How To Replace Radius Rod Bushes VT / VZ

[jazza15]

Yeah I've heard this before. I have the standard washer setup when I fitted urethene bushes and I think I noticed 1 washer on the drivers side and none on the passengers side.
Can someone re enlighten me about this setup as I'm not sure the 'standard' washer arrangement is completely true for correct castor settings. When I brake my car turns to the right (unless I'm holding the steering wheel). this could be due to the castor being wrong on one side. I haven't had a wheel alignment done yet and want to make sure this setting is ok before I take it in as I hear they won't do it for you without charging labour.

Also, Dayvo if you haven't already asked Holmart for free stuff, maybe you should direct them to the sticky of this how-to section: Read before attempting any of the below something about copyright, but I'd doubt it would actually hold up in court haha.

[Dayvo]

I noticed the same thing . I thought i left one of the washers on by mistake and pulled the whole thing apart just to make sure.
I'm after one of those roof mounted sunglass holders with the lights in them . Might see if Holmart will give me a discount .

[fixedit]

Today I changed these bushes on my VY2 wagon. The symptoms were: soft brake pedal, slight pull to the right at high speed braking, on long hills a shudder and what could be diagnosed as worn out brake pad noise. I also got told by the wheel aligner they needed replacing.

I jacked up both sides so the front wheels were just off the ground. Undid the big bolt, undid the small bolts and the old bush just fell out with a slight pull. This surprised me after reading how hard they can be to get out. When putting the new Nolathane ones in, I put the grease on the inside of the bush and slid the shaft in. I then greased the front and back of the bush. Then followed instructions for standard castor setting washers sequence. Dayvos advice about turning the wheels to take pressure off the bush was very important when trying to line up the small bolts. Torqued all bolts to factory settings.

On the road it feels tighter and brakes are no longer soft. Steers perfectly straight so may not need wheel alignment but getting it checked anyway.

[Lupes]

This a an easy ‘How to” and takes about an hour .
This kit has adjustment from – ½ degrees to + 1 ¼ degrees caster which is good if you have lowered suspension so you don’t scrub out the inside of your front tyres

Caster doesn't affect tyre wear. If you've lowered your car, the negative camber has increased in the front which is what will be scrubbing tyres on the inside.

In a factory car, the lower control arm is angled slightly in the downwards position from the crossmember, say roughly 15 to 20 degrees.

When you fit lowered springs, you're shortening the length of the strut assembly as soon as weight is put on it.

So imagine the strut is shortened by around 30mm for example, and the control arm is left in the factory position for explanation sake. There's now a gap between the control arm and stub assembly.

The control arm takes up this slack, and goes from pointing around 20 degrees down towards the ground, to horizontal, or even upwards in extreme cases. Obviously, if the control arm is straight, the ball joint is slightly further away from the crossmember than it was in the factory position.

Since the ball joint is further away, but the strut top hasn't moved, it puts the whole assembly on an angle, like this > \ < which gives you negative camber, thus wearing the insides of the tyres.

That went on way too long.

Do VT / VZ use that 8 or 10mm camber bolt in the stub to adjust camber like a VS? If so, you could use that to adjust out the camber and hey presto, problem solvered.

[Locksmiff]

To anyone who has done this, how did you stop the rod from twisting as you did up the chassis bush nut and causing it to compress the bush in one direction after it was all torqued up.

[xDASHx]

Is it neccessary to torque up all nuts or can you get away with simply tightening them up as tight as you can?

[Dayvo]

Is it neccessary to torque up all nuts or can you get away with simply tightening them up as tight as you can?

I tightened mine up at tight as i could , then a little bit more

[MR_VX]

The kit cost about 190 bucks

where did you get them from mate?

[Dayvo]

where did you get them from mate?

I bought them from Repco but i guess you can get them from any auto parts shop

[greenacc]

You don't need to tighten them up as tight as you can. When i did mine I started off doing that, thinking i'll get the torque wrench out at the end and torque everything in one go. I was surprised to find that i had done everything up tighter than the torque specs. So i'd suggest doing them up tight, but don't go nuts lol.

[Surfwagon]

where did you get them from mate?

There a 2 or 3 different makes on ebay most of the time for about half that.
I picked up a superpro kit for $89 during a 3 day sale, then a few weeks later picked up some pedders ones free (without the washers though) from a suspension place near me with some old strut housing they gave me to fit my Koni's in.

[MR_VX]

sorry to dig an old thread up but i finally got around to doing this yesterday and i must say it is a fairly esay job to do. would recommend doing it. And yes i did also had trouble with the 24mm nut (middle one), i used the ratchet. I do suggest paying attention as the ratchet slipped of the nut and smashed me point blank between the eyes, knocked me the f**k out lol. you live and learn i spose hahaha

[Mavericks Choice]

Amazing how much better the vehicle stops after changing these bushes.

[Mavericks Choice]

sorry to dig an old thread up but i finally got around to doing this yesterday and i must say it is a fairly esay job to do. would recommend doing it. And yes i did also had trouble with the 24mm nut (middle one), i used the ratchet. I do suggest paying attention as the ratchet slipped of the nut and smashed me point blank between the eyes, knocked me the f**k out lol. you live and learn i spose hahaha

Breaker bar is your friend next time.

[Mirkz]

Just digging up an old how to.

Does anyone have the actual instructions on how to install the kit ?
I'm just wondering how I should set up the washers etc, and what effect it has by changing them etc? apparently different setups change... something.

Also, does anyone have details on how to fit the castor rod bushes ?

[colin10]

My Car had the washer on the right hand side only, so I called up the Nolathan Tech hotline and asked about the Washer. Now I’m not up to speed about the whole Caster setting thing, but the person on the phone said, that the caster on both wheel should not be exactly the same. He said the left hand wheel should be slightly forward to the right one that why the washer is there. He did say NOT to put the original washer back in, and I should take it for a wheel alignment. I called up Pedders and told them what I had done, and they said they can do a wheel alignment with a caster adjustment for $88, so i booked it in for tomorrow.

I also changed the lower control arm bush(pressed in one). I noticed Supercheap had a Machine press for $99 and it got the bushes out in about 10 minutes.

[bcw61]

He did say NOT to put the original washer back in

According to the workshop manual, the VZ has the extra washer installed on the right hand side bush only. If your suspension is standard, then this washer should have been refitted exactly where it was removed from.

[Rhin0o8]

There seems to be an argument about a "factory" washer being in the drivers side radius rod bush. This is to offset the castor settings between the left and right side.

I believe the tech guy was right in saying to NOT replace the "factory" washer in the new setup for the Nolanthene bushes.
The kit is completely adjustable. Refer to post #9 in this thread for the list

What you do need to do is offset the passenger side wheel so it sits FORWARD of the driver's side wheel. Do not exceed 1 degree difference as a tolerance
this helps with the gradient of the road and will keep you tyres driving straight. If you have the exact same setting both wheels, it will pull to the left

Refer to post #9 for list of settings

[bcw61]

I have noted that some of the Nolathane bush kits do come with various spacers used to adjust the caster setting, however I don't think all bush kits are provided with them. If the kit does not have these spacers provided and your suspension is standard, then the original spacer will need to be refitted to the drivers side only, to maintain the correct caster setting on the drivers side as opposed to the passenger side caster setting - as you have noted.

I was merely pointing out that the factory setup has a flat washer only on the drivers side radius rod, however this may possibly be omitted if other caster adjustment spacers are provided in lieu, with the bush kit being fitted.