[wannaeatyourbrains]

Does anyone know where I can get a new cross member, please? The one that mounts the torsion bar adjusters under the front seats, where the back of the torsion bars slot into. Part number is 52113572AA.

All listings for that part online show it as 'unavailable'/'discontinued'.

What are you guys doing when yours buggers out?

Is there a performance upgrade one available in the states perhaps?

Just getting a pair of bushings would be even better. Does anyone know where they can be bought, or even the size or OEM part number of those bushings to help the search?

Any help much appreciated.

 

[Don Fox]

Wanna:
While the oem piece is likely no longer in production, you may find it, or the bushings, in the aftermarket. What is the issue with your bracket?

Don

 

[wannaeatyourbrains]

Bushings have had it.

 

[wannaeatyourbrains]

Help me find them in the aftermarket in the US, please.

 

[wannaeatyourbrains]

Yeah, well, anyway I helped myself, and I can tell anyone how to do it. I am not the only one going to have busted bushings in the cross member.

The part is discontinued and no new rubber bushings can be bought off the shelf. As well as asking here, asking a few contacts in the states, calling Dodge etc., I went and looked at a thousand similar bushings in car shops, and could not find anything right in rubber.

So I went to suspension.com and bought some off-the-shelf polyurethane bushings, which are heaps better anyway. They even make Kevlar reinforced ones. Although I have not tried them yet, and have ordered regular ones, I bet they are awesome for this application. Next time.

I have ordered a bit of tube steel outside diameter 42mm, which is the size of the original bushing, inside diameter 38.

Inside diameter should be that because the off-the-shelf bushings, there are a couple of different kinds have the inside diameter you be wanting to put the right insert sleeve in there to fit your original bolt that holds the cross member to the frame. Those bushings have an outer diameter of between 38-39mm. So 42 outer 38 inner tube is what you need.

I will cut the tube to the right size for the length of the bushings I have ordered when they come. Then I will press the tube in where the bushing is now, probably weld it in there to make sure. Put a grease nipple in the middle.

Put the new PU bushing in there, then use spacers up against the flanges of the bushing to hold the cross member in the right place between the tabs on the chassis. It definitely gets pushed and pulled laterally when you are braking and taking off as the bushings in the front lower control arms flex, which is what ended up breaking the bond on my original bushings in the first place and is causing clunks now. No fuss, no muss.

I made another post here looking for the bushings in the rear control arm, upper and lowers. Dodge wanna make you buy the whole part just to get a couple of cheap bushings. Again, you won't find them being sold easy, which is why I guess no-one helped me out with that either. You have to use the measurements to find where they are being used in other applications. The Chinese company tried to hit me up for $300 in the end to make moulds to make those bushings, so obviously I changed my mind about buying from them. I eventually found them in rubber, from Moog and Elgin industries, which saved a hell of a lot of money on parts and postage.

But i regret buying the rubber. Now I found this suspension.com, absolutely the cheapest way, and the best way to make your truck a tank for bad roads and the desert, is to convert all the bushings to PU, which is what I will do as the bushings in there now wear out.

I will put a few pics up when the parts come and I put the new cross member together, cause I know other people are going to be in this situation.

 

[wannaeatyourbrains]

So I am pretty stoked because the parts are turning up. Those bushings fit exactly right into that steel pipe there, so everything is working out a treat.

Lips on the bushings are 5mm. The distance between the flanges welded on the chassis rails of your car where the cross member bolts into; and the length of the original bushing insert; is 70mm.

So I will cut two pieces of the pipe 61mm to put in where the original bushings are now, and press those and probably weld them in there. Depending on how tight a fit I get.

Then for the modified crossmember with the two steel pipe bushing cups in there, I will be able to use these generic size polyurethane bushings in future. It will be a snug fit with no movement in any direction.

I could use the inserts from the original bushings, just clean the rubber off them. But I ordered a couple of new inserts. They have 73mm. I will just knock a bit off the end to make them 70. I could cut and weld some of those shorter ones there come with some of the bushings, too. Probably don't even need welding.

 

[wannaeatyourbrains]

So here is the bit you are coping with.

Getting that out is one of the easier jobs on these cars. Jack the front up so both wheels are off the ground. Undo your top shock bolt and just push them down another inch with your hand. Then put a big socket on your jack and jack the torsion bar keys up and you can easily pull the inserts out and get this cross member out.

The bushings in this one were totally shagged after 13 years.

One side:

Like, the sleeve was about to totally separate from the rubber. No wonder there was movement.

Although you need to bear in mind you will not see anything wrong with it in the car until you get the pry bar on it.

The other side:

If you want to find your own bushings, here are the dimensions:

Insert is 69mm long, interior diameter for 12mm bolt, exterior diameter 22mm.

Cup diameter is actually closer to 43mm. Bear in mind the old one here has a bit of grunge on the outside affecting the measurement.

Cup length is 50mm.

Good luck finding them, but. I am good at searching, and I could not.

You guys could just buy your own Shore 60 or Shore 80 Polytek and pour your own bushings in the old cup. Wish I could have done that, but it is unavailable here.

Another easy way would be to burn or cut the rubber out of the old cup, and put in these off the shelf parts from suspension.com.

The issue is, but, that your new bushings are not bonded like the rubber ones, so you would have to put spacers like so:

To stop the bushing sliding back and forth on the insert, particularly as you are gonna grease there.

Also, if you leave the original cup in there, one end is kind of sharpened, so you would have to grind that down and make a washer lip for it to stop that slicing the flange off the bushing, I reckon.

I am going to weld in new cups that will be longer, with longer bushings, so that the ends of the bushings are flush with the ends of the 70mm sleeve. Then it will fit in there snug. Spacers are just another thing to make noise, in my opinion.

I will cut this pipe down so when I stick the bushings in it, that fits neat in between the flanges on the chassis where you bolt this cross member in.

That will be heaps better than rubber. I hate rubber cause in the hot weather and on the bad roads here, rubber bushings are always busting, and the price they sell them - if you can find them - is utter robbery for what they are.