Sooooo let me tell you about my day. I decided today to finally put my Prothane bushings on my springs. I started a little late, noon, but no problem. I can knock this out in 'bout 2-3 hours.
Well not so fast junior.
Now this is the first time I've done the bushings on this car.
Pulled the drivers side spring. Easy enough. Now the fun starts. Pressed out the rubber. Easy. The sleeve between the rubber and the spring is flared on both sides. Why do they do crap like that? And you have to remove the sleeve to put the Prothanes in. So after 2 hours of die grinding, air saw and hand chiseling I finally got one out. Now I know the procedure. The second one didn't take nearly as long.
Cleaned things up, put a ton of marine grease on and put in the Prothanes. Sweet. No squeaks here.
Now for the shackle. No sleeve. Cool. Pressed out the rubber and greased up the new bushing and ...What the... The new bushing is too small. What the hell.
I called Prothane and explained the problem. They confirmed the kit is the right one. The number on the bushing is the right one for my car. HUH?
In the mean time I had the mechanic next door to me get a new bushing set sent out since we are now approaching 5 o'clock and I have no way home.
While on the phone I gave him the measurement of the eye where it goes (1 9/16ths) and he tells me "that's weird we don't even make a bushing that size." I said look, I'm the original owner of this car and these things have never been changed. This is factory. He says "I don't know what to tell you but we have never had this problem." I said "what's your email? I will send you photographs of what's what."
Ok. New parts are here. CRAP. They sent bushings for the springs not the shackle. Now what. Ok I'll press in the old rubber and sleeve for the bolt. An hour later we're good to go. Put everything back together.
So now I have Prothanes on the springs and old rubber on the shackle on the drivers side. Finally left at about 7:30.
Now I have to figure out why my shackle seems to be some morphodite.
Things never go as easy as we would like.
Well not so fast junior.
Now this is the first time I've done the bushings on this car.
Pulled the drivers side spring. Easy enough. Now the fun starts. Pressed out the rubber. Easy. The sleeve between the rubber and the spring is flared on both sides. Why do they do crap like that? And you have to remove the sleeve to put the Prothanes in. So after 2 hours of die grinding, air saw and hand chiseling I finally got one out. Now I know the procedure. The second one didn't take nearly as long.
Cleaned things up, put a ton of marine grease on and put in the Prothanes. Sweet. No squeaks here.
Now for the shackle. No sleeve. Cool. Pressed out the rubber and greased up the new bushing and ...What the... The new bushing is too small. What the hell.
I called Prothane and explained the problem. They confirmed the kit is the right one. The number on the bushing is the right one for my car. HUH?
In the mean time I had the mechanic next door to me get a new bushing set sent out since we are now approaching 5 o'clock and I have no way home.
While on the phone I gave him the measurement of the eye where it goes (1 9/16ths) and he tells me "that's weird we don't even make a bushing that size." I said look, I'm the original owner of this car and these things have never been changed. This is factory. He says "I don't know what to tell you but we have never had this problem." I said "what's your email? I will send you photographs of what's what."
Ok. New parts are here. CRAP. They sent bushings for the springs not the shackle. Now what. Ok I'll press in the old rubber and sleeve for the bolt. An hour later we're good to go. Put everything back together.
So now I have Prothanes on the springs and old rubber on the shackle on the drivers side. Finally left at about 7:30.
Now I have to figure out why my shackle seems to be some morphodite.
Things never go as easy as we would like.
