Rose Joints

[Kp30 tony]

Anyone driven a car with rose jointed suspension? Was it harsh?

As I can't find uprated bushes easily for the RA40, thinking about buying the right size spherical bearings (£4-12 each) and mounting them. Once i've converted to coil overs the suspension should be sorted.

The question is, are they going to shake my teeth out?

Thanks

[guglielmo]

Yeah, they'll shake your teeth out on any significant bumps really.

Very nice for smooth roads or track work but the UK has too many dodgy surfaces if this is to be a road car.

I've got them in various places on my AE86 (not fully spherical'd) and it is very loud and very harsh, but the feedback and response is amazing.

New OEM rubber or even PU should be fine for road use.

Be careful about converting to rear coilovers - the lower mount isn't all that strong on our T-series live axles. Some reinforcement would be recommended since those mounts have been known to shear off over harsher bumps on coilover setups.

[Kp30 tony]

Thanks for that info. Will have to seriously think about the rose joints then.

Will most probably try and make a Watts linkage to replace the panhard rod too.

[sumphead]

I sourced some uprated bushes for my 1981 TA40 last year.

I used Superpro Europe Ltd

SuperPro Europe

Just download the catalogue and get the part numbers

They had to order them specially from Australia and they took about a month.

For a complete set it cost me £221

They are decent quality with stainless steel inserts and lube supplied.

Reasonably easy to fit but I did make some special tools in the end.

Haven't driven the car yet so cannot give any info on ride/handling.

[guglielmo]

Tony,

Watts linkage is a nice idea but definate overkill and probably not really worth the effort/cost.

If you're running lowered and stiffened suspension, the travel isn't long enough to really put the rear axle significantly out of centre during the stroke. Just use an adjustable Panhard rod (easy to make or source from somewhere like T3) to centre the axle at the new ride height and you'll be fine.