PST kit greasing and do 70 to 71 Challenger torque specs differ?

[ACarGuy]

I went through all the pages and didn't see a relevant post.

Do you use grease when assembling a suspension kit from PST on the bushings and if so what? The uppers came with grease and I assume that is for the adjustment bolts but I'm wondering about greasing other shafts. I have the poly bushings and do have squeaks on another car. I see someone said to stick with rubber but too late now and I'd like to avoid squeaks.

I have a 70 service manual and will look into getting at 71 too but does anyone know if the suspension torque specs differ between the two years?

Of course they are closed today, my fault for not thinking about this sooner.

Thanks in advance, trying to get things assembled today.

 

[ACarGuy]

I found this

Performance Suspension Technology FAQ

p-s-t.com

and I didn't see anything in the service manual about greasing bushings.

It is surprisingly hard to find bushing grease at the parts stores for same day use too. Energy Suspensions has a product but order only. I did find a couple products at NAPA, Sil Glyde and Super Lube.

 

[moparleo]

Remember that the rubber bushings worked by stretching when rotational forces are applied. The Poly is rigid. So they have a tendency to make noise especially at the lower control arms pivot shafts. The grease would be used at the bushing to metal contact points. Most use poly on the rest of the bushings but still use the rubber for the lowers because of the noises.

 

[ACarGuy]

Thanks, the 70 service manual does some breakdown on torque specs by car - like the Fury.

 

[ACarGuy]

Here's what PST says:

White Lithium grease on poly components. Ball joints and tie rod ends use a good multi purpose grease

 

[Chryco Psycho]

Energy suspension sells a special grease , it is more sticky than Honey , I always use this grease with Poly bushings .
The 70-71 parts are the same torque specs will also be the same , make sure you have the correct specs

 

[ACarGuy]

Thanks.

I had everything powder coated included nuts and bolts and wonder about bumping the torque up a bit. It is hard to tell at times if it is the coating or the locking nut.

 

[ACarGuy]

The poly kit strut rod bushings come with a sleeve that is slightly longer than stock since the poly bushings don't compress as much however the included sleeve is a smaller diameter than my early 71 and didn't fit so I am going with rubber that fit the original sleeve. Original sleeve is about 0.645 inches where poly sleeve is 0.640 and it was the first they had that problem that he knew of. I don't think it is wear on original but those new sleeves wouldn't work.

Also tell them if you have the square lower control arm bumper. The poly one is about half the width.

 

[ACarGuy]

I sent my piston frozen calipers to Phoenix Caliper in Chicago and had them back rebuilt same week. Then I took them apart (two rubber seals and a piston) and had them powder coated too. Only $45 per caliper to rebuild.

I tried to pick out a good natural metal color but failed again. The powder I used is called metal but is more of a battleship color.

I should have gone with something darker, if people have a better suggestion let me know, I have another car to do.

 

[moparleo]

Remember that powder coating is just melted on plastic. It must be done properly meaning it has to be consistent in its thickness and prepped properly or it may not hold torque properly. Because it adds thickness to the surface the tolerances are tighter and may cause binding in some instances. Just FYI.

 

[ACarGuy]

OK, the powder coating on the threads was a killer. O'Reilly has a great lend a tool thread chaser kit that goes all the way up to 5/8s course and fine for bolts/shafts and 9/16s for nuts. I was surprised how hard it was to come up with 5/8s taps locally but did find them at an old school hardware store. If you are going to be doing suspension I'd get them in advance, available online too.

I was going to reuse the nuts from my original lower ball joints and as it turns out, the PST kit doesn't have the pin holes up high enough so I used their hardware.

Another issue with the PST kit is that the idler arm zerk is on the right side next to the tie-rod end and can't be greased after installation and I don't think a 90 degree would work either. They have been good to work with and still waiting to hear back on that problem.

 

[ACarGuy]

PST is sending me a idler arm with the zerk on the top so everything should be OK now.

Thanks for the help.