Whiteline T/C Rod Bushing Swap

Why bother?

The original bushings are rubber filled with dampening fluid and they are actually just fine but over time they dry rot and crack. When you put stress on the bushing the cracks eventually open and the fluid leaks out. Not only is this messy, it also makes the feel and handling of your 240sx suffer. The void left by the missing fluid and the weak rubber allows for too much front-to-rear movement of the lower control arm and will momentarily alter the toe and caster while braking, turning or going over uneven surfaces.

What you'll need:

A spare few hours. A jack and some jack stands, 17mm open end and socket. A vice or a press. I did one side with a vice in order to do this write-up and did the other with a press. A vice is fine but the press takes a fraction of the time. Most importantly you'll need a couple of short pieces of pipe that are the right diameter to drive the old bushings out. Once you remove the T/C rods you can't drive the car to the hardware store so, have this ready first (unlike me, doh!). Also, I'm not a technical writer so, it will help for you to read through all of this before you start.

OK, do it:

Jack the front up and secure it with jack stands. Remove the wheels. There are 2 flange nuts holding the T/C rod to the lower control arm and one shoulder bolt with a flange nut holding the bushing end of the rod to the body. Take the control arm end lose first because the bushing is under load with the car raised. Next, take out the shoulder bolt and remove the T/C rod.

The outside diameter of the bushing is 2.52" so, use a piece of pipe that is slightly smaller than that to push against it. If your piece is too small, it will push against the rubber and most likely only push the rubber out (the bushing is actually metal around the outside). The bushing housing should go against a piece of pipe that is slightly larger so that the bushing has somewhere to go when you push it out. See the picture.

Breaking the bushing lose initially is tough with a vice but once it starts to move it goes pretty quick. With the bushing out, clean the inside of the housing up with some scotch-brite (or whatever). This would be a good time to clean and paint the T/C rod if you're in to that sort of thing. Now, grease the inside of the housing and the outside of your new bushing with that awful red grease that whiteline included with the kit.

Don't put the metal crush sleeve in the bushing yet. Getting the new bushing in is just the reverse of taking the old one out. Be careful not to cut it and be patient. It may take a couple of tries to get it to go in straight. With the bushing in, grease up the crush sleeve and push it through so that it's flush on both sides.

Put it back together:

Again, put the rod back on the car in the reverse that you took it off. You can tighten the shoulder bolt and nut (80~94 ft/lbs) but just put the control arm nuts on finger tight. After you have both sides done, put the wheels back on, lower the car so that the suspension is loaded, then tighten the control arm nuts on both sides (79~83 ft/lbs). Drive and enjoy.

Is it worth it?

Sure. I don't know if I'd call it a "mod" but if your factory bushing are worn, you'll definitely notice the difference. The bushing on my car were rough looking when I bought it. I've never driven on new factory bushing but my guess is that I could probably tell very little difference between them and the whitelines. It's a great swap if yours need replacing though.

I purchased my Whiteline T/C rod bushings from the fine folks accelerated concepts

By: Jason B.