Upper "A" frame bushings...

[trwp72]

Anyone replace the solid Police style upper "A" frame bushings with the civilian type rubber bushings? I know you have to change out the entire "A" frame, as the rubber bushings won't fit in the Police style "A" frames... Anyone ever done this conversion?

I think mine are starting to finally wear out, and I don't think the replacement bushing kits are still available... (It only has about 250,000 mile on it! ) I'm going to try to put it up on a lift this week sometime, and check the bushings and the body mount bushings as well... and see if I can find where the "thumping" noise is coming from...

*** It sounds like a loose upper shock mount, which is bumping up and down when you go over small bumps... Checked the shocks, the sway bar bushings... Nothing loose.... Driving me nuts!!!

[watchdog]

Inquiring minds want to know.

[gadget73]

I've replaced those arms to later model ones, but its the same basic idea. Essentially you just seperate the upper ball joint and remove the two bolts that hold it to the frame. The actual swap is easy. Finding someone to align the thing properly may be more difficult. If you're swapping the arm, rebuild the replacement first with new bushings and ball joint.

[trwp72]

So to keep it looking original, will the steel upper civilian "A" arms fit? aligning it is not a problem.... I have a good alignment shop here....

[marquisman]

This might sound silly but, could you maybe find a metal shop to make these on a Leith?

[gadget73]

So to keep it looking original, will the steel upper civilian "A" arms fit? aligning it is not a problem.... I have a good alignment shop here....

Yes. Same frame bolt-hole spacing and its the same upper ball joint. I would also advise new nuts for the control arm shaft. Its self-locking and once you pull them off to change the bushings, they don't tend to lock again. I went through that on my car. It makes an obnoxious groan noise when the nut keeps moving, and it probably doesn't do anything useful for maintaining alignment if the parts are all moving around.


To have a machine shop make the bushings most easily, you'd really kind of want one to use as a model to duplicate. One NOS one would be the ticket. You might be able to have a shop take measurements of the various parts to account for wear, and duplicate one that way but you'd likely need to leave them the arm assembly for a while.

[Mainemantom]

I have the same problem. Wish I could find someone who makes them. Do you have a Ford part number ?

[gadget73]

Big brakes are a better fix. Those solid control arm bushings are some nonsense

[torquelover]

Someone on CVN bought the last few sets a while ago. I tried to buy a pair, or just "borrow" a set to have some made up but no dice. 1987cp eventually replaced them with civi arms and poly bushings, he said it made a big difference if you want to PM him for details. I have read that you can tighten these, but I was unsuccessful in doing so.

[P72Ford]

Tightening was part of the maintenance procedure. I used to tighten them on my '90.

With regular grease, they should last forever.

It would not be that difficult to turn your own on a lathe, complete with grease groove.