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Greasable sway bar bushings... interesting problem

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Old 05-17-2002, 08:26 AM
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Car: 1999 Pontiac T/A Firehawk
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Greasable sway bar bushings... interesting problem

When I did my rear suspension, I put on a set of greaseable sway bar bushings from energy suspension. I was REALLY happy with them, so I bought a set for the front. The problem is the holes on the stock bracket are offset, and the ones on the new bracket are straight.

There's not enough room to drill a new hole; rather, I'd have to "slot" the hole sideways some. I'm afraid that if I do that, the bracket won't stay put when loaded and will move side to side.

Anyone out there do this or am I just going to have to experiment?
Old 05-17-2002, 10:56 AM
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I going to see if an enery suspension sway bar bushing will fit in the factory sway bar bushing bracket. If that fits OK, I will just drill a hole in the factory sway bar bushing backet for the grease fitting. I will be a month or so before I get around to doing this.
Old 05-17-2002, 10:57 AM
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Already checked that, it fits in the factory bracket fine. I checked while I was installing just in case I have to do that.
Old 05-17-2002, 11:02 AM
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It sounds like your good to go then. The only other option I can think of is to use 1le bushings if you have the same size sway bar as the 1le.
Old 05-17-2002, 11:03 AM
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Nah, I had a set of energy suspension non-greasables that fit perfect, but I wanted greasable. 1LE would be a downgrade...
Old 05-17-2002, 07:15 PM
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Lon (lonsal) has done this to his bushings. It'll work fine.

Send him a msg and he'll give you the details..


I looked for a recent post about this but I didn't find it.
Old 05-17-2002, 07:37 PM
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Car: 90 RS 'Vert, 88 IROC-Z, 88 Firebird
Engine: 305 ci tbi, 305 ci tpi, 350 ci tpi
Transmission: WC-T5, WC-T5, 700R4
Axle/Gears: 3.45, 3.27, 3.27
Yes I modified my stock bushing retainers to be greasable. That is one option you could do. Drill a hole in the center of a stock retainer and tap and install a grease fitting. If the hole doesn't align with the hole in the busning, slot it with a Dremel and an abrasive blade. Option 2: Have the slot that is wrong on the ES retainer welded up and a new slot put in the correct location. Option 3: Return it and wait for TDS brand greasable front sway bar brackets & bushings to be released in late June (best guess). Option 4: Send them to TDS (Top-Down Solutions) for modification. Lon
Old 05-17-2002, 10:10 PM
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Engine: 5.7 TPI; 5.0 TBI; ZZ4/T56 on the ag
Transmission: A4, A4, slated to be a T56
Thanks for chiming in Lon. I'll take a set of those TDS swaybar mounts/bushings when you can get to it, or I can send my brackets to ya, your choice. Mail me when they're ready and I'll send you my info. Might as well promote ya!!

ebmiller88@aol.com
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99Hawk120:
I found that post I was looking for:

https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...hreadid=106420
Old 05-18-2002, 07:38 AM
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Lon,

Count me in on the greaseable 36 mm's. By the way, I have three or four sets of the 36/24 housings should you need them for any reason.

JamesC
Old 05-18-2002, 09:29 AM
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Lon, great idea on producing the front sway bar brackets, that will fill a niche that needed to be filled for a long time. Send me an email when you are ready to start shipping.
Old 05-20-2002, 11:55 AM
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I'm probably just going to drill and tap a grease fitting. Got bigger fish to fry at the moment though.

Thanks for the help guys!
Old 05-20-2002, 12:36 PM
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Car: 90 RS 'Vert, 88 IROC-Z, 88 Firebird
Engine: 305 ci tbi, 305 ci tpi, 350 ci tpi
Transmission: WC-T5, WC-T5, 700R4
Axle/Gears: 3.45, 3.27, 3.27
Bad news. It looks as if my TDS greasable front sway bar bushing kits will be delayed. I contacted 2 suppliers and bought all the stock they had (one) of the 34mm OEM style graphite impregnated bushings. They are anticipating it being a few months before they can get me more. They are saying that ES is still recovering from a fire in February. Lon
Old 05-21-2002, 07:40 PM
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Transmission: A4, A4, slated to be a T56
I can wait Lon. Let me know if you need any sway bar brackets, I have 2 sets now and can get many, many more used ones.

