Lady72nRob71

For a 72 Cutlass.
Ill fitting to say the least...
Half inch too tall and 3/16" too skinny.



ALL of the bushings pictured on Rockauto are the same shape and size. It appears an 86 Cutlass set would fit better.

Are my brackets wrong or at the bushing supposed to crush into place?

Yes, one of my brackets is bent.

jensenracing77

i just ran into this last winter. back in the 90s i got kits from the parts store that included brackets but now they don't. i had to take my bushings back that i got last year. i tried several parts stores and all had the same thing even the ones that had different suppliers were the same as the one you have. i ended up having to order a set from Fusick to get the right thing. they do crush into place but i don't think it was near that much.

66ninetyeightls

When was the last time you saw a picture of of a 72 Cutlass driving around INDIA???

WTF???? Made in INDIA???? What happened to the good old days of Made In China???

OLD SKL 69

They definitely look like they are not designed for those brackets. I just bought Moog urethane front sway bar bushings and brackets for my 71 Supreme and they fit perfectly. The store I bought them from also had Moog original style bushings, all were made in the USA. So go for the Moogs. Mevotech, Falcon, etc, are cheapie offshore brands.

Lady72nRob71

UNfortunately Moogs were not available for my year at rockauto so I got those for I think 3 bucks. Today I ordered some raybestos ones, we'll see what happens.
India must be even cheaper than china, given the lousy fit (and color too boot.)

CRAP!
Moogs are listed for 1971 but not for 72! The Raybestos numbers were the same for both years! Dang - shoulda looked at a different year....

firefrost gold

no **** all that work and then to put India parts on it Realy ?

copper128

Ordered a new Olds balancer from GM parts lately?

Guess what... made in India

66ninetyeightls

Say it isn't so!!!!!!

Lady72nRob71

No.
Ordered some raybestos bushings a few days ago - they better not be made in india! And hopefully they will fit.

Eric Anderson

I've noticed an increase in parts fron India, esp. cast iron.

Lady72nRob71

So the raybestos set came in yesterday.
Now what is wrong with these?? I found them VERY hard to install...


Bad part is that they were made in USA!!

I tried cutting them but they were too hard. I did not want to slice another fingertip off.
So I searched Rockauto's site for the Moogs. They are listed as #K5253 under the U and H engine codes but not the K. Error from Moog or Rockauto.
So, I called Rockauto and told them the situation. The best they could do was refund me for the Raybestos set plus the shipping, as the bushings were the only parts in the box. Sounds fair to me. I was hoping they would replace them with the Moogs (were a dollar cheaper) but they could not. Oh well - I will just place another order - I bet Moogs are okay.......

Allan R

Rob, posted the Moog bushing pics in my backing plate build. They look the same shape as your Made in India ones, but they are black rubber, softer and Made in USA. On the instructions it says to cut the bushing along the side if it's not already cut. The Moog kit was already pre-cut.

Sea five

Rob I just checked mine I have a K5241 Moog. I just removed my s/bar today and it looks like the K5241 are going to be ok. The brackets that you have will determine the size bushing. After seeing my brackets I will also replace the brackets

Allan R

They are???? How do you figure that? I have a set of Moog K5241's sitting on the desk beside me. Aside from being the 15/16" for my stab bar (Rob needs the 1" because of the heavier vert bar) they look completely wrong - like they are about 1/2" too high. They need to be cut in order for the sway bar bracket to fit flush on the frame. Maybe you know something about these bushing compression that we don't. Love to hear back on this and see a shot of them installed on your car without trimming!

This is why I'm skeptical: the photo shows bracket with Moog K5241 beside old bushing.

RetroRanger

Gah I knew I saw a thread recently about SB bushings... I just got my moogs in today and same as Allans pic they are way to big. my car is a 72 supreme 15/16 bar.

I had to put the used bushings back. I thought maybe the new ones would compress but no way I couldnt even get the back bolt on the bracket started.

All was not lost tho my brackets were bent (looks like the previous owner might have rested them on a jack stand) anyway I straightened them out and now the old bushings actually fit better in them than they did before

I guess rockautos gonna be getting back a bunch of bushings from a couple sources

FYI my 71 has what appears to be the same sway bar / bushing / bracket set-up we went and looked at that for reference

Lady72nRob71

My Moog bushings are the same shape as all the others - wrong looking for the stock brackets. However, the Moogs ARE softer and are cut to actually go ON the bar! It will be interesting to see how they compress.

Allan R

That's exactly what I was thinking. How much did you chop off? I was thinking of cutting just to where the bushing starts to taper. Does that sound about right? I figured the bushing will compress up to 1/4 inch because it is soft. That shouldn't hurt the stab mount bolts. I noticed when I took my old ones off the brackets were snug right to the frame so that's how I want to end up.

BlackGold

You guys really oughta take this opportunity to replace the sway bar bushings (and end link bushings) with polyurethane. By far the best bang-for-the-buck change you can make in your car's handling!

