they are bushings right? cuz right now, when i touch them, it gets all over my hand so thats gotta mean they're bad right??

where can i find all the bushings for the steering linkage?
tie rods
centerlink
idler arm
pitman
???

Mikey

 

What everyone does is just replace all these components with new ones such as ones MOOG offers for example. I've never heard of these components having bushings but I could be wrong.

 

there are no bushings, they are all ball joints, they have no serviceable parts. Whats getting on your hands is grease. You are supposed to grease those things every now an again, they do have grease fittings on them.

If they are shot, you have to replace the entire parts.

the pitman is a non wear part, you only have to replace it if its broken damaged or missing

 

oh okay..i can twist the tie rods and they pivot from the rear side of the car to the front..is that bad? worn? i know my idler arm is bad and i ordered another one a couple days ago from moog..

 

Your car is 20+ years old--and probably has hundreds of miles racked up. If steering components haven't been replaced along the way, you might consider doing them all in one fell swoop (and save yourself the expense of multiple alignments).

JamesC

 

I agree. I did it all in one shot as well. Might as well as there's probably more than one part worn out. I heard that if there is any physical movement whatsoever in the steering linkage then something is worn out.

 

yeah, ima order the whole setup pretty soon thanks guys

 

On a side note, since you don't need to replace the pitman arm since it is a non-wear item, you can always paint it black (that's what I did) to make it 'fit in' with your newer linkage pieces

 

haha..thats what i was thinking
and my sway bars

 

You might consider having the sway bars powder coated.

JamesC

 

any reason why in particular?

 

Coating creates a hard finish that is tougher than conventional paint. Many after market parts, for example, are powder coated.

JamesC

 

hmm...is it expensive?

 

I don't recall what mine cost. I'd imagine it depends on the shop.

JamesC

 

alright...ill call around thanks

 

I used POR15 semi gloss black on everything i could get to underneath the car. It looks great and it forever protected! Lot of prep work tho (degrease, then metal ready to etch the metal, then spray or brush on).

 

I used POR on the 85's a-arms and rear end several years ago. Still looks great. Get that stuff on you and you'll wear it a good long time!

JamesC

 

hmm...might do that.

 

How about 1 month of black dots all over ur face for a month at work?

 

Yikes!

JamesC

 

Not as bad as what happened to a guy applying "Herculiner" to his Ford Explorer...

 

"i herculined myself tooooooooooo myself"