1963 Riviera front sway bar AND rear bushing kit

[Guest seattlerivi]

Hey All,

turning to you all for help once again. I am looking for a front sway bar option for my 63 rivi, also looking for advice on a place to buy a rear bushing kit.

As always, thanks for the advice.

Mark

[RivNut]

Questions;

1) Are you looking for a larger sway bar for the front or replacement bushings or poly bushings?

2) Sway bar bushings or the track bar bushing?

Ed

[Guest seattlerivi]

Hi Ed,

thanks for the quick!!! note. I am looking to beef up the front sway bar in hopes of tightening up the suspension. And hopefully the steering. To date I have replaced the idler arm, the steering gear bobox, power steering pump, and all the upper and lower control arm bushings...I still have 2-3 inches of play in the steering and am hoping to figure out a way to shore it up.

As for the rear...not really sure, I figure I would just replace both to be safe.

[RivNut]

I looked at the website for Advance Auto Parts and they show polyurethane bushings by diameter. If you can measure the diameter of yours, check with them or some other jobber near you. They were Energy Suspension Mfg. part numbers. Take your open end wrenches and slide them over the bars till one is snug; that will tell you the diameter of each bar (front and rear.) Each bushing comes with a new bracket. I would imagine that the same company would have the track bar bushing as well. That same part number is good from 1963 up through 1970.

If you put a new gear box in it, I would think that you shouldn't have any play. Did you replace the tie rod ends? That's about the only other place that something could be that loose. Where did you get a new/rebuilt center link. They haven't been reproduced for a long time. I'm wondering if the rebuilder did a good job on it?

The '63 chassis manual lists these complaints for excessive kickback or loose steering

1 - air in system

2 - excessive lash between pitman shaft sector and rack-piston

3 - loose thrust bearing adjustment

4 - rack-piston nut to worm preload to low

5 - incorrect installation or operation of the gear check valve poppet.

Good luck.

Ed

[tim63riv]

Mark,

Did you replace the steering coupler between the column and the steering gear, commonly called the rag joint? They are available if yours is worn. I would have someone move the steering wheel back and forth while you watch all of the linkages move. If you watch closely, you'll likely see relative movement between the worn components. Control arm bushings being worn could contribute to this, but most causes are in the steering linkage items that Ed mentioned.

Tim

[Guest kaycee]

As above posts. Sway bar problems wo'nt give you excess play at the steering wheel. Of course, it wo'nt hurt to replace the bushings front and back.

kaycee

[Guest NordeastKen]

If you are a member of the ROA take advantage of your discount and get all your rear control arm bushings at Rare Parts. They are replacement rubber bushings. I replaced the rear lower control arm and panhard bushings on my 64 and they worked great. Also put poly front lower control arm and brake reaction rod bushings. Car handles really tight. I did have to make a set of tools to press them in and out of the rear lower control arms. Hope this helps.

[Guest Gee_Rydes]

Yeah those rear arms are delicate.

Box them first and then R&R the bushings.

[tim63riv]

Ken,

Where did you get the poly bushings for the lower control arms?

Thanks,

Tim