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Rear diff trying to kill me, and questions about bracing

Been underneath the car tonight prying on stuff, there are some midly perished bushes so ive ordered the kit from AUS.
Are the anyways to check a pillowball, they all seem stiff and don't really seem they require replacing? Theres no knocking etc when driving generally... Its just at close to £450.00 to replace them i would like to make sure it needs it....

You'll need a pair of oem rear inner lower control arm bushes as Superpro do not make these. They do not make this bush as it just isn't as good at its job if poly, stick with oem for this one.

Is it this bush your referring too ceylon circled in Red?? Part No: FD162852Y
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No, the control arm is the one with the two pillowballs in it. The inner bush that goes into the subframe with the camber bolt through it is the one you need to order (y).
 
The culprit is the small dog bone shaped one which you can only see when you remove the wheel..
 
Took the first side off mine tonight, the toe control outer bush is shot as is the lca pillowball
 
Took the first side off mine tonight, the toe control outer bush is shot as is the lca pillowball

How can you tell the pillowballs are knackered Paul, do they have play in them similar to like a wishbone ball joint?
 
How can you tell the pillowballs are knackered Paul, do they have play in them similar to like a wishbone ball joint?

Its really sloppy you can feel play side to side. I've never changed one before but just working on cars generally you know its fdoc'd
 
Its really sloppy you can feel play side to side. I've never changed one before but just working on cars generally you know its fdoc'd
Fair shout I think I’ll be checking them all before I buy them!! Damn some price.
For others who end up reading this thread here’s the codes and prices

Fd0128560 (LCA inner bush) - discontinued
Fd0128561 (LCA inner bush side bit) - discontinued
Fd0126220 (pillowballs) - £72.92+VAT
Fd0126250 (dust seal) - £6.17+VAT
995743800 (circlips) -3.84+VAT

So i’ve got little choice but to go Powerflex LCA inner bush...

If anyone has found the pillows cheaper hit me up lol
 
That's an old part number is why it's discontinued. It was superseeded by: FD0128460 & FD0128461

Both of which are still available. HTH (y).
 
I have had 3 J-Autos fail on me now.

Not sure you really need to replace the OEM rear bushes as they don't really seem to wear. Assuming we are talking about the same bushings I am thinking of?

Which bushes did you use to replace them? I know Juan/J auto supplies them but iirc they are just NMB spherical bearings, maybe ABT12 or MBWTD18, so should be able to source them over here..
 
Which bushes did you use to replace them? I know Juan/J auto supplies them but iirc they are just NMB spherical bearings, maybe ABT12 or MBWTD18, so should be able to source them over here..
Im sure they are rebuildable
 
That's an old part number is why it's discontinued. It was superseeded by: FD0128460 & FD0128461

Both of which are still available. HTH (y).
Just rang local Mazda dealer again there both showing as discontinued also, what a bummer.... what’s the main reasoning in you opinion on going oem on this one rather than Powerflex. looking at it to my eyes it’d be better as ridged, but remembering you from fduk your a well off knowledge lol...
 
Which bushes did you use to replace them? I know Juan/J auto supplies them but iirc they are just NMB spherical bearings, maybe ABT12 or MBWTD18, so should be able to source them over here..
Interesting........ do you know we’re I can start hunting them down, I don’t mind them shitting them self’s again in half the time for the 1/4 of the price of oem tbh
 
Im sure they are rebuildable
Yes the J auto style assemblies consist of 2 aluminium housings, 2 sleeves and a spherical bearing (<That's what the rest of the world/non-Rx7 owners call pillowballs :D) and is rebuildable as such - which can you do by taking all the aluminium sleeves and housings off and replacing the spherical bearing that sits in the middle.

The bearing itself can't be taken apart, its 2 pieces of metal with a ptfe/teflon liner jammed between them. Once it wears away and the tolerances open up (causing a knock or lots of play) its done.

The advantage with the aftermarket items is that it uses a much more common bearing size that is used in other applications and made (theoretically) by several manufacturers. The Mazda ones are bespoke, as far as I can tell, just for the FD rx7, making them a pain in the ass to get hold of and increasingly expensive . The downside of aftermarket is that the bearing itself is much smaller (hence the need for the alum sleeves) so might not cope with the loads for as long..

