something wrong after bushing replacement

[WDoherty]

I changed the lower control arm bushings to Daizen since the internet told me i should with the mileage and after inspection i could see deterioration on the rear ones. I ran into a problem during removal, the camber bolts were seized into the bushing sleves. I ended up torching the camber bolts to remove the control arm. 2 problems with that. Slight damage to the rear suspension crossmember, and the remainder of the bolts were left in the sleeves. I tried to weld, and grind my best the make the slots in the suspension crossmember the best i could and match the same clearance of the fronts and thought i did a good job. I carefully milled the bolts out of the sleeves to where there was a fine layer of bolt left and i tapped the rest out. I checked the way the bolt felt in the rear sleeves i milled vs. the front which i didn't and they feel just i tight. Also the the cross member the camber bolt is tightened in place so it shouldn't move at all right? I get a slight clunk over bumps and its quite annoying. I didn't like the way the lower balljoints spin without much effort and the book states a good amount of torque to turn them. Also, would ball joints go out immediately before and after work, it doesn't seem right. Also the car only had 110,000 miles. One friend said it was because i haven't had an alignment yet, did notice the front left wheel has postitive camber. Help! I'm really frustrated with this project, almost wish i hadn't messed with it. Any ideas or tests i can do?
thanks in advance

 

[stevechumo]

Take a picture and I'll see if I can help you. I don't want to discourage you, but Daizen bushings suck. They'll eventually squeak after a few months. I've had them before but I had to take them out and replaced with rubber bushings. Many people that I know had to take out the Daizens. I still have a complete set of the Daizens for the front lower control arms, so if you'll want them, I'll give it to you. And just pay me for shipping.

 

[mjhsc400]

I had to do the same thing, but cut the bolt with a 6" cutting wheel, got new sleeves from TMengineering, and a new cam bolt from a supra mk4--

The clunking may have been there before, but just wasn't as loud as the other noises caused by bad bushings-- Check your swaybar bushings and end links-- any play in the bushing will make a LOT of noise, as well as a bad end link -- either or both will be really noisy, and it's cheap to fix that stuff-- If your bolts are tight, it's not your bushings--

The Daizens rock dude, don't be misled-- you just have to grease the ever loving mother out of them when you install them, nearly a full pack for each bushing face-- so 4 per arm will do-- 8 packs for the LCA's-- Parts houses sell it too-- cheap --

Take him up on the offer--

The daizens, yeah, what a sorry product-- they fit perfect, ride nice, never wear out, they're the cheapest on the market, and you actually have to grease them well the first time to avoid the squeak-- man they suck-- They're even easy to install--

 

[stevechumo]

I had to do the same thing, but cut the bolt with a 6" cutting wheel, got new sleeves from TMengineering, and a new cam bolt from a supra mk4--

The clunking may have been there before, but just wasn't as loud as the other noises caused by bad bushings-- Check your swaybar bushings and end links-- any play in the bushing will make a LOT of noise, as well as a bad end link -- either or both will be really noisy, and it's cheap to fix that stuff-- If your bolts are tight, it's not your bushings--

The Daizens rock dude, don't be misled-- you just have to grease the ever loving mother out of them when you install them, nearly a full pack for each bushing face-- so 4 per arm will do-- 8 packs for the LCA's-- Parts houses sell it too-- cheap --

Take him up on the offer--

The daizens, yeah, what a sorry product-- they fit perfect, ride nice, never wear out, they're the cheapest on the market, and you actually have to grease them well the first time to avoid the squeak-- man they suck-- They're even easy to install--

Are you Todd? It seems to me you're talking for him...LOL. 90% of the people that I know using the Daizens had the complaints about the squeaking. I even completely put all the grease in the Daizen package in and around the bushings, but the grease eventually found its way out of the bushings. I had to regrease the Daizen 2 times every 4 months, and the last time that I took them out forever, there's not a single drop of grease in it.

The only thing I like about the Daizen is it gives tight handling around the corners and lane changings.

 

[mjhsc400]

It would be interesting to find out from you which bushing was worse--

Were the ones in the rear steel subframe drier than the ones in the aluminum front subframe??

I had to spread the ears of the steel frame a bit to get the bushings to even fit-- It also seems to me that they fit really tight in each of their slots---- You may benefit from sanding the faces of the bushings down a little bit on a belt sander to reduce the thickness slightly-- This may really reduce the squeezing out effect on the grease on either side of the bushings, without having adverse effects---

Think of it like this-- the oem bushings undoubtedly have fore and aft play in them due to the slots cut in the bushings to reduce vibration and harshness-- These slots really weaken the bushings and the arm will move back and forth under heavy braking--

My point is; you could reduce the tightness of the fit of the daizen bushings in their slots to where they will just barely have zero play, instead of how they are when you get them, where you have to use a jack (I did) to push them up into the subframes-- They fit extremely tight in there--

Option 2-- there is possibly a way to grease them without removing the whole arm-- and possibly a better grease to use that may break down the polyurethane over time where it's greased on the ends that will make the ends contact surface softer, virtually impregnating the material with grease--

I only bought the Daizens because of the very low cost involved-- as I couldn't afford to do all of the services needed without sourcing the very cheapest methods by which to do them-- with all my own labor --

I will eventually just buy supra arms due to getting new bushings and balljoints if I'm not able to re-engineer the non-replaceable ball joints in the SC arms-- which I will be working on in the near future--

Good luck-- and take him up on the daizen's if the offer still stands.....

 

[WDoherty]

thanks guys, if found what the clunk was, i just didn't have enough torque on one of the camber bolts. Intersesting enough the original odd thing about the suspension was not fixed by the bushings. It is like a rattle in the steering colum oven uneven surfaces, like gravel road. It did this even since i got with 87000 miles and i was reading someone else who had it with 80000 miles and never figured it out, anyone know what i'm talking about? I greased the holy hell out of the daizens and indeed they have begun to squeak over big bumps, also they have amplified the rough roads in my area enough to make the car unpleasant to drive. I have ordered the rubber oem bushings for the 97+ cars from lexus, along with spring insulators and tokico hp shocks/struts so, so long to the daizen's, anyone want to buy them?

 

[mjhsc400]

Man, I hate to tell you something you already know- but old struts squeak too, -- so it may not be the bushings making the noise at all--

As far as the clunking-- rattling-- Replace your front sway bushings and check the sway end-links--

One of my swaybar endlinks is shot and rattles like holy mackrel-- on uneven bumps-- like if I hit a speedbump sorta quickly but with only one side--

Swaybars can be very noisy if the bushings are bad or the endlinks -- either one -- and really cheap to fix--

How many miles do you have on the Daizens also?? Just curious, as mine are new, but well greased-- I just cant see how that grease is gonna find it's way out of there...

That's just me though...

 

[stevechumo]

Wdoherty,
You are now added as a victim to the list of the Daizen...LOL. I'm currently using the aftermarket rubber bushings and I'm happy with them. I wish that I went with the new Supra arms from the beginning. I paid $100 for the Daizen bushings, $150 for the rubber bushings, $50 for the shop to press out the worn factory bushings, $20 for the propane torch and several misc. tools totalling $320. I could get both new Supra arms for only $400. Well, what an experience to learn! I really feel sorry for those who had to pay $500-$700 to do this Daizen bushings.