Narrowing rear control arms

Suspension, including wheel, tire and brake.
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icehouse
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Narrowing rear control arms

Post by icehouse »

Sam and I are going to make some narrowed rear control arms. We haven't nailed down a design yet, if anyone has any ideas they would like to share we are all ears. They are going to be 2" narrower per side. We want to retain the original control arm bushings and bolt pattern for the drum brakes (since even if your car is upgraded to disks the brackets will still work) and use the same stub axle. We will however be deleting the stock spring perch. Seems everyone runs coilovers these days. Things I'm curious about.

1. does anyone have the rear bushing part number?

2. Are they even still available from Nissan?

3. I for some reason remember there being two different length inner bearing spacers. Is that true?


These arms will allow me to run 13x8 +0 rims front and back with 225 45 13's. Which would be bad ass!
"People don't like it when shit doesn't match their rule of thumb." Sam
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okayfine
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Re: Narrowing rear control arms

Post by okayfine »

Parts catalog shows the rear a-arm bushing as 55045-21000 ASSY BUSH ARM. People have indicated they were able to get the a-arm bushings from Nissan in modern times. Could also get them from RockAuto and the like - I just sold Three Bs a set of four Beck Arnley boxed bushes made in Japan.
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510wizard
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Re: Narrowing rear control arms

Post by 510wizard »

I think there are 3 spacer lengths, If I was to do a new rear control arm, I would go with a late model bolt on wheel hub assy. that contains the wheel flange,bearings and mount as an assy. No more messing with preload spacers.
Three B's Racing
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Re: Narrowing rear control arms

Post by Three B's Racing »

Yes three spacers and are very different from one another and cannot be mixed between different swing arms unless the swing arm and spacers are of the same coded identifier.
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Chadsinto510s
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Re: Narrowing rear control arms

Post by Chadsinto510s »

icehouse wrote:Sam and I are going to make some narrowed rear control arms. We haven't nailed down a design yet, if anyone has any ideas they would like to share we are all ears. They are going to be 2" narrower per side. We want to retain the original control arm bushings and bolt pattern for the drum brakes (since even if your car is upgraded to disks the brackets will still work) and use the same stub axle. We will however be deleting the stock spring perch. Seems everyone runs coilovers these days. Things I'm curious about.

1. does anyone have the rear bushing part number?

2. Are they even still available from Nissan?

3. I for some reason remember there being two different length inner bearing spacers. Is that true?


These arms will allow me to run 13x8 +0 rims front and back with 225 45 13's. Which would be bad ass!
1) 55045-21000 is the part #. Takes 4 per car

2) READILY available from Nissan USA. MSRP $13.42 ea

3) There WERE 3. ALL NLA now.
---Yeah, I said what I said.
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icehouse
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Re: Narrowing rear control arms

Post by icehouse »

3 spacers!!!!!! why did it take the nissan engineers 3 tries on every 510 part.
"People don't like it when shit doesn't match their rule of thumb." Sam
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Chadsinto510s
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Re: Narrowing rear control arms

Post by Chadsinto510s »

icehouse wrote:3 spacers!!!!!! why did it take the nissan engineers 3 tries on every 510 part.
Production variances? Bearing supplier changes? WhoTF knows....
---Yeah, I said what I said.
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icehouse
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Re: Narrowing rear control arms

Post by icehouse »

By chance can you guys measure the 3 bearing spacer types for me? Lets see if we can figure out if there is only 3 and if 3 are required.
"People don't like it when shit doesn't match their rule of thumb." Sam
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Re: Narrowing rear control arms

Post by Three B's Racing »

icehouse wrote:By chance can you guys measure the 3 bearing spacer types for me? Lets see if we can figure out if there is only 3 and if 3 are required.
Sure!!
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zKars
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Re: Narrowing rear control arms

Post by zKars »

Don't feel bad. The Z's have the same three possible options for housing and spacer ("distance piece") sizing. Too bad the Z spacers are a different width (52-ish mm). The "B" spacers are in the great majority, in fact I've never seen spacers that aren't "B" size, and I have probably looked at 2-3 dozen sets. Doesn't mean you shouldn't be vigilant, this dimension is critical for proper function and bearing life.
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icehouse
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Re: Narrowing rear control arms

Post by icehouse »

Thanks guys! It looks to me they must all use the same stub axle, since they are all very similar lengths.
"People don't like it when shit doesn't match their rule of thumb." Sam
oldsklgarage
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Re: Narrowing rear control arms

Post by oldsklgarage »

Icehouse, will you be using the hub portion from the original control arms Or redesigning it in Cad?
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toylet
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Re: Narrowing rear control arms

Post by toylet »

Chadsinto510s wrote:
icehouse wrote:Sam and I are going to make some narrowed rear control arms. We haven't nailed down a design yet, if anyone has any ideas they would like to share we are all ears. They are going to be 2" narrower per side. We want to retain the original control arm bushings and bolt pattern for the drum brakes (since even if your car is upgraded to disks the brackets will still work) and use the same stub axle. We will however be deleting the stock spring perch. Seems everyone runs coilovers these days. Things I'm curious about.

1. does anyone have the rear bushing part number?

2. Are they even still available from Nissan?

3. I for some reason remember there being two different length inner bearing spacers. Is that true?


These arms will allow me to run 13x8 +0 rims front and back with 225 45 13's. Which would be bad ass!
1) 55045-21000 is the part #. Takes 4 per car

2) READILY available from Nissan USA. MSRP $13.42 ea

3) There WERE 3. ALL NLA now.
I thought the supply of rear trailing arm bushings were getting low..did start making them again?
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Chadsinto510s
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Re: Narrowing rear control arms

Post by Chadsinto510s »

toylet wrote: I thought the supply of rear trailing arm bushings were getting low..did start making them again?
Unknown. I don't think they were ever out. LOTS of sellers just say that crap so they can charge a premium. LOTS more parts guys are lazy butts. I'm a non-lazy Nissan parts guy in Ca. and I've been at my dealership for 12 years now.
---Yeah, I said what I said.
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icehouse
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Re: Narrowing rear control arms

Post by icehouse »

oldsklgarage wrote:Icehouse, will you be using the hub portion from the original control arms Or redesigning it in Cad?

We are still working on the design. I'll post the prototype when we get it done.
"People don't like it when shit doesn't match their rule of thumb." Sam
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