An SPL compression rod bushing problem?
 

It looks like my bushings are not staying in place. My driver's side has fallen out the bottom and the passenger side appears to be popping out the top. What gives?

Driver's side (clunking a lot as you might imagine):
Attachment 381957


Passenger's side (no noise, yet):
http://i570.photobucket.com/albums/s...psghvvtnpi.jpg

By the way, these were installed by Dynosty year before last. Less than 10k miles on them. Do I need a new compression rod? New bushings?

You need both

Contact SPL, you may need a set slightly bigger

In the SPL compression rod bushing thread, I remember some people being able to push in 90% of the bushing by hand. Possibly your bushings were not tight enough originally and are now failing?.

When you remove, inspect the race in these arms, it will tell you if the old bushing were pressed out properly, and if the new ones were pressed in the same.

If there is gouging, then it wasnt done properly.

Appreciate the feedback. I think I may ask SPL to see if they can just send me new compression rods with the bushings installed. I suspect trying to get these parts working again may be an exercise in frustration. Alternative would be to put in whiteline bushings I suppose. I really liked the handling with these though.

If you push out the old bushings and they pull a bit of material with them because you arent coming at them 100% straight on with your press, or if your bushing receiver that you are using to press the bushing out snags the arm housing a bit it can take off a few thousandths of material and allow the bushings to move easier than they should and possibly pull out.

I had a similar issue with a different arm because the arm had previously had some other aftermarket bushings in it, and I believe it just took out a little too much material removing them so I just went with a loctite press-fit bushing compound around the bushing and then I also staked the bushing in place and it has not moved since.

Dynosty worked with SPL whose engineers came to the conclusion that a redesign may be in order! That will be a lengthy process and not too helpful for me (thanks SPL!). I learned that there are no different sized bushings so stepping up to slightly larger set for a tighter fit is not an option. Dynosty cleaned up my compression rods, repressed bushings, put in new washers and drilled in 4 set screws per bushing. Brilliant work. I hope it lasts but for now I'm very grateful for a cost effective and innovative workaround from Dynosty.

I had one that fell through a brand new arm, so the sizing was off slightly. I don't blame spl, I blame myself for not buying a Nissan arm.
However they were kind enough to send out a new set to me, I also used assembly compound (by loctite iirc) to keep them in place.
That was 2-3 years ago.

No extra material came out that I saw, and I'm fairly meticulous when doing this stuff, especially at the time as it was when I first bought my press.
I'm sure it was just a slight issue with the arm I had, I think - I've had several sets over the years it hard remembering :icon14:
Yes it's been good, and I regularly check the car as I track it frequently too.

Poly bushings are terrible (imho) unless it's only a rotational part that it's being applied to (steering rack/sway bars).
Poly bushings have a weird tendency for stiction, so basically it will bind until a force overcomes that. What this ends up feeling like a is a delay in response because that's literally what is happening. It will hold and release. Some people won't notice it, others will.
The spherical bushings absolutely induce more harshness, whether you find it annoying or not is completely subjective unfortunately. If my car was a daily on our cruddy roads over here in the UK, I'd stick with OEM or Hard Race rubber bushings, definitely not poly or spherical.

As you can tell, I've been there and done that. Waste of money and time unfortunately.
What I would say is that if your car is lowered, ensure the geometry is corrected (spl outer tie rods for ex help), and think carefully about what you're using the car for.