strut rod bushings

[landyacht318]

I finally got around to changing the strut rod, sway bar bushings and bump stops on my '89 B250 318 TBI. Somewhat surprisingly, having changed the front shocks twice within the last 3 weeks, I still did not notice that one of the 2 half inch thick bolts that connects the driver's side strut rod to the control arm was missing. The sway bar bushings were so shot I felt it neccessary to dremel out all the barely visible sharp edges caused by the metal on metal contact. I wonder how many shops would have bothered doing that, and just installed the new bushings to be prematurely shredded.

Anyway my question is how much torque should I put on the strut rod nut, how much should I compress the new bushings? The nut was previously at the end of the available threads on the strut rod There was about a quarter inch between the end of the nut and the apparently useless cotter pin.

I'd ordered a somewhat useless strut rod nut kit that had 8 or 10 1 1/8 inch nuts. I torqued a new nut to the end of the available threads and then torqued a second nut against that 1st nut instead of putting the cotter pin its hole which again was 1/4 inch from the end of the nut.

I'm wondering now if I have overtorqued the nut and compressed the new bushings too much. Perhaps the nut only needs to be tightened till it passes the hole for the cotter pin. Anybody know the correct procedure?

Will having new strut rod bushings affect the alignment? I have not yet driven it as the beers were flowing too easily after nothing went wrong while turning wrenches, for a change.

Today I also put some KYB Gas-A-Justs on the rear to match the brand new ones on the front. The 6 year old BOTL Gabriels which have seen thousands of miles of Mexican washboard were still providing some uneven dampening but were obviously heavily worn.

Kind of eager too see how different it feels.

[alloro]

Strut rod rear nut is 52 ft. lbs. and the front bolts/nuts are 100 ft. lbs.
Stabilizer bar clips 200 in. lbs. and the end struts are 100 in. lbs.

In theory your alignment should not be effected since the lower control arm is not adjusted during an alignment. However, if there was some play in the strut rod before and now it's gone, an alignment might be prudent.

[DANVAN]

I did an alignment after replacing those bushings, the guy at the shop said it was a good idea.
Not sure if he meant it was a good idea to do an alignment or a good idea to pay him money, but either way I felt it was needed.

[Dodgevanman]

I replaced my sway bar end link bushings (one of the links was broken!!) and my strut rod bushings with polyurethane bushings. I just torqued the nut down enough to get the new cotter pin in. Seems to be okay.

[B-300]

The strut rod has a step on it that the rear washer contacts when torqued to spec. The caster angle will be most affected by a difference in bushings.... You will notice a change in how the steering wheel returns to center after a turn and how well it stays going straight down the road if the caster angle is changed.
I don't know why the hole in the strut rod is so far from the nut... I think the pin is there to indicate the nut is torqued during factory assembly like paint marks on new vehicles.

[landyacht318]

Thanks for the replies and info.
The van now pulls to the right at freeway speeds, and seems to wander a little at slower speeds. It does corner flatter. If this is due to new sway bar bushings or the new KYB shocks on the rear I cannot say. Many of my mysto suspemsion noises have dissappeared. It is amazing what one gets used to.

I managed to find and even read the instructions which came with the new strut rod bushings. They said torque to 70 ft/lb. This number bottomed out the nut on the one strut rod and came close on the other.

On installation of the new bushings I had to push the drivers side control arm forward pretty hard to get the bolt holes to line up on the control arm. I'm suspecting this might be the cause for the van currently pulling to the right, and am looking for a alignment joint.