More questions about the rebuild of the front suspension on my 76 D100.

I am at the point of reinstalling the new coil spring (now with spring isolator!) which means I am bolting the control arms back to the steering knuckle. As I was drawing the lower control arm up and compressing the spring, I noticed an alarming amount of play between the lower control arm bushing and the lower control arm pivot bolt. I remove the LCA from the truck and verified that the original pivot bolt has roughly 1/8-3/16 inch play around the pivot bolt. The play at the bolt translates to almost 1 inch of play at the ball joint end of the LCA.

The 50 year old original LCA pivot bushing also has play around the pivot bolt, but not as much as the new Moog bushing. I don't know if that much play is normal or if it is the result of 50 years of use and wear.

Is that much play normal and acceptable? I am ready to reasemble, but if new pivot bolts or spacers are needed, now is the time to install them.

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Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.

I can't help you with the individual specs, but I will say that there's no way I would find that acceptable. It would eventually batter the heck out of the bolt, give you a bunch of knocking and banging while doing it, and probably make it almost impossible to reliably get it aligned right.

Can you go with a bushing-matching diameter bolt?

Roger

Is the control arm bolt tight in the frame? Is the bolt a sloppy fit in the frame? Once the vehicle is sitting on its suspension and you tighten the bolt down it squeezes the frame against the little teeth on the ends of the bushing. With the bolt properly tight it should have very little force/weight on it. The weight of the vehicle "should" be getting transmitted into the frame through the ends of the bushing.

In a perfect world the LCA bolts should never have any wear on them since the bushing shells are supposed to be tight in place. I would be much more likely to suspect that the bushings are slightly larger than spec on the inner diameter. I would also not be surprised to find that all new production is the same. You might be able to find/make a sleeze to take up the difference in diameter, but it would be sheet metal thin.

I will say that on new production cars it is NOT uncommon to find 1/8" of play on bushing to bolt clearances. I does allow a small amount of wiggle to adjust camber/caster on cars that officially don't support those adjustments.


another option would be to get the bolts from a B van and enlarge your bushings until they fit how you want on the van bolt. This would require enlarging the frame to match the van bolt. It is a known swap for the lowering crowd to use B van arms on a D/ram to lower the truck. Maybe you have the van bushings already, since the van bushings do have a larger ID for the LCA.

Thanks guys. Yes, the amount of play is concerning, that is why I halted reassembly and took the LCA off again to inspect.

I do not see signs of wear on the bolt. The bolt is a snug fit in the frame, but the LCA is loose in the frame and on the bolt. There is a visible gap between the ends of the bushing and the frame. I will double check part numbers and verify whether I was shipped van bushings or not.

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Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.

Interesting. I am using LCA bushing Dorman part number 531774, which Dorman specifies fits rear wheel drive Dodge full size trucks AND vans. No differentiation for pivot bolt diameter. I guess I will install it and see what the play is like with the nut tightened. Maybe I will try making shims for the LCA pivot bolt by cutting up a soda can and wrapping the bolt with the aluminium. Hmmm.

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Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.

I left mine alone because they were still good from when I replaced my bushings a while back plus that I used poly bushings instead of standard rubber. But I have been looking at parts anyway and a few months ago I did order some new uca and lca bushings. At the time all I could find for the lca were the HD suspension/4000 lb version, but in buyers guide listings (a part of the parts catalog many never looked at) the only difference I saw was the HD used a 3/4" bolt instead of a 5/8 for the "except 4000 lb" option
Could it be that these were the bushings you got? Usually those bolts seize to the sleeve after many years and are often a real b*tch to get out. If you have 1/8" of slop they'd be more likely to fall out when unfastened. .
I actually thought about drilling/reaming the holes in the frame to 3/4 and using the fatter hardware.
I'll bet that's your issue that you got the bushings for the heavier duty application. My truck being a D250 and not a 100/150, without the 4000 lb axle, everything is identical to the 1/2 ton variant. You said you were taking things back apart. If you have a 3/4" bolt handy see if it'll fit the sleeve hole in the new bushings you have. Got a damper bolt? It'll fit in the bushings plenty far as a "test piece" to at least verify if that's what you're dealing with.

Thanks, Don. I have it all apart again, so I will see if I can find a grade 8 bolt that fits the bushing sleeve. I will also measure the bolt diameter and the sleeve diameter.

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Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.

I checked and the bushing is listed as correct for all the 1/2 ton and as correct for 3/4 and 1 ton applications"except 4,000 pound axle." Which I think means it should have the 5/8 diameter inner sleeve and pivot bolt.

Dorman also lists part BC7077 for the same application. 7077 happens to be the last four digits of the "daily driver" quality Mevotech brand bushing on Rockauto.

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Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.

Boxed wrong then? If a 3/4 bolt would fit the bushing sleeve I'd be inclined to make one fit the holes on the ears of the frame and call it good

I did some careful measuring and it is the correct bolt and bushing. It was just looser than I expected. Once I got the LCA bolted to the knuckle and UCA and got the coil spring installed and the strut installed, it stopped wiggling so much.

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Casually looking for a Clifford hyperpak intake for cheap.

That's cool
I I do have a pack of the mevotech lower bushings here for the 4000 lb option because a few months ago that's all I could seem to find
I haven't done anything with them yet