While I had my car apart for the front-end refresh, I decided to replace the pivot rods for the upper control arms. Mine were noticeably worn and O'Reilly had a replacement kit, so I went for it.
Import Direct Chassis Control Arm Bushing Kit
The kit is good, and includes everything you need to replace those tricky inner bushings. I recommend this kit over anything else because the bushings are more substantial than what Moog seems to be turning out now. Every time I do this job, it gets the better of me. I tried Honda's bushings for my first attempt way back in the '90s. They bound on install and wouldn't go all the way into the arm. I beat them in and they squeaked and scrubbed for the 10k miles they lived before tearing themselves apart. The Moog replacements I bought were much better. They didn't bind and lasted well. The Moogs I bought this time did just like the Honda parts. They bound on install and when I beat on them, they simply came apart, tearing rubber and deforming the flimsy, thin metal beneath.
I bought these to replace the damaged Moogs and I like them much better. The metal used is thicker and the rubber doesn't seem as happy to bind up in the arm and not go in properly. I also greased them up with assembly lube instead of white grease prior to install, which seemed to help a lot. The assembly lube is less likely to get pushed out when sliding the bushing into the arm.
So I recommend the kit with one important caveat. The kit comes with a serrated face lock nut. It looks like this:
It seems like a great idea to put a lock nut on the end of that pivot rod, but this nut will lock the entire assembly in place. In other words, the pivot rod won't pivot. Simply throw the nut out and use a no-locking nut instead, though it's probably wise to use some blue Loctite and a decent torque wrench. Torque spec for this nut is 40 lbs-ft.
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