Pinto Car Club of America
Shiny is Good! => General Pinto Talk => Topic started by: ahawes on January 23, 2011, 05:23:11 PM
Went down a rough potholed road the other day in the 71 and now I've got a rattling noise coming from the passenger front end anytime I hit a bump that I am assuming is the strut rod bushing. If I am going to pull the front end apart I'd like to just replace all of the bushings and be done with it. Does anyone have a source for parts? I've noticed a few places selling the upper control arm bushings and a couple others selling the strut rod bushings, haven't noticed anywhere listing the lower control arm bushings yet though, but I haven't looked in much depth yet. I'd love to just order all of the parts from a single supplier and be done with it but if I need to piece it all together then so be it. Thanks for the help!
For my 73, I pieced together the majority of the parts from Ebay thru the last 5-6 years. Since then I have read people purchasing complete rebuild kits for the 71-73 cars but I do not remember from whom. I had all but the strut rod bushings and the lower control arm bushings when I started my front end rebuild last summer. I bought some energy suspension poly strut rod bushings from Summit Racing for under $20 shipped. I found the lower control arm bushings on ebay for around $30 each. Here is the link http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Control-Arm-Bushing-/290520259848?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&fits=Model%3APinto&hash=item43a45b5d08 (http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Control-Arm-Bushing-/290520259848?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&fits=Model%3APinto&hash=item43a45b5d08). This is the only place I could find them. Hope this helps some.....
Racer Walsh still advertises replacement rubber control arm bushings but they are of a higher durometer for performance uses.
http://racerwalsh.zoovy.com/product/RWA2241/71-73-pinto-fr-bush.html (http://racerwalsh.zoovy.com/product/RWA2241/71-73-pinto-fr-bush.html)
They only list urethane strut rod bushings and claim they are good for all year Pinto's.
http://racerwalsh.zoovy.com/product/RWA2258/pm2-strut-rod-bush.html (http://racerwalsh.zoovy.com/product/RWA2258/pm2-strut-rod-bush.html)
If interested, suggest you contact them 800-334-0151 to discuss if the increased ride harshness is within your tolerances.
Just checked Autozone.com and DiscountAutoParts.com and they both list the same part numbers for 71 and 75 rubber strut rod bushing kits (so RW's statement may be correct). They also have the 71 upper control arm bushings but no lower arm bushings. Have fun.