Good Evening,

Have just finished doing the passenger side upper wishbone bushes. Having run out of light, i'll do the other side tomorrow.

I've come away with a few questions, and i'm hoping someone can shed some light.

Getting the bolt out was a real pita. I was advised that there are certain washers that needed to go back in exactly where they came from to keep the tracking in alignment.

The trouble is, the old bushes were so warn that i couldn't tell which washers were part of the old bushes and which were spacers.

There were three smaller washers that i suspect were the spacers, but with the new bushes in place, i physically couldn't fit them in! What effect is this likely to have?

Also, the wishbones were a lot tighter to move up and down after the new bushes were in place, i assume this is normal, but if someone could confirm, i'll sleep better tonight.

Cheers

Reg

Please don't tell me you got your replacement bushings from britishparts.co.uk. Those are the ones I got and no two were the same size.

Welllllllll...you were supposed to remove the shims (washers) along with the bolt as you slid it out so you could keep them in otder, then lay them out along the bolt or another bolt) so you wouldn't forget. Those are part of the alignment process and need to be replaced in the same order. You'll need to take it in for an alignment when your through with the replacement of the bushings and/or other parts. It's probably a good thing to do anyway.

+1

Here's the bushes ready to fit:



and here is the assembled wishbone ready to go back:



The spacers fit between the crossmember and the inner bushes. They are approximately the external diameter of a UK 2p coin.

Graham

Ok, i have all of those washers in place exactly where the were before. Like i said, my old bushes were so screwed that i had a load of other parts that i coldnt tell if they were washers or part of the old bushes.

But additionally to the one in the picture, i have 3 that were smaller in diameter. These are the ones i couldn't fit in, it was just too tight.

No they were from Berkshire Jaguar Components

That must be the spacers - much smaller diameter than the rest? Item 5 in the parts diagram:

Jaguar XK8 - Front Suspension.pdf

They are called 'pivot shims' and come in two thicknesses usefully called 'thick' (MJA1647AA) and 'thin' (MJA1647BA).

If they are too tight. it's possible you haven't got the bushes seated fully in the wishbone.

Graham

Well i suppose at this point, now the bushes will have been tightened up over night, I'll have another go at getting them back in the right places tomorrow.

Although to be honest, i might just remove the same three from the other side and see how she drives.

Then get her tracked and aligned at some point at a later date.

What about the movement of the wish bone after new bushes are installed, its smooth and moves freely, but is noticeably stiffer than before. Is this normal?

If you know the original positions of the shims, it's worth getting them right at this stage. One less variable in the geometry.

With the fulcrum bolt torqued up to 60 Nm, the wishbone should support its own weight but still be free enough to move by hand.

Graham

if you have not replaced the shims the car wont handle very well. it might pull to one side and it may also eat tyres. best to get it right fist time. i use a flat blade screwdriver to leaver the arm back to slide the shims in. bit tricky but if you have the bolt in position ready you can just slide it through when the are in the right position

I think Rev Sam has a pretty good video of the process. It takes a little digital gyration, but they can all fit back in their old spaces.

+1 on the above

Hey Rev so did you ever change back to the factory upper wishbone bushing because unfortunitly I ordered mine from britishparts and havent installed them yet I will be measuring them tommarrow.Or what did you do with them?

Been a victim also of BP you think you order oem as they advertise these numbers, but you just don't. The ones from BP are polybushes iirc, I did fit them as I had planned the work, and I did get the shims back in (but remember it wasn't easy). They also send me the wrong lower bushes, but could get them from Jaguar.

So be aware if you want OEM.

These are the bushes i have.



And this is the state of the old bushes, can you see the amount of washers that are in there? Most of which were moulded into the old bushes. So can be discarded with the bits of rubber i've pulled out.





Thanks for all the help on this everyone.

The 'Berkshire Jaguar Components' bushes you've sourced are the same design as Jaguar OE bushes. If the quality is OK, that's approximately half the current Jaguar cost.

Your pictures are typical of failed bushes and I've seen a lot worse. Poly bushes are available as an alternative. They reputedly last longer but give a firmer ride.

Graham

So in theory, i can now tell from the new bushes, which washers were from the old bushes. Because they should match the new ones! I paid £50 for the whole set. Thank you Graham

And to they eye the bushes are all the same size, is this correct?

From the photo, they appear the same design as OE. This doesn't necessarily mean they are the same quality! It would take a direct comparison of an OE against a Berkshire to see how they stack up.

The bush comprises:

1 x centre tube
2 x rubber mouldings
2 x flat washers (fit inside the rubber mouldings)

In addition there's 2 chrome 'top hat' washers of slightly larger diameter than the bush which fit either side of the bush (part no CAC 3533). The last ones I got from Jaguar in November were made from a single machined piece of metal and a great improvement on the earlier composite pattern.

There's also the small diameter shims which should be put back in the same place as they were originally.

Graham

Ok managed today to get the washers back in the right places. After seeing pictures on here, i realised that about 8 of the washers were actually part of the old bushes, so after getting rid of these i had space for the 'spacers'!

Went around to do the other side, and it was sooo easy. Everything came undone easily, and there were no spacer washers at all this side. I had the bushes, brake discs and pads all done in about an hour and a half. Although i did have the assistance of my lovely partner, she love getting her hands dirty on this kind of stuff, i'm a lucky man!

Thanks for all the help on this. I'll test drive it a bit later and let you all know how it goes.

I know this is an old tread but + 1 on crappy British parts, I got the front suspension kit put in less than a year ago and today with the car on a ramp I see the wishbone bushes on the drivers side are falling to pieces already lots of play in them. Irish roads are bad but this is ridiculous.