Polyurethane Bushing's

[gtmaxx]

I changed out the bushing with polyurethane bushing now its so stiff i cant line up the lower control arm with the leaf spring!!!!!!!.ANY TIPS PLEASE!!!!!! THANK'S (Maxx)

[namba209]

I hope you liberally applied the white teflon grease on the bushings before you pressed them in. With the car on jackstands at the front jackpoint, and a bottle jack under the spring eye, you shoud be able to jack up the spring until the lower control arm hole and spring eye line up. The shock absorber should be disconnected too. HTH.

[jordan]

There have been problems with this before...use the search feature and if needed post in a thread that was started concerning this problem.

[DennisGardiner]

More information is needed, to clarify what
is the problem. Specifically, is the spring already
bolted to the lower control arm? Or, is the arm
already bolted in place and the spring needs
to be attached? Are any bolts rusted in place?

(This particular situation, was addressed in the
tech tip of the OMC Blitz in Devember 2006.)

[gtmaxx]

Thats what im trying to dobolt the spring to the arm) thats what i need to know to line it up i need to know how i can line up the spring to the lower control arm because it's sp stiff i tryed to lift the lower control arm with the jack stand...and it was so stiff it tilted the car sideways and lifted it up (DANGEROUS) so i need to find another way to line both up.there are no rusted bolts in place i tryed to get the uppercontrol arm off first but i coudent get anything in there to loosen the bolt(s) i tried using a socket wrench,gear wrench,box end,all failed so i need some tip's on how i can do this!!! thank's....Maxx here are some pics...

[Anonymous D]

Procedure:

(1) Verify vehicle is secure on jack stands
(2) Carefully allow arm to be lowered
(This releases spring tension, so do not
place a body part below the spring)
(3) Loosen the 15mm nuts on the 2 bolts
that hold the lower arm to the vehicle frame
This should loosen the arm.
(4) Attach spring to arm, and make sure
nut is secure on spring eye bolt.
(5) Use floor jack to lift up lower arm,
with the jack contact at the spring eye
(6) Attach the 2 15mm nuts on the 2
bolts that hold the lower arm to the vehicle frame.
(7) Attach shock bolt, and toghten all
attaching nuts.

Finally:

NEVER work on an Opel GT again, without
having a reliable set of work instructions
in advance of starting a repair job!!

[Anonymous D]

To accomplish step (3), use a 15mm
"deep socket" on a breaker bar.

[soybean]

Maxx, look Here I will also strongly agree with Anonymous D "NEVER work on an Opel GT again, without having a reliable set of work instructions in advance of starting a repair job!!"

I assume you got the bushings from OGTS and they do have instructions.

Seriously pay attention to the above. We want to see you drive the car, not it on top of you. Jarrell

[Paul]

To re-state what they said above........

Loosen all of the bolts to the Lower control arm to get the slack you need to line up the spring eye bushings/bolts. That means loosen BOTH sides and don't thghten up anything until you have BOTH spring eye bolts in place. You'll probably have to still do some prying with screw drivers, prybars etc

You may even need to learn a few NEW cuss words......

[gtmaxx]

thank's i will try not to crush myself!!!!! i have jackstands under the car!

[mschmalenberg]

Looking at the pictures, the new bushings look to be too wide to fit in the a-arm. I do not know if you can sand a Little of the bushing ends to help them fit better.

[namba209]

From what I can see in the pics, you haven't pressed the bushings all the way into the spring eye sleeves and the protuding ends of the bushings are hanging up on the LCA. When I did the spring bushings on Willit?, I used a lot of the teflon grease on the bushings, cleaned the spring eye sleeves with a wire wheel and used a vise to press the bushings into the sleeve. Didn't have a problem with getting the spring eye ino the LCA socket, but did have to use a # 2 phillips screwdriver to line up the holes. HTH.

