Spherical bearings on lower control arms, rubber on upper arms?

dcm0123

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We have a 94 Mustang which puts out around 500 HP. Used mostly as a cruiser, but is taken to the track once in a while. Been driving it for about 4 years with no problems other than wanted to put rust preventative on the lower side, inspect the torque boxes and replace the OEM arms which have 175K on them.

Does anyone have experience with the spherical bearings on both ends of the lower arm and running conventional upper arms (with rubber bushings) on the Mustangs without pan hard bars etc?

Read about Maximum Motor Sports products and talked to them since they are recommending spherical bearings about 400HP. They recommend the spherical bearings on both ends of the lower arms to provide less wheel hop. They also recommend a pan hard bar (to prevent side sway) and a torque bar (to prevent rotation of the housing) instead of the upper arms. This involves another $1000 investment.

I cannot afford to spend the extra money to buy the pan hard and torque bar so I would like to find out up front if anyone has experience using the spherical bearings on the lower with rubber bushing on the upper. If not I will go with Polyurethane on the lower and rubber on the upper..

The purpose of the call was to find out how side sway (body shifting left to right in relation to differential which can cause tires to rub) was controlled if you had spherical bearings on both ends of the lower arm. They pointed out the purpose of the upper arms being at an angle to each other is to control this. The conversation made a lot of sense. The ways the upper arms move with relation to each other puts stress on the system which is why you would not want a rigid bushing like polyurethane on them. When to rigid, binding of the suspension and excessive stress on the chassis occurs.

I read articles here saying not to run Polyurethane on both upper and lower due to possible binding which makes sense.

I also read the article below which implies a pan hard bar is needed with spherical bushings to prevent side sway. In this case they had spherical bushings on all arms.

 
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I always tell anyone that only tracks their car a little. Just put a decent set of upper and lowers with polyurethane bushings and you will be good to go. Make sure you put poly in the ears of the rear end. The more track stuff you put on your car it will become less of a cruiser and an uncomfortable stiff ride.
 

badass98svt

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I run spherical on both ends of my MM lowers, stock upper arms (as recommended my MM), and their Panhard bar.
Same RWHP as you. No wheelhop, the car just dead hooks with MT ET streets as long as I dont try to break the tires loose, if that makes sense.
 

white95

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You can have your cake and eat it too. You should research “PM3L” or Poor man’s three link. This is actually a parallel move to the torque box reinforcement job you’re planning but you WILL have to install a PHB. You totally ditch the LH upper control arm, replace the RH upper with a double adjustable arm with spherical bushings. Just make sure you reinforce the RH upper as well.

Reading material:




It’s an easy transition to a Torque Arm from the PM3L and taking this route will allow you to save the money.

The more track stuff you put on your car it will become less of a cruiser and an uncomfortable stiff ride.

..but you’ll almost beat that Miata!
 

cobrajeff96

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I wouldn't recommend poly anywhere on the old quadra-bind stock suspension. I ran poly once and regretted it. Had to slam on the brakes because of someone else's mistake on the roadway and one of the forward poly mounts got seriously chewed up because of it. The car rode terribly until it was replaced. And by replaced I mean all spherical mounts literally everywhere with a watts link and an upper third link made by Evolution Motorsport (extinct). After those installs, I could've sworn I was driving a supercar.

This was long before the IRS went in, and it was ALMOST as good as the over-built IRS that's in there now.
 

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TrickVert

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I have MM lowers with Steeda boxed uppers in my '95 with 400RWHP, and have experienced no wheel hop or other squirrely antics. (Quad shocks are in place as well.)
 
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dcm0123

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I went with Steeda Poly 4500 series on lower, MM uppers with rubber bushings and Ford racing rubber bushings in the differential.
One reason I went with Steeda was they offer replacement poly bushings and many others did not.
Car is presently undergoing body work so I may not have it back on the road for a month or two.

Started with BBK lowers off Amazon but returned them when they sent me two RH arms and no left (sway bar would not bolt up).

Appreciated everyone's replies to my original post.
 
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badass98svt

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I went with Steeda Poly 4500 series on lower, MM uppers with rubber bushings and Ford racing rubber bushings in the differential.
One reason I went with Steeda was they offer replacement poly bushings and many others did not.
Car is presently undergoing body work so I may not have it back on the road for a month or two.

Started with BBK lowers off Amazon but returned them when they sent me two RH arms and no left (sway bar would not bolt up).

Appreciated everyone's replies to my original post.

MM uppers are OEM 94-04 uppers
 
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I have built numerous Mustangs and used poly in every street/strip car and all spherical or even a mix of the two for an all-out drag car with great success. I never had a customer complain about the poly bushings riding horribly. Nor have I seen or heard of a poly getting chewed up on one hard-breaking event. Maye, I'm missing something but this is just my experience with poly bushings.
 

cobrajeff96

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Thing about poly bushings is that they should only be used in links that move in one plane.

With something like the stock quadra-bind (especially the uppers), they are a splayed geometry and do not move in a single plane. The life of the poly bushing used in such a geometry is greatly shortened as it's being subjected to forces that shouldn't be acting on it. As my old stick axle setup had no robust lateral locating device (panhard or watts link), that lower poly bushing took the brunt and was destroyed instantly upon panic stopping on a curvy section of road.

And factory rubber shouldn't be taken seriously at all in my opinion... unless it's only gonna be a grocery getter.
 
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One thing I didn't mention and just outright forgot was the use of spherical bearings being used in the ears of the 8.8 or 7.5. Considering they are like 100 bucks or so. I do say to use them in the ears and really do not have much or any NVH that one would think. And cobrajeff96 I totally agree with NO rubber ever. Unless you like wheel hop and broken rear end parts driveshafts and transmission tail shafts.
 

95opal

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One thing I didn't mention and just outright forgot was the use of spherical bearings being used in the ears of the 8.8 or 7.5. Considering they are like 100 bucks or so. I do say to use them in the ears and really do not have much or any NVH that one would think. And cobrajeff96 I totally agree with NO rubber ever. Unless you like wheel hop and broken rear end parts driveshafts and transmission tail shafts.

So glad i dont have to deal with upper arms and ears lmao
 

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