Lady72nRob71

I did the poly on my 86 and had cold squeaks and a more harsh ride. Personally, I am more into ride comfort than performance.

RetroRanger

I plan to upgrade my front bar for next season and I was placing a RA order so I added the bushings for the stock bar on my order figuring to replace the worn ones and finish out this year

OLD SKL 69

Rob, I have the urethane Moog's in my 71 and it tightened up the steering but no issues with ride quality. I painted the brackets and bushings black to make them look more stock.

theoldsrocket

Is there a problem with parts "Made in India" you know that they are as advanced as China. Also they have the biggest steel company and have bought out jaguar and land rover. In a few years China and India will be the new superpowers of the world.

Lady72nRob71

Scary thoughts indeed...

theoldsrocket

Well not really because it doesn't mean USA will no longer be superpower.

RetroRanger

Ok then Ill say yes there is....Ive seen lots of chinese parts including their clone tractors

I'll say they are advancing fast, what with their patent infringements and outright copying of other companies stuff, but they are far from a preferred supplier

ROCKET VAPOR

The 1970 assembly manual shows the front sway bar to frame mount bushing exactly like Allen has shown on the left.

The assembly manual list the torque for the sway bar bushing/ collar bracket assembly to the frame bolts as 25 to 35 ft. lbs. There is also a note that states if the 5/16 bolts strip out in the frame to use 3/8 bolts as a service replacement.

I have not disassembled enough original cars to know, and have always wondered if the sway bar collar bracket was intended to sit flush against the frame or torque bolts to spec. with the oversized factory type bushing that would bend the collar ears down with a gap inbetween the frame and collar???

Tony72Cutlass'S'

Never thought i'd hear that one :P

Lady72nRob71

Yep, I saw that in the 72 manual. My guess is that the originals were very soft and could compress easily and were used among many car lines, some with narrow mounts.
Those hard poly ones I got would not compress 1/4" in a friggen vice!
I will cut the moogies down a little with a hacksaw so not to risk stripping the bracket mount threads. Not sure where the moogies were made, but at least I feel great about the box being printed in USA...

455man

Sounds like I'm not the only one that makes many trips to the parts store. I've been out of the mechanic scene for about 10 yrs but I dont remember having this many problems buying parts that don't fit right.

RAMBOW

I remember doing a WTF when i got the ones with my PST rebuild kit a year ago. Looked the same as what all these photos are showing.

I went ahead and installed them and they crushed down w/o a problem.

Lady72nRob71

These were mail ordered from rockauto though, so at least no running around. They were very cool about it - refunding part price + shipping so i could try again with a new order. Thumbs down to the stupid design of these bushings but thumbs up for rockauto!

Which reminds me, I need to start a thread of STUPID engineering designs that just won't improve, even though they CAN...

Allan R

That's the first good news I've heard about them. Were yours Moog? Also what size 15/16 or 1" (not that it should matter a lot).

joesw31

Yes, cut them at the taper and you have no problems, that is what I did.

RAMBOW

mine is 15/16
All the rubber peices in the kit said "Harris" on them. I think thats one of the many subsidieries for TRW.

Nilsson

You can by the correct brackets all day long but yet have I found the bushings that will fit the brackets.

Lady72nRob71

But WHY, WHY, WHY, WHY, WHY, WHY, WHY, WHY, WHY, WHY, WHY!!!!!

I never knew this thread would become so popular...

Allan R

I think it's because we are all experiencing the same problem: engineered aftermarket products. Sorry man, couldn't resist. See, no need to start that thread about engineering problems or controls, 'cause we all know they don't exist.

ROCKET VAPOR

There has been alot of NOS original? suspension bushings on eBay recently bringing HUGE money because of "HARRIS" markings.

I wonder if some of these are comming from PST, TRW, or Harris?

ROCKET VAPOR

Front suspension page from assembly manual showing front sway bar collar bushing with the "four rib" identification, and torque spec.
FRONTSUSPENSIONASSEMBLYMANUAL.jpg

GM NOS sway bar collar bushings P/N 388294 with the "four rib" identification markings.
001.jpg
002.jpg
003.jpg

Reproduction phosphated sway bar collar from Inline Tube (originals were crushed beyond saving), NOS sway bar collar bushing, and re-phosphated original sway bar collar to frame mount screws. The screws appear to extend about 3/8" beyond the bushing, but with self tapping screws being torqued 25 to 35 ft. lbs. into the sheet metal frame I don't think the collars would set againsted the frame???
009.jpg

Question of the day, I do not think that GM would design a part that would require the assembly line to be slowed down to trim material off of a thick rubber block?
But if this was not done, then the sway bar collar would never set flat against the frame?

I have always wondered about this???

Lady72nRob71

GREAT pictures!
So how SOFT are the NOS bushings? Would they actually crush up to the frame with the required torque???