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Lower wishbone bushing installation trouble

  • Thread starter Deleted member 12902
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Good afternoon fellow Healey owners. I am having trouble installing the lower wishbone rubber bushings in the car. When the bushings are in place and I start to tighten the bolts & nuts with the cut-out washers, the nut and bolt get tight but the cut-out on the washers still isn't seated into the anti-rotation tongue on the mount. It acts as if the bushings are too long and the steel inserts in the bushings are coming together before the bushings are seated. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.
Pete D.
 
First, which car? Second, what parts are new? Have you matched up the new parts to the old to check that the dimensions are similar (for the rubber parts) or identical (for the non-rubber parts)?
 
Bill, Thanks for the reply. The car is a 61' 3000 BT7. All rubber parts in the front suspension are being replaced. When thay sit side by side on the bench they are equal in length & diameter to the old ones. I have even used a micrometer to check the measurements between the old and new.
Pete
 
Pete, I had a devil of a time getting my suspension apart because all the bolts were seized in the bushing sleeves. I had to use all manner of coaxing to get the wishbones out of their mounts, and in so doing I noticed that the mounts deformed fairly easily, particularly the walls of the mount where the bolts go through and the large washer seats. Is it possible you simply need to spread the walls out just a bit? My plan when I reassemble is to install the wishbones to make sure the mount is not deformed at all, then disassemble and weld gussets on. The mounts are fairly light gauge.
 
Although I don't have it at my fingertips I believe the shop manual has the measurement of the distance between the mounts so you can judge whether they got deformed as Hugh suggests. I'll check in the morning (11:44 PM here in NY!).
 
How far do the bushings test fit into the wishbones? Have you cleaned the heck out of the wishbone bushing seats? I have found you need to bead blast them and then repaint them and then grease them so the bushings fully seat.
 
Thanks to all who have so far contributed. The mounts to the frame are not damaged or distorted and the old bolts came out without much trouble. The holes in the wishbones have been bead blasted and are really clean. As I originally stated when the new rubber bushings are inserted into the wishbone holes and the new bolts and washers installed everything seems fine at that point. When I tighten the nuts to try and seat the bushings and get the washers with the cutouts into the proper positions it feels like the nuts have bottomed out on the bolts and they won't go far enough to allow the washers to get into their seats with the tabs located into the washer slots. I have compared the old bolts and bushings to the new ones and everything seems fine. Are the metal sleeves inside the rubber bushings supposed to be compressed when the bolts are tightened? I am wondering if the metal sleeves inside the rubber bushings are touching and not letting the bolt and nut bring the slotted washers to the correct position?
Pete
 
The washers may be hitting the sleeves. Is the outside diameter of the sleeve smaller than the diameter of the hole in the washer? Isn't the sleeve supposed to slide into the washer hole? Honestly, this is just a guess as it has been years since I did this, but your problem is ringing a bell....
 
Thanks for help, I'll check the old bushings sleeves against the new one tonight.
Pete
 
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