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Hi Doug,
You are right, it is a matter of judgment, and surely the first time I had to make that judgment, I lacked even the little experience I now have. But I think you are making the same call I did by the feel of it as you move the arm through the range of motion it is expected to make, and perhaps a few degrees more, then feel it spring back to its neutral position. That feels like a good bush.
Then, with the rear disconnected, move it side to side a bit, feeling it completely isolates the contact between arm and crossmember.
Do I have a good technique for installing the rear bushings? I don't know, but I am happy with the results so far. I take care to press the old bushing straight out of the bracket, because I believe most of the reports of loose installation are a result of egged brackets when these large bushings are forced out or beat out of the brackets without keeping them true. This is the same theory I have for the folks who wind up with loose trailing arm bushings.
To keep the presswork true, I have a motley collection of galvanized cast iron you can see below- commonly available in the hardware store, and all manufactured in the same country as was my press. Its only purpose is to keep things moving straight.
The technique I've used for tightening the nut at normal weight load is not as exacting as the book method: I run the nut on with an impact wrench with the control arm loose on the garage floor and bracket bottom flat. This matches, to eyeball precision anyway, the angle it will assume with the weight of the car on the tire. Just check the way it looks on a brick not on blocks.
I've been using the two-to-a-box Boges from FCP, with the Volvo ground off the molding. I've long ago given up trying to decipher myth from truth about the reason Volvo went back and forth between using separate rates on the left and right bushings and selling one for both sides. Something about the battery, spare tire and my butt all being on the same side...
To get the tightened assembly back on, I will use a floor jack under the ball joint end, plus a tapered drift to get the first of the three bracket bolts aligned and homed. After the car is back down again, I'll snug up the front bolt through the crossmember.
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Art Benstein near Baltimore
In Shakespeare's time, mattresses were secured on bed frames by ropes when you pulled on the ropes the mattress tightened, making the bed firmer to sleep on. Hence the phrase "goodnight, sleep tight".
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