| Author | Message | ||
     Randy Roberson New User Username: wascator Post Number: 3 Registered: 5-2009 |
Sirs: For a car on offer, word is 4 of these are starting to crack, need to be replaced, $1500 US parts and labor. what is this? Sounds like suspension parts, something to do with the wheel bearings? Regards | ||
| Paul Yorke Grand Master Username: paul_yorke Post Number: 352 Registered: 6-2006 |
Hi Randy, They are at the inside end of the lower front suspension wishbones or levers. There are 4 pins and 4 rubber bonded washers which usually need changing at the same time. Not one of my favourite jobs! | ||
| Bill Coburn Moderator Username: bill_coburn Post Number: 1142 Registered: 4-2003 |
For Randy and everyone really. I have never heard of these pins cracking or failing, they are extremely high quality steel with a bonded rubber bush. In OZ they retail for about $500 plus. The old ones are usually discarded, throwing out a few bucks of rubber and some very expensive steel! For some years RA Chapman http://www.rachapmanautomotive.com.au have manufactured a composite sleeve that incidentally is impervious to oil, the main killer of these components. This sleeve replaces the bonded item on the original pin, the old one being removed with a rotary wire brush. The sleeve retails for about $30! Repairers, hobbyists and enthusiasts alike would be well advised to have a look at the web site and the cornucopia of parts and services available for our cars. | ||
| Richard Treacy Grand Master Username: richard_treacy Post Number: 1775 Registered: 4-2003 |
By the way, UK suppliers offer the new original pins for about A$150, or polyurethane bushes for $50. If the pin is in good shape, the polyurethane ones beat all other options hands down on quality, behaviour and durability. That's a far cry from the $500 or more I paid for the last one in 1985, and that was in 1985$. At least you can say that they are good for a very long life. That is with the proviso that you have no oil leaks whatsoever. The story is even better with ball joints. Our R-R ones are adjustable, and dammit rebuildable with a new nylon bush for a song: both options almost unheard of for any other vehicle make. My. How R-R spares prices have fallen through the floor. The last suspension bush I bought for my BMW cost around $700 just for the part. When I hear complaints about R-R spares prices these days, I am amused to think back to the sky-high prices we paid in the 1970s and 1980s by comparison. Today, we are unlucky if we pay Holden prices. RT. | ||
| Randy Roberson New User Username: wascator Post Number: 4 Registered: 5-2009 |
Gentlemen, thanks for the great information. As the owner of the car in question seems not to be technically adept, after giving it some thought I believe perhaps the rubber bushing parts were "beginning to crack" (you know how rubber parts are, etc), esp. as he related that the technician said it could safely wait a while; I would not expect anyone would advise it could wait if it were the steel pins which were cracked. Perhaps this was even a barely veiled attempt to generate another repair job, do you think? Regards, Randy |