Ed
Old 05-25-2002, 10:10 PM
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not sure but, i had the same problem. try to switch brackets from left to right i think thats what i did . never had to drill
Old 05-28-2002, 03:26 AM
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Robert C, I'm not sure what switching left to right will do for you...can you elaborate?

Lon, can you do your mod using Guldstrand bushings? Just a thought...

Ed
Old 05-31-2002, 09:06 PM
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Car: 90 RS 'Vert, 88 IROC-Z, 88 Firebird
Engine: 305 ci tbi, 305 ci tpi, 350 ci tpi
Transmission: WC-T5, WC-T5, 700R4
Axle/Gears: 3.45, 3.27, 3.27
I haven't seen the Guldstrand bushings yet, so I can't answer that question. I did receive the 32mm & 34mm polygraphite bushings that fit the stock GM brackets and the 35mm polygraphite greasable style bushing and bracket. The bracket is a "universal-fit" with straight slotted holes rather than the offset type we need. I knew from the picture they won't fit our cars without modification. But I wanted to see if the bushings would fit in the GM brackets by modifying the brackets, nope. The bushing has a much smaller outside radius which matches their bracket, but won't fit in the GM one. Also I discovered the greasable 35mm bushing kit is a joke. Even if the bracket DID fit our car. It has none of the internal pockets to hold the grease molded into it as they show on the smaller sizes. There just isn't any room for it. It only has a hole with a raised lip that fits into a stamped recess that the grease fitting is threaded into. This means I will be modifying the polygraphite bushings that fit the stock GM brackets, (just as I did before). BTW, I've just returned from vacation, which is why it took so long to respond to this. Lon
Old 05-31-2002, 10:27 PM
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Car: 1984 Z28 Camaro
Engine: H.O. 355 NOS
Transmission: 700R4
Well, if anyone has 32mm, 24mm or 23mm swaybars you can order the new style bushings with Teflon Liners right from GM. Heres the part numbers.

32mm = 14094405

24mm = 10037105

23mm = 10037104

Last summer I installed a set of 23mm (.906") on my rear swaybar and they haven't made a sound since. Great stuff that Teflon!

Auggie
Old 05-04-2004, 12:53 PM
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Car: 83 Z28
Engine: 305 (LG4)
Transmission: THM700R4
Axle/Gears: 10 bolt, 3.23 non-LS
When I called the GM Parts guy he indicated that the part# for GM bushings are the following:

32mm - Part#88912421 $17.30 a piece, ($34.60 a pair)
21mm - Part#88912318 $16.94 a piece, ($33.88 a pair)


He did not know whether they had teflon lining or not. He said the part numbers in the post above did not match.

Can someone verify this?
Old 05-04-2004, 04:11 PM
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Car: 1984 Z28 Camaro
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Transmission: 700R4
Well, I got the part #'s from a TSB. The TSB # for the 32mm bushings is as follows:

Bulletin Number = 85-127
Section = 3C
Date = Sept, 1985

For the 24mm & the 23mm is as follows:

Bulletin Number = 85-60
Section = 3D
Date = March, 1985 of course that was a long time ago!!

Auggie

Last edited by Auggie; 05-05-2007 at 02:28 PM.
Old 05-08-2004, 05:17 PM
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Here ya go Ron..

http://www.spohn.net/product.cfm?productid=1356

Kat
Old 11-10-2011, 01:07 PM
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Re: Greasable sway bar bushings... interesting problem

Bump.
Old 11-10-2011, 03:16 PM
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Re: Greasable sway bar bushings... interesting problem

wooohoo bringing back threads from the dead ! (2004) but it is interesting idea
Old 11-10-2011, 08:07 PM
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Re: Greasable sway bar bushings... interesting problem

My energy suspension greaseable mounts mounted up just fine to mine.
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