of the control arm...
20150523_181343.jpg

20150523_181614-1.jpg

20150526_215930.jpg


To see more:
http://s1216.photobucket.com/user/dyrtybyrd281/slideshow/Random Parts


So about bushing replacement... I searched for quite a while and stumbled upon a forum where they were using polyurethane control arm bushings. They were very highly regarded so I hopped onto their site; powerflexusa.com. While they don't list anything for our cars, they do have the 98-02 jaguar s-type listed. I first verified by using rock auto that the control arm part number matches for both cars. I then contacted them with this info and she was very helpful, providing me with dimensions of their product. I verified the numbers match the moog part I had sitting in my kitchen. The only dimension I couldn't verify was the 45mm smaller bushing OD because that bushing is 2 piece, with shoulders on each and inserted from each side, and then the metal part pressed into both of them. I don't want to press the bushing out of the part I need to return so if someone has done this before, it would be extremely helpful to chime in and verify the smaller bushing opening is 45mm.

They have 2 durometers to choose from but the street product should be just fine. They are pricey, with the 2 rearward bushings at $96 and the frontward bushings at $80, but this seems like an improvement and still cheaper option to go if your control arms are otherwise in perfectly good shape. Perhaps if there is enough interest we could start group buy discussions with them. Please correct me if I'm wrong but sadly, I do not think the 03-06 LS control arms match up with any 03+ S-Type control arm and therefore, there is no bushing option. There could be a lead time associated as my discussions have not gone beyond fitment questions. I also think rear arms are different but perhaps they would make new products if there was enough interest. I don't think there's much investment risk on their part so who knows.


In summary:

Proceed with caution on an RK# Moog LCA or other Moog parts for that matter- On top of this, I had to return something as simple as rear sway bar links because the nuts they supplied didn't thread on the shaft.

Need help confirming 45mm OD on smaller bushing.

Gauging interest in first gen powerflex bushings group buy to see if its worth discussing.
 
I've been having an issue with a "loose" wandering feeling on the highway accompanied by what looks like toe out tire wear. There is a slight amount of movement when moving the tire/wheel in a 6:00 to 9:00 motion but there is no obvious source of play. The car's alignment has been checked many times and suspension inspected by different shops. There is no clunking or excessive tire noise at speed, or squeaking, or settling when stopping. There is heavy tire noise at 19mph, +/- 3mph. About a year ago, lower ball joints (moog), upper control arms (motorcraft-ford dealer), and hub bearing assy's on both sides (motorcraft- rockauto) were replaced along with the steering rack (motorcraft reman- rockauto) which also came with new inner tie rods. The knuckle and LCA are original, and outter tie rod ends (motorcraft-rockauto) have about 46K miles (or 2.5 years) on them with no signs of wear/play.

I bought replacement outer tie rods (moog) anyway to eliminate that factor. I also decided to (try to) buy Moog RK80734/5 control arms (rockauto) since I don't want my daily driver apart in my driveway if bushings don't fit. However, I am less than impressed with the control arm I got (I have yet to get shipping info for the passenger side arm 1 week after placing my order and it was available at the time of order). My major issue with the arm is that the machining for the ball joint was off center, and the large chamfer extends into the radius on the edge of the part. Its hard to tell if the casting is bad, or simply the machining. Either method is not very confidence inspiring. After a few go-rounds with rockauto, they contacted Moog who agreed the part is bad (even though some schmuck put a green paint dot on it to presumable pass inspection). If they can get me a replacement, and the passenger side arm in a timely manner, I may still use these. Obviously I'll be scrutinizing them closely. They may just end up as back up parts if the poly bushings option fails for some unforeseen reason. Here are some shots of the control arm...
20150523_181343.jpg

20150523_181614-1.jpg

20150526_215930.jpg


To see more:
http://s1216.photobucket.com/user/dyrtybyrd281/slideshow/Random Parts


So about bushing replacement... I searched for quite a while and stumbled upon a forum where they were using polyurethane control arm bushings. They were very highly regarded so I hopped onto their site; powerflexusa.com. While they don't list anything for our cars, they do have the 98-02 jaguar s-type listed. I first verified by using rock auto that the control arm part number matches for both cars. I then contacted them with this info and she was very helpful, providing me with dimensions of their product. I verified the numbers match the moog part I had sitting in my kitchen. The only dimension I couldn't verify was the 45mm smaller bushing OD because that bushing is 2 piece, with shoulders on each and inserted from each side, and then the metal part pressed into both of them. I don't want to press the bushing out of the part I need to return so if someone has done this before, it would be extremely helpful to chime in and verify the smaller bushing opening is 45mm.

