Rear suspension woes

[TBone]

I finished the rebuild of the front and rear suspension. This is a 94 six speed coupe, standard suspension. The car had 110K on it and I thought it would be time to do the bushings. I used the energy suspension master kit and the kits for the front and rear sway bars. I used Moog ball joints and tie rod ends. I was amazed at how well the original suspension had held up. The only things that were really worn were the tie rod ends, front and rear, and the sway bar end links. The lower ball joints were worn but too bad. All the bushings were in pretty good shape. I finished yesterday and went for a test ride.

The rear suspension is now so stiff that I don't even want to drive the car. What the hell, all that work and it sucks. We have speed bumps in our neighborhood and on the way out I went over the first one and if I hadn't had my seat belt on I would have hit my head on the roof. I can't believe that just replacing the bushings in the rear would cause this result. It's unbelievable! It feels like a lost suspension travel in the rear, lost range of motion. Have you ever heard of this. On the Corvette Forum I got a response that this is the dreaded polybushing dogbone bind. That meaning, the polybushings are to stiff and do not allow the dog bones to articulate and they bind.

Could this be a problem with the bushings are too tight. I torqued the bolts to the FRSM specs. GM doesn't offer the rubber bushings. Any thoughts or options.

Thanks in advance.

[TBone]

Are the upper and lower rear control arms different? Could I have inadvertently swapped the upper and lowers? I thought I marked them? How could I check this?

[TBone]

Dumb and Dumber must have been working on my car. I installed the rear swaybar upside down. It was hitting a bracket on the frame. Live and learn. Thanks for the advice. I'll post a road test evaluation after I switch it around.

[lovehatec4]

Besides corecting the swaybar you should preload all the control arm,strut rod and dog bone bushings to the vehicles correct riding height before you tighten them. Not only will this soften the ride,,, tightening the bushings at the correct and normal ride height will make them last alot longer. If you tightened these bushings with the suspention hanging down and then lowered your car to the ground..you will force the bushing to twist farther than normal and could damage them. Also, On light weight cars like corvettes these bushings when over twisted can stiffen the ride considerably.Hope this helps

[froggy47]

Originally Posted by TBone

Dumb and Dumber must have been working on my car. I installed the rear swaybar upside down. It was hitting a bracket on the frame. Live and learn. Thanks for the advice. I'll post a road test evaluation after I switch it around.

Always write on the bar l/r or driver/pass

[BillF6531]

This is key. Tightening the bolts without the weight on the suspension make the components incredibly stiff.

Originally Posted by lovehatec4

Besides corecting the swaybar you should preload all the control arm,strut rod and dog bone bushings to the vehicles correct riding height before you tighten them. Not only will this soften the ride,,, tightening the bushings at the correct and normal ride height will make them last alot longer. If you tightened these bushings with the suspention hanging down and then lowered your car to the ground..you will force the bushing to twist farther than normal and could damage them. Also, On light weight cars like corvettes these bushings when over twisted can stiffen the ride considerably.Hope this helps