Hi all,
so i have been through 2 sets of trailing arm bushes (small ones at lower control arm) and it seems to keep eating them up. Any suggestions in strengthening it up, it does have a 383 sbc in it which wouldn't help but just want to brace it up to handle it.

 

Have a look at the link below. I have a 406 SBC and my bushes are showing failure cracks. I have not found a solution yet. As far as I know a heim joint will be too harsh and the Erathane are not available seperately.


JCNA Forums - Jaguar Clubs of North America

 

The normal rubber bushes are not designed to take the kind of loads put on them by high torque engines like yours, so you would need what the racing guys use. Also these bushes should only be bolted up tight when the car is standing on its wheels, else the rubber is preloaded and can hence fail prematurely

 

Thanks guys will look into it further. yea have been doing up the bushes while the wheels on the floor to try and prevent that. was going to try and rig up something with rose joints.

 

Independent Rear Suspension Forum / 1972 XJ6 IRS Brakes

Two good methods are used to move the arms. I like the one with the
angled arms.

Wonder why my two S1 cars have not had trouble?

 

Your bushings if installed correctly should be able to withstand a little more than what you are experiencing.

A couple of years ago I had the opportunity to take my 87 Series III with a slightly tweaked V-12 engine to a race track to play with a couple of race prepared Ferrari’s. I was supposed to be going there to drive one of the Ferraris but once inside and all strapped up, I found it was unbearably claustrophobic for me.

Therefore after a lot of pleading I was allowed to drive my Jag with the promise I would stay behind the pace car. Over the first couple of laps the speed was rather boring but at my urging it gradually increases till it became absolutely exhilarating.

I had completed fourteen/fifteen laps until my car became very unstable so I pulled into the pits to find out the reason. Thought I had a tire or two going down. What had actually happened was I had ripped the rear trailing arms supports right out of the body (bright torn metal). All the rubber bushings however were still undamaged. My day was done and the Jag returned home on the back of a flat bed trailer looking very sorry for itself.

However the adrenalin rush I had experienced and the smile it put on my face stayed with me for a month or two afterwards.

 

I had a brand new small radius arm bushings fail after a few hundred miles. My car has an LS1 V8 swapped in, so it also has a little more torque than the straight six. However, I am not sure that is really the difference maker - it could have just been a bad or cheap bushing.

If I were you, I'd try a poly bushing on the small end of the radius arm and keep the larger rubber one installed. Take it from there and see how you like it. They're easy enough to take off and change.

The next small radius arm bushing I put in will be poly!