Upper Control Arm, bushings and Upper & Lower ball joint Recommendations?

dvw said:

Many opinions. I will give my 2 cents. Background; Worked in auto repair 48 years. Spent 27 years at dealerships. My main line there was suspension. Been in the Mopar hobby since 1974 as well. Not that it can't happen, but the only broken torsion bars I've ever seen were on 4wd Astro vans. Never a Mopar. Do they lose tension? Yes. Can you adjust them back to spec? Yes. Never had to replace a Moog ball joint that I've installed. Does rubber degrade? Yes. It seems worse now than ever. Heck look at tires. Seen some 2 years old all cracked. Also seen 25 year tires that have no cracks. Though retired now I still do Hot Rod repair in my shop. Many times I'll get a customer with a "rebuilt suspension". They had new hard parts installed but still have the old bushings. Not going to get it done doing that. In the years I've been doing this, which parts are most likely to wear ? Bushings, boots, idler arms, and lower ball joints (load carrying). Most of the time the upper ball joints, tie rod ends, and pitman arm are in good shape. My drag car still has these original 1964 suspension parts; K frame, upper and lower control arms, 6 cylinder bars, upper and lower ball joints, tie rod ends, pitman arm. It wheelies every pass (over 1100). At times it's dropped from 5 feet up. The only part changed during this period was the idler arm. It had slight up and down movement causing toe change. Been using the aftermarket energy suspension polyurethane boots to replace torn stuff.
Doug

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dvw said:

Many opinions. I will give my 2 cents. Background; Worked in auto repair 48 years. Spent 27 years at dealerships. My main line there was suspension. Been in the Mopar hobby since 1974 as well. Not that it can't happen, but the only broken torsion bars I've ever seen were on 4wd Astro vans. Never a Mopar. Do they lose tension? Yes. Can you adjust them back to spec? Yes. Never had to replace a Moog ball joint that I've installed. Does rubber degrade? Yes. It seems worse now than ever. Heck look at tires. Seen some 2 years old all cracked. Also seen 25 year tires that have no cracks. Though retired now I still do Hot Rod repair in my shop. Many times I'll get a customer with a "rebuilt suspension". They had new hard parts installed but still have the old bushings. Not going to get it done doing that. In the years I've been doing this, which parts are most likely to wear ? Bushings, boots, idler arms, and lower ball joints (load carrying). Most of the time the upper ball joints, tie rod ends, and pitman arm are in good shape. My drag car still has these original 1964 suspension parts; K frame, upper and lower control arms, 6 cylinder bars, upper and lower ball joints, tie rod ends, pitman arm. It wheelies every pass (over 1100). At times it's dropped from 5 feet up. The only part changed during this period was the idler arm. It had slight up and down movement causing toe change. Been using the aftermarket energy suspension polyurethane boots to replace torn stuff.
Doug

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furyus said:

I know this is from February, but I have some input. My lower control arm bushings were replaced about 8 years ago. The car has been down for repairs since 2020. I looked at my lower control arm bushings, and they were split open. Moog brand.

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rklewis1005 said:

The rubber part split? Any pics you can share? Any idea what you're going to use to replace them?

I've found Moog to be hit and miss as far as inner bushing tolerance. I bought 2 from Craig (not bashing him, he's been great) and 2 from Amazon. 1 out of each pair, the pin would just slide in and out. I bought 3.more from and 1 was bad (inner bushing to big) and 2.were good. FYI, the ones from Amazon were made in India. The LCAs were 2 pair, one from a '68 Charger and one pair from my 70 Charger. Tried all the pins in the loose bushings - just not great quality control.

Just my experience so far.

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