I have machined up my own housings and spacers (effectively creating my own version of the J auto pillowballs) using 6062 Aluminium around NMB MBWTD18 spherical bearings - which incidently are the bearings used in the top mounts of Tein, and several other, coilovers.

I just wondered if these were the same as J auto use.. (they are 33mm outer diameter x 18mm inner bore x 19.95 at the thickest width (the ball) x 16.02mm on the slightly thinner ball carrier, if anyone has any to check?)
 
Just rang local Mazda dealer again there both showing as discontinued also, what a bummer.... what’s the main reasoning in you opinion on going oem on this one rather than Powerflex. looking at it to my eyes it’d be better as ridged, but remembering you from fduk your a well off knowledge lol...

On RX7club they say that this bush has some designed side to side movement in it, and this is not the case in poly bushes, and why super pro don't make it.
But IMO this movement is too small to make much of a difference, and the OEM bushes don't move much at all.
I've got full superpro kit, j-auto bushings and powerflex LCA, the car handles great.

I have machined up my own housings and spacers (effectively creating my own version of the J auto pillowballs) using 6062 Aluminium around NMB MBWTD18 spherical bearings - which incidently are the bearings used in the top mounts of Tein, and several other, coilovers.

I just wondered if these were the same as J auto use.. (they are 33mm outer diameter x 18mm inner bore x 19.95 at the thickest width (the ball) x 16.02mm on the slightly thinner ball carrier, if anyone has any to check?)

This sound interesting, seems like you're the man to get some pillow (spherical) bearings from then. (y)
 
All I know is the J-Auto ones are not as robust as the Mazda ones so I would just pony up for the Mazda ones as most of them have lasted 20 years on these cars before owners have needed to replace them. Whereas, the J-Autos have needed replacing on my car after less than 5,000 miles.
 
On RX7club they say that this bush has some designed side to side movement in it, and this is not the case in poly bushes, and why super pro don't make it.
But IMO this movement is too small to make much of a difference, and the OEM bushes don't move much at all.
I've got full superpro kit, j-auto bushings and powerflex LCA, the car handles great.

Cool nice to hear proper feedback ill order the powerflex ones now then. Nice one (y)

All I know is the J-Auto ones are not as robust as the Mazda ones so I would just pony up for the Mazda ones as most of them have lasted 20 years on these cars before owners have needed to replace them. Whereas, the J-Autos have needed replacing on my car after less than 5,000 miles.

I'm more looking at the idea of knocking up some similar to minatour's ones back in the day i'd be willing to be a test pilot. Btw seen your car at Stu's on the weekend damn your cars clean man!
 
Yes the J auto style assemblies consist of 2 aluminium housings, 2 sleeves and a spherical bearing (<That's what the rest of the world/non-Rx7 owners call pillowballs :D) and is rebuildable as such - which can you do by taking all the aluminium sleeves and housings off and replacing the spherical bearing that sits in the middle.

The bearing itself can't be taken apart, its 2 pieces of metal with a ptfe/teflon liner jammed between them. Once it wears away and the tolerances open up (causing a knock or lots of play) its done.

The advantage with the aftermarket items is that it uses a much more common bearing size that is used in other applications and made (theoretically) by several manufacturers. The Mazda ones are bespoke, as far as I can tell, just for the FD rx7, making them a pain in the ass to get hold of and increasingly expensive . The downside of aftermarket is that the bearing itself is much smaller (hence the need for the alum sleeves) so might not cope with the loads for as long..

I have machined up my own housings and spacers (effectively creating my own version of the J auto pillowballs) using 6062 Aluminium around NMB MBWTD18 spherical bearings - which incidently are the bearings used in the top mounts of Tein, and several other, coilovers.

I just wondered if these were the same as J auto use.. (they are 33mm outer diameter x 18mm inner bore x 19.95 at the thickest width (the ball) x 16.02mm on the slightly thinner ball carrier, if anyone has any to check?)

It'd be interesting to have a j-auto one to see.... I assume your in the bearing trade or similar it'd be good to get some of the old minatour racing /atomicrex bearings.... They seem to have the correct o.d. and just use some washers to offset the centre and a middle spindle spacer, http://www.fduk.org/forum/showpost.php?p=289122&postcount=159

Did you make any more housings?
 
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