cjh,

Ok, thanks for confirming. I'll be removing the upper control arm next week to replace worn bushes again ( they have been replaced with Blue Nolathane) last year and have started to emit annoying squeaks again. This time I'll put more lube (grease) between the spacer, bolt and the bush housing..

I had to remove the coil spring to make the job easier last time. If there was a way of removing the bolts from the upper control arm without taking the spring off I'd be doing that. Taking the spring off is extra work which I try to avoid.

Undo the 8 of 15mm nuts on the engine bay side.....intake side is a b!tch.....and just swivel the UCA's out and do your bushes that way......that's how it's done at the wheel alingners.
15mm ratchet spanner is your friend.

cjh,

Thanks for that tip, will give that a go, seems lot less hassle compared to the way I was doing it.

Cheers

You gotta jack up the front of the car, and support on jack stands....and watch that you don't stretch the brake hoses.

cjh,

Yep, that's all under control

Update,

Here are the photos of Front drivers side and passenger side tyres...tread is worn and still wearing out at the edge.

I have teken my car to City Suspension at Springwood Qld for a wheel alignment...it did not get that far. A check was made by rocking the vehicle forward and back. I was informed the front lower control arm bush has crapped itself...i.e. bush punctured and oil / liquid has escaped from the seal causing an erratic steering sensation and contributing to the tyre wear....its a common Ford problem once vehicle gets old so I'm told.

I have no idea if what City Suspension says is true...I have removed a bush in the past from a spare lower control arm and could not determine if the rubber / seal holding the centre ferral rod in place is oil filled or just solid rubber..I have not driller the rubber to find out.

Does anyone know if there is any truth to what City Suspension is saying about the lower control arm front bush?

Cheers

 

 

Attachments:

Front Driver side tyre (Copy).jpg [ 55.48 KiB | Viewed 544 times ]

Front passenger side tyre (Copy).jpg [ 52.16 KiB | Viewed 262 times ]

IIRC, the front bushes on the lower control arms on an AU are silicone oil filled.....I remember replacing them on taxi's.
I recently replaced the rear LCA bushes on the wife's Magna....they were leaking silicone oil too.
They now have SuperPro bushes in them.

cjh,

Mine must be the odd one then on the AUII.

I had removed a front and rear lower control arm bush on the spare I had about a year ago. I was keeping the old bush to obtain measurements for replacement, never got around to it, at that time.

I drilled the rubber bush to see if there was any oil... No oil came out. I drilled the entire length of the original bush .mine is solid rubber.

Hmmm. The front lower control arm, the guy from City Suspension suggested I have a look at the bush in situ. He pointed to it and said "you can see the oil"..common problem for Fords.

I did not tell the bloke I sprayed Inox and WD40 on that bush from both sides of the housing to stop the squeal it was making many weeks ago, about 3 separate occassions. Maybe the AUI's where silicon oil filled, definetly mine are not.

I'll post the photo of it on here by Thursday 28th November 2013.

Here are the photos of the Front lower control arm bush that was taken out of another Ford AUII lower control arm. Definitely no silicon oil detected.

Drill went completely through solid rubber. Rubber was hard.

Cheers

 

 

Attachments:

overview of drill bit (Copy).jpg [ 58.54 KiB | Viewed 223 times ]

Front lower control arm bush side view (Copy).jpg [ 75.23 KiB | Viewed 262 times ]

Front lower control arm bush drilled hole (Copy).jpg [ 70.85 KiB | Viewed 228 times ]

overview of drill bit (Copy).jpg [ 58.54 KiB | Viewed 228 times ]

Try drilling it closer to the outside.......

cjh,

Ok, I'll get as close to the metal flange as possible and see if any oil is found / exposed.

I'll let you know what I discover Thursday (tomorrow) afternoon

Cheers

cjh and others,

I've drilled right next to the metal jacket wall that encloses the vulcanised rubber and there was no sign or evidence of any silicon oil, furthermore, I decided to cut the front lower control arm bush in half with a very thin metal cutting wheel using an angle grinder.

I have attached photos of when the rubber bush had been drilled very close to the metal jacket, it was so close that metal shavings appeared on the drill. No sign or evidence of any silicon oil.

Photo showing the metal jacket cut length-ways which enclosed the rubber bush proper.

Another photo showing the rubber bush proper cut in half (length-ways), again no oils were present.

It appears that City Suspension was not honest.

Maybe other people's vehicles have been fitted with bushes that have "silicon oil", clearly the bush I have (from an AUII) does not contain silicon oil.

I'll be replacing the suspect worn front and rear lower control arm bushes with Ford Original, at least they are cheaper than SuperPro Blue bush kits.. I was informed SuperPro Blue bushes are ok if you're into racing but not as good as original for normal condition use. I have used SuperPro Blue bushes on different items, seemed to be ok so far but tend to get dry too quickly (maybe not enough grease applied at the time of fitment)

Cheers

 

 

Attachments:

cut view of rubber bush proper (Copy).jpg [ 66.8 KiB | Viewed 241 times ]

cut view of metal jacket (Copy).jpg [ 55.6 KiB | Viewed 253 times ]

hole drilled at very edge of metal jacket (Copy).jpg [ 67.89 KiB | Viewed 205 times ]

Has anyone else experienced this or is my vehicle the only one that has no silicon oil inside the bush?