Hello All - I installed solid body bushings on the 69 Bird over the weekend. Installation went okay, just very freaky having to jack the body off the frame so high. Installed the bushings to drop body 1/2". Went for a drive and the car felt good except the steering does not feel as free as it did before. Has anyone experienced changes like this upon installations of the bushings? Any insight greatly appreciated.
So if you dropped the body 1/2 inch, you may have to check your steering rag joint (that connects the steering column to the Steering gear box) and loosen the bolt that clamps it to the steering gear box shaft since it might be binding now. Just loosing the bolt and turn the wheel a couple of times to see if the shaft slides up or down in it a little more then tighten back up and check it on the road.
When looking for installation tips, I initially ran across a thread that said to uncouple the steering to prevent binding when jacking the car up but no one ever said anything in the other 20 - 30 posts I read. I will get in there and give it a try. Thanks!
Good luck, thats just where I would start because your steering column is connected to your body under the dash and at the firewall, if your body goes down a half inch that would put a binding on your rag joint, just a good place to start and that is the only place off the top of my mind that I can think of that would cause the steering to feel like that from what you did. make sure to post back here on if that worked or not.
Hmmm, how much did you separate the frame from the body? It would've been a good idea to unhook the rag joint anyway if you going to move things apart like that. You only did one side at a time so the body and frame didn't get out of alignment right?
Hello Firebob, Yes, just did one side at a time and put a bolt in the alignment hole as recommended to minimize any shifting. In hindsight I wish I had unhooked the rag joint, but thought it was a one-off posting after reading the other volume of postings. Going to loosen up the nuts per USMC_Ordy's recommendation and see if it still feels as stiff or releases some pressure. The back bushings were pretty straightforward, just took a little prying to get them loose. Was praying that the cage nuts held. Thank goodness it has been a CA and AZ car all of its life. But I was pretty freaked out by how much I had to lift the body to get the collars out. Thanks!
Don't mean to freak you out even more but from now on whenever you run into clearance issues here and there you're going to wonder if it's because of that 1/2". Probably won't be but there's always gonna be that little voice that it might be. 👹
Hello Firebob, I really don't think the difference was significant. Having to raise the body off so much for that short amount of time to me is more of a concern than lowering the body. If you saw my rubber bushings you would agree that they really were so compressed that they probably were generally the same width as the thinner, solid bushings I installed. Messed with it some last night, but have not performed any testing yet. Thanks!
I lowered the frame vs raising the body. But car was 1.5' off the floor on stands(under axle and front a-arms). Did each end and one side at a time. No issue with rag joint.
I lowered the frame vs raising the body. But car was 1.5' off the floor on stands(under axle and front a-arms). Did each end and one side at a time. No issue with rag joint.
