How much "slop" in trailing arm bolts?

73c34me

Well-known member
Joined
May 13, 2008
Messages
107
Location
Laingsburg, MI
Greetings, I maybe reinstalling my trailing arms this week. The arms were rebuilt and have new poly bushings. I ran them in the car for approx. 1500 miles. At that time I removed the body and started the frame off. I am now ready to reinstall the "used" trailing arms and I noticed that there is a fair amount of play. I have not measured it yet.

If this is normal, it seems to deflate the argument of rubber vs. poly bushings. If there is this much play I don't see how the poly bushings resistance would contribute to stiction and what not...

Also, I was toying with the idea of installing jonnie joints, but am not sure that for my use it is worth it...
 
Do you mean between the bolt and inner bushing sleeve? It should be tight, not sloppy.

Do the johnny joints, it's somply the best solution for that application.
 
Time for either a new bushing, or sleeve if the bolt is not worn undersize.
 
Have a look at the fabrication section, I just posted a few pics of my JohnnyJoints. If you order these joints, make sure you place your order a few weeks ahead of time, they're not the fastest (I waited over two weeks).
 
Currie enterprises

Those summitt machine ones look awesome, butn they're larger than 2" and as such won't fit a stock trailing arm. You'll need to cut off the end and weld on the outer sleeve to that.

EDIT, I just noticed they do have a 2" one SM-FJS however their bolt is only 10mm, not 7/16 so you either drill out the center ball or it won't work. From the looks of it however, there may not be enough meat to drill it out to 7/16.
 
How much are these Summitmachine joints ? The Johnnies from Currie are $30 each without the bolt (Use grade8 bolt from the local hardware store).
 
Well I ordered the johnnie joints today. thanks for all the input. I am doing some fiberglass work, hopefully when the joints arrive I'll be done with that & can install.
 
Don't forget the 2" hole saw. You can get it at Lowes, I looked at HomeDepot and couldn't find a 2" hole saw for metal. I think it's like $15 or so, use the stock bushing/hole to guide the drill so the hole is centered.
 
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