HELP - 1997 riviera front lower control arm bushing

Hi All.. I am new to the forum... have a gaggle of buicks and I am redoing the suspension on one of the newer ones and I cannot find a part ANYWHERE.

Its a 1997 Buick Riviera, with a 3.8 v-6 supercharged engine,

the part I need is the front lower control arm bushing for the front mount.. the vertical one.

both sides are badly dry rotted and split

car has aluminum arms. the ball joints bolt on and are available from almost any source and the horizontal rear bushing on the arm is still available from Buick.

Buck parts guy tells me it never offered the front bushing as a separate part on the 1997. no part number available.

It looks just like the 1995-1996 part-- which is offered by Buick, Napa, Autozone, Rockauto etc.. but those are approx 2 inches in diameter. The 1997 ones are approx 2 3/4 inches in diameter.

I have heard and seen pictures of the 1998 arms and I think those have 2 horizontal bushings.

also the control arm assembly's I have seen pictures of in the parts books and in the online catalogs show pictures of the dual horizontal bushing arms. I even searched Gm"s online part site and it gave me a part number-- and a price of like $5.00 but when I took it to my local Buick part guy he told be it was for a single sway bar link bushing.

any help or direction would be appreciated.... i am sure someone out there must have come across this before.

I would even be OK with a poly bushing. I searched PST and Energy's websites but found nothing offered there either. thanks for reading

Welcome to the forum. I think you're running into a problem that a lot of '97 Riviera owners have faced or will face. The situation here is that there are not many owners of the Rivieras from this era that frequent this site. There is however a site where the 95 - 99 Riviera is king. There are a lot of guys over there who know these cars inside out, upside down, forward and backward. I'm betting that someone over there will be able to help you. Here's a link to that site. Just like this one, it only takes registering to start a thread.

http://rivperformance.editboard.com/forum

Let us know if you are able to get an answer for your question. If so, we can make more referrals when necessary.

Ed

thanks Ed... I will let you know

just wanted to post and say that yes this problem is talked about A LOT on the rivperformance forum.... seems no one has come up with a real answer..... part is not available... have to buy whole arm... and they are discontinued,, WAHOO.. my day just keeps getting better!!!

BUT my motto is "NEVER GIVE UP-- NEVER SURRENDER!!!!"

(yes i loved GALAXY QUEST)... anyway i am going to keep looking for some type of custom bushing- to me that's better then changing the sub frame-- again-- to a different year.

i will let you know if i succeed. thank you again!!

I own a 1997 Riviera and faced your same situation about three and one-half years ago when I had to replace the passenger side, lower control arm - the whole thing just because the rubber bushings were worn. I think I had the very last one available anywhere installed because it took quite a search of dealer inventories to find it. I've read that when GM went through bankruptcy in 2008 or so, they disposed of a lot of parts inventory because it was probably just considered unnecessary and dead overhead.

You might also search for the component among part sources for the Oldsmobile Aurora and some Cadillacs because they used the same chassis underpinnings as the Riviera. Also, I think there may be some aftermarket source for the bushings only. Good luck!