[jeff denton]

From what I see I agree with Ron, the spring should easily slip up into the lower control arm, then it might be a little tough to get the bolt to go in, at which time loosening the lower control arm attaching bolts might give you some wiggle room.
I've only had the front springs/ lower control arms out of my car a dozen times, in all the tuning I've been trying there... never had any problems or injuries yet... but I always do this with the car on the trailer, where I can tie the car down and push on the spring without lifting the car, see the difference?
I did notice in your photos that the sway bar mounting angle bracket looks odd, in how it's mounted to the lower control arm. Not how mine came out, maybe I ignored the vague instructions, but I like how mine looks better.
The photos show that you go about it a little differently than I do, I disconnect the upper ball joint from the upper control arm, so much simpler. But I never saw any instructions, I do everything my way...
Above all, be carefull, when I do this job I have the actual weight of the car sitting on the front jacking points first, that way I know the car isn't coming down. Your camera is too close to the spindle so we can't see if you're being as safe as we hope you are. The front of the car only weighs a thousand pounds, not like you're under a big cement mixer truck or anything but it could still kind of hurt you.

[jordan]

The front leaf spring of the gt contains a tremendous amount of potential energy and if it were to become rapidly unsprung it could quite literally dismember a human, this is nothing to take lightly...and the worst thing is, the spring wont even feel bad.

[jeff denton]

Indeed it does! Try it with two extra leafs in it...
Liberal use of caution and brains is highly recommended in this procedure.

[hrcollinsjr]

Wish someone had the black graphite impregnated bushings for the Opels. I don't particularly care for the red bushings and I'm sure the graphite would help some with the squeaking.

In the project/how to section could someone detail the bushing installation. Otto didn't you add grease fittings to yours. Someone on the list has I know.

Harold

[neuropel]

It is possible to add grease fittings to the control arms for poly bushings. I just went through this exercise for a manta and it was quite simple. I greased the outside of the bushings well and inserted them into the control arm sleeves, but without the center bushing sleeves. Next, I drilled and tapped holes into the control arm sleeves, down through the bushing to the center hole. Next, I used a die grinder and carefully cut a small groove out from the hole. Following RallyBob's advice, I made these cuts as bias cuts so that as grease comes out of the hole it has a pathway around the central sleeve for lubrication. I then lubed the center sleeves and inserted them into the bushings (using a bench vise). After doing this, you're left with a way to lube the bushing in contact with the center sleeve, plus the grease fitting nicely locks the bushing in place in the control arm sleeve. This is an easy mod when installing poly bushings and should greatly extend their life -plus it's a way to avoid the squeaks! The same grease that comes with the bushings is available here through Summit in tube form, so my plan is to keep a separate grease gun with the prothane grease. A tube of that grease will probably last the life of the car.

HTH,
Todd K.

[cherokee]

When I was first taking Spot's front end apart the spring would not come loose. I tried everything I could think of and was in some very unsafe positions. The spring would not come loose from the arm. I got so mad at the thing I just left and went up stairs to watch TV. Some time during the show something went BANG....the spring on the drivers side came loose and took a good sized chunk out of the floor in the garage.

Respect that spring man. I also had to cut the springs out of the back and weld in some new hats. It is amazing what 30 years of rust will hold.

[gtmaxx]

i understand it's very dangrous! i will be carefull!!!!

[GTJIM]

Here is the "Sticky" Thread about front supension rebuilding:

http://www.opelgt.com/forums/3a-fron...l-chapter.html

Here is a thread about the spring compressor some of us have resorted to:

http://www.opelgt.com/forums/opel-ti...r-removal.html

One small tip - gring a point on the threaded end of the bolt that goes back through the spring eye ... makes it easier to get back in. This bolt is an 8mm high tensile bolt (Grade 10.9) but it can be replaced with a 5/16" UNF Grade 5 bolt if you cannot find a metric one as 8mm and 5/16" are very close to the same size.

Safety First! Even though you have the car up on jack stands if the spring escapes it can fling the car far enough up into the air to jump it off the stand. So, as an added safety precaustion, always slide a couple of the wheels you have take off under the car for it to land on - leaving enough room for you under there. Nice fat Chevy wheels are even better as they give you a bigger gap!

[jordan]

Is this McMaster-Carr part# 1402K31 virtually the same as the prothane 14oz grease gun cartridge? It sounds like PTFE (Polytetrafluoroethylene) is what we are looking for.

[opelwasp]

Didn't know I was using food grade grease.

[namba209]

Jordan, I couldn't find that number in the catalog pages. If you are referring to the grease OGTS supplies with the poly bushings, I found it under the brand name of NEO Watercraft Grease. It comes in a 14 oz tube for hand operaed grease guns. HTH.

[sugg578]

Well atless he is not useing wood to hold the car up like I did.