1.) are the upper and lower arms supposed to have side play? the mounting bracket is wider than the end of the arm so on mine it can wobble back and forth to the extent the bushing allows. or is this normal and the watts links control all the lateral movement?

2.) what is ideal movement for the arms - are they supposed to be tight and limited to the bushings twisting or would it be ideal if they had spherical bearings and rotated with ease? i know if they rotate easier it reduces binding in the upper links but is it bad if they rotate too easily (still haveing no excess sideplay)? i am thinking about greasing up the bolts, installing poly bushings and nylock nuts so i dont have to fully tighten it and it can rotate easier ( i think rx7carl wrote an article about this). if it is ideal for them to rotate very easy, then are the bushings only there to cushion the shock between the arms and the mounts when the axle moves around? and poly bushings make it stiffer so it reduces assorted vibrations so you have more predictable suspension?

TIA

 

Well, thats what the watts link if for. Its there to control the lateral movement of the axle. So yes, the upper and lower arms are supposed to have side play, but just what the bushings allow.

 

ok, thats what i figured, thanks 85rotarypower. now on to question #2....

 

No they arent supposed to have side play. Look at the torques in the shop manual. The bushing deflection or "twist" is what is supposed to give. FWIW heres my $0.02 on teh matter.

http://www.pbandjracing.com/rear_suspension.htm

 

bump

 

Oops. I didn't read the post properly. No, the bushings are supposed to be tight, but thats what allows the links to move and keeps vibrations low.

 

rx7carl, your write up says to do the nylock nut thing to the watts link to allow it to rotate more freely to reduce binding, so why not do this on the upper arms as well?

 

I do suggest that you do this on all the link bolts. Re-read it. And BTW, if you have a hard time sourcing the nylock nuts I can supply them for $25 a kit shipped.

 

Oh now I find this... a couple of weeks ago I finaly gave up finding them in packs of under 100 and welded the nuts to the bolts

I figure if I ever have to replace a link I'll just cut the bolt off and replace it with a common thread pitch of the same dia...

 

I'm sorry, I'm just finding out that some people are having a problem finding them rcurrier, so I figured I'd help out. If you need to do that, make sure you use the highest grade bolt. They take alot of suspension load and cant be replaced by any old bolt. Preferred would be the correct bolt off a donor vehicle.