bushes?

[tzsafari]

Hello all,

I recently acquired a 1989 Nissan Safari, and I was told that the bushes need to be fixed/replaced. Sadly, I know very little about cars or parts. Would anyone be willing to explain the function of bushes to me and what replacing them entails?

Thank you very much for your insight and assistance.
Liz

[YNOT]

Which bushes?

Tony

[tzsafari]

I'm not sure. The person describing the problem just said "bushes". I'm guessing now that there are many types?

[YNOT]

You need to find out so you're not replacing bushes that might still be OK.

If you have a coil spring wagon the front and rear control arm bushes can wear out with time and use, as can shackle bushes if you have leaf springs.

Tony

[werafa]

Bushes are commonly rubber or other similar material. they allow a bolt or shaft to twist or flex in a hole, but not to rattle. this is kinda good in suspension connections. eg your shock absorbers have rubber bushes at each end, and there will be rubber bushes somewhere between your axles and the car chassis to allow it to flex independent to the rest of the body without breaking anything.

I have just replaced the bushes in the front control arms (the bit that bolts my axle to the body) because the rubber had cracked with all the hard work it has done over the years. It was not a hard job, but you do need a few tools and a little bit of mechanical ability (the job would have become very hard if I went about it the wrong way). this involved pulling the bits out, knocking out the old bushes, putting the new ones in and getting it all back together again whilst hoping that nothing has moved out of alignment.

[tzsafari]

Thank you, Tony and Werafa! That information was very helpful, and I'll investigate which bushes were causing the problem. Thanks for the explanation of what they are too...very clear!
Liz

[Russell1974]

They also are in the control arms sway bars panhard definitely need to find out which ones some are easy to replace some are hard

[tzsafari]

Thanks! Do these different bushes need to be replaced regularly or only if you find cracks?

[Bigrig]

If the control arm bushes are wearing out regularly then you have other issues old mate - they should last for years, and only replaced once they start looking worse for wear (perishing, cracked, etc).

All bushes wear at different rates, and so long as you check them (literally only every couple of months), then you should be up for happy motoring days!!

[tzsafari]

Great! I'll make sure I check them regularly. The car is new to me, so I don't know if there were problems with the bushes in the past. I appreciate the advice!