Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

Had the car on the rack for lube yesterday and the local guy noted that the rubber grommets in the rear stabilizer links are bad.

It appears that steele offers these if I am reading their site correctly.

I'm inclined to have the local gas station replace these as the job appears to be simple and straightforward.

Are their any issues with the torsions bars that I am not seeing? Or anything else that would call for unique skills or tools?

Looks like a simple matter of pulling bolts, popping in new rubber and replacing bolts.

Most of us use regular shock absorber grommets for "eye" type shock mounting. These can be obtained rather readily from sources other than Steele and may actually be better, quite a few folks have commented that Steele's suspension rubber isn't as durable as OEM or NORS material.

The lower grommets are easy to replace but for the uppers where the "S" arms mount into the center will require a bit of work as the original assembly was riveted. I ground the rivet heads off and drilled and tapped the posts to allow use of bolts for reassembly - I believe this is a fairly standard technique for these assemblies.

"Most of us use regular shock absorber grommets for "eye" type shock mounting."

Can you be more specific? I have to shag the parts here and am flatly ignorant in this area. Do I take an arm to, say, NAPA and ask for help?

Once you know the size you need check out Energy Suspensions website. You can buy just about any size you need from them in Polyurethane. This is what I used for my front swaybar mounts.

Check my blog you find your info

I just take the old grommets to NAPA, but you might also want to check out www.p-s-t.com, they are a source of all manner of suspension parts, disc brake conversion kits, springs, sway bars, shocks, control