Seeing that the weather was real nice yesterday I decided to put the Brick up on stands and install the new urethane torque rod bushing I had ordered from "The Doctor - Volvo Specialist".

I was pleased that the bolts weren't rusted in so after setting the rear on jackstands the r/h rod was out in about 2 minutes, I thought this was going to be too easy! I stuffed the rod in the vise and went after it with the torch and melted out the old bushings, let the rod cool, and cleaned it up a bit. About another 10 minutes, again too easy and this should have been a clue that Murphy was hiding under the bench fixin' to strike...

Then things took a turn for the worse... The urethane bushings were almost 1/2" bigger than the hole they needed to go into! I called "The Doctor" and was assured these were the correct bushings and I would need to grease 'em up and press 'em in. The more I looked at/thought about it I didn't see any way they would even start, let alone squeeze in.

I called the local import parts house and was informed that from 81-85 the car could have one of two different torque rod designs. One taking the "hourglass" shaped bushings (that's what I melted out of mine and have since ordered) and the other taking cylindrical bushings. They also indicated they didn't think a urethane bushing could be had for the rods inh my car, I was somewhat depressed.

I again called "The Doctor" and this time was told that in their experience almost all of the early cars had had updated torque rods installed so they automatically assumed mine took the cylindrical bushings and that I could call back on Monday as they probably had some used "updated" rods they could work me a deal on.

Now that my "rant" is out of the way, does anybody know if this is true? If I desire urethane bushings do I need to update torque rods or are two piece urethane bushings available for the rod that came with the hourglass shaped bushings? I still have access to the 85 245GL that has donated a number of innerds to my vehicle if they will be the "updated" style as long as I want to let it set on stands in the backyard for a week until I can retrieve them.

Gee, I feel better now. I was so pi$$ed yesterday that I tore my MC apart and did it's anual major service a couple months early so I guess the incident was not a total loss.;-)


Justin B.
83 244 Turbo

There were two different styles, mixed into the early eighties cars. By 1894 I think all used the round steel outer ring, pressed into a cylindrical eye on each end of the rod. Your style are commonly known as "butterfly" bushings, and are not, as you have found out, interchangable. The advantage is that they are much easier to install, and your vise will work fine. My advice is to use a bit of water and dishwashing soap rather than petroleum grease to help install them. Also the "wings" are supposed to be placed vertically in the eye, but placing them horizontally helps stiffen them up a bit. When new both bushings have about the same compliance.

You say you "melted" out the old bushings. Did you drive the outer steel bushing sleves out after you melted out the rubber? I may be incorrect here but I think the rubber bushings have a steel sleeve around them and the poly don't. That's why I was told you don't need a press to put in poly bushings but you do to put in the rubber ones. If the sleeve is still in there, the hole will be too small.

Bob
'82 245 turbowagon

Looked at the "eye" and no sleeve remains so it looks like I'm stuck with stock rubber bushings, no big deal as wife.com probably would have complained about them riding rough...

Thanks for the assistance,

Justin

Bob,

I didn't notice any remains of a sleeve but I'll go out and check in a bit. The old bushings were sort of an hourglass shape - fatter on the ends and tapering from both ends toward the middle. The local parts guy did say that the stock cylindrical bushings did have an outer sleeve but the hourglass shaped ones were just rubber.

Justin

i have put poly torque rods in my 87 245 and my 85 245. i used the two piece poly bushings each time, and with a bit of wiggling they fit in. they are of a different design than the stockers, as they are much larger than the stock bushings. i have never heard of different styles of torque ros.

I measured the "opening" on the torque rod "eye" and it is initially about 1 1/2" and tapers inward. The diameter of the urethane bushings is right at 1 7/8" which is about the same diameter as the OUTSIDE of the "eye". I can see no way to even get them started, maybe you've got a trick I can try.

Also, were your stockers the hourglass shaped jobbers and the insides of the "eye" tapered toward the middle?

Thanks,

Justin

my eyes were not tapered at all. i guess you can either switch to nontapered torque rods or use new stock style bushings. good luck..

I went ahead and ordered two of the stockers which should be here Monday morning so hopefully I can grease 'em up and get them to pree in with my bench vise. The real pi$$er is that the ones that were in there were in good shape! I was just wanting the urethane bushings in the top arms before I put new stockers in the lower arm. Murphy strikes again!

Oh well...


Justin