Rear suspension question.

[tloftus]

Hey all, this is my first post. I'm pretty active over in the bstuff.net forums for my Beretta, however I've recently aquired a 1989 Cutlass Supreme. Here's the issue, the rear leaf spring is making a terrible noise when bouncing the rear of the car. It looks like there should be a bushing or rubber or something where the leaf spring meets the rear strut assembly, but there's not. Can anyone verify this and let me know what I might be able to find it under at the parts store? Not having luck with alldatadiy.com or partsamerica.com

Thanks!

Tom

[TurboSedan]

yes there should be a rubber isolator between the monoleaf spring and the knuckle. i believe Moog makes replacements.

[GnatGoSplat]

GM sells replacements too, although the part # eludes me. It's been posted before, so maybe a search will find it?

[tloftus]

Thanks guys, I tried the search but didn't have any luck. I did find a TSB on it after I posted. It has the GM part numbers (for future reference: 10432057 (Rubber Pads) & 10432060 (Adhesive)). I'll look into that. Any chance I'll be able to find these aftermarket at a parts store or do you have access to check the cost on these?

Tom

EDIT: TSB # 99-03-09-004

[GnatGoSplat]

You can check prices at http://www.gmpartsdirect.com.

[tloftus]

Awesome site -- thanks a lot for your help!

Tom

[tloftus]

FYI -- in case someone else has this problem. The Moog part number for this part is K6544

Available from GM (OEM PN: 10432057) - $23.26 / per side.
Advance Auto (Aftermarket) - $22.99 / 2 sides.
O'Reilly Auto Parts (Aftermarket) - $15.99 / 2 sides.

[Tru2Chevy]

Does anyone make these in poly? Or are they all rubber?

- Justin

[tloftus]

I'm not sure what these aftermarket ones are, but judging by the picture they don't look rubber. I'll let you know when I go pick them up tonight after work.

[tloftus]

These aren't exact replacements. The oem solution is a rubber "sleeve" that goes over the end of the leaf spring. The aftermarket (Moog) solution is a hardend plastic that sits under the leaf spring and allows it to spring freely without rubbing on the spindle metal. I really like the idea and they were pretty easy to install. Just C-clamp the spring to the strut mount until you have enough clearance, and slide the block underneath it. I took pictures if anyone is interested, let me know and I'll put them on my web site.

-Tom

[GnatGoSplat]

Pictures would be nice.
Is it as quiet as the stock pads?

[tloftus]

Well, concidering there were no stock pads on there I wouldn't know. :) Compared to my other cutlass (93) they are a little quiter, but I don't know if I'd go out and change them for a noise factor. I'll get pictures up when I get home from work tonight.

EDIT: Also, there is 2 pads in a box. The info I got led me to believe that you needed a box a side, but you only need the one box of two pads.

[GnatGoSplat]

Sounds good. Are they very thick?

Oh yeah, the OEM replacement pads aren't actually sleeves, they're identical to the original pads and glue on like the originals did.

[tloftus]

They're fairly thick, probably 3/4" - 1" thick. They don't glue on, just sit under the spring and the tension from the spring holds them in place. I'm not sure what the OEM's look like -- like I said all that was there was a little piece of the rubber. There's no give to them at all they're solid -- just gives the spring a better surface to slide on than the metal of the spindle. I guess anyway. :) I'm no suspension expert, but I changed both of those back struts when all I needed was a set of $15 pieces of plastic. :) Oh well. Now I need to get that front engine cradle fixed. Those bastards at the dealership finally agreed to fix it but said they can't get it in until Aug. 2nd.

[Lee]

Mine wore out and all I did was carefully jack up the spring on each side and insert a thick sheet of rubber about 3" x 4" It did the trick and it has been 10 months now. The rubber I found had threads woven into it.

[tloftus]

That would probably be okay too, however I like the hardend plastic (I hate to even call it plastic b/c it seems so durable) because that will allow the spring to slide w/o stretching the rubber. I dunno -- I'm sure either will work out okay.

-T

[GnatGoSplat]

Is it white? Maybe it's teflon?

[tloftus]

Could be Teflon -- here's the pictures!

http://www.tom-loftus.com/leafspring/

Let me know if you have any questions.

-T

[TurboSedan]

any change in ride height....even slightly?

[tloftus]

Honestly, I didn't check that at all. Just looking at it I don't notice anything, I'm sure the spring took the bulk of the height difference, but I couldn't tell you that for sure.

-T

[GnatGoSplat]

I think it has to change the height, but probably not enough to notice.

[C.J.]

Had the white blocks install a about a year ago, Mine were teflon, cant say if the moog are or not, did raise the back a little, I think it puts the leaf under some tension causing it to raise slightly. made the ride quieter and seem to smooth out a little. My mech. used a bottle jact to lift the leaf. make sure you get all the old rubber out if you use them. Took all of 4 min to install both.

[tloftus]

I tried the bottle jack method first, but the spring had so much "spring" to it that it lifted the whole body of the car. I guess that factory leaf spring has some tension behind it. :) When using the C-clamp you compress it against another part of the frame as opposed to compressing it from below off the floor. I was really suprised how easy they were to install and how HUGE of a difference they made.

-T

[regal89cdk]

anyone happen to have the o'riley part number or advance part number for the bushings?