They have 2 durometers to choose from but the street product should be just fine. They are pricey, with the 2 rearward bushings at $96 and the frontward bushings at $80, but this seems like an improvement and still cheaper option to go if your control arms are otherwise in perfectly good shape. Perhaps if there is enough interest we could start group buy discussions with them. Please correct me if I'm wrong but sadly, I do not think the 03-06 LS control arms match up with any 03+ S-Type control arm and therefore, there is no bushing option. There could be a lead time associated as my discussions have not gone beyond fitment questions. I also think rear arms are different but perhaps they would make new products if there was enough interest. I don't think there's much investment risk on their part so who knows.


In summary:

Proceed with caution on an RK# Moog LCA or other Moog parts for that matter- On top of this, I had to return something as simple as rear sway bar links because the nuts they supplied didn't thread on the shaft.

Need help confirming 45mm OD on smaller bushing.

Gauging interest in first gen powerflex bushings group buy to see if its worth discussing.

I will look into this in the morning when I get to work. I'm having some sort of the same issue.
 
Gen1 and Gen2 LCA is just a ball joint size difference. Other then that it's the same bushing from everything I've ever seen. The Gen2 S-Type went to a different front-end suspension set-up. The stuff out back is the same though.

I just received my AC Delco "Pro" grade passengers side LCA and the balljoint appears to be slightly off-center from the casting but I am not sure if that's an issue. The reason why you do finish machining is because a casting is not accurate enough. I wouldn't worry about the balljoint being slightly off center. I would be more worried about the ball joint fitting into the arm properly.

I will say that the bushing that came in my Gen2 AC Delco arm does not that have plastic insert looking thing on the front bushing that yours does. They also ground off two of the markings on the arm that yours has. Where the "3A053" is on yours is where mine is ground down. There's a second spot they ground some stuff off but there's nothing there on yours where that sport is on mine.

Now I have to go crawl under my car or look at pictures of a Gen2 arm to see what markings the OEM had.

I've got a couple weeks until I get my drivers side LCA. Very interested in how these polyurethane bushing work out for it. I'd much rather have them then the rubber ones. NVH be damned!

My only concert would be replacing the ball joints in the upper and the ones in the rear. I've only ever seen ball joints for the front knuckle.
 
Looks like the second part that was ground off was where it said "FoMoCo". Also looks like the OEM style bushing since pics I can find on ebay of used parts to not have that little plastic half-moon piece in them.
 
That's good news that gen 2 can take advantage. Mine does have evidence of something being ground off and I also suspected it was a ford logo. They likely just used an actual Ford part to make their casting mold or something.
i think the insert is something that prevents rotation. If the bushing rotated in the arm, it wouldnt line up with the rearward bushing. The through hole is not centered in the bushing.
I should have also noted in my first post that I swapped the front bearings again to rule them out. The slight tire noise at 19 mph wasnt bad when my snow tires were on, but it got downright loud on summer tires. My suspicion is that just jacking up the car and letting the control arms drop all the way down has finished off a dry rotted bushing, but all the pieces are still there so no clunk. This whole diagnosis is a bit of a guess, but the arms are the only original thing left and you can see cracking on the rubber. The tire wear seems to support this even though the alignment shows "good"
 
Well, I proceeded with buying the poly bushings (2-4 week lead time). Wish me luck because I just can't seem to get any resolution on this issue. Rockauto won't let me cancel the stagnant passenger side control arm order but nowhere was it indicated I was making a "special order". So I'll get stuck with shipping that part twice. Oh well, might be good to have the spare arm laying around in case the bushing press-in is a failure.
 
Update: I got a phone call saying that a customer(s) had issues with the street" purple 80A durometer in their 98-02 S-Type in the lower control arm locations. They would not elaborate further aside from saying the black race 95A durometer parts resolved the issue. They didn't say if it was one instance or how many total, or how long the black version has been in use. Perhaps its because these cars weigh more than their typical applications. Stinks that they waited 3 weeks to tell me this. My tires are getting tired of waiting.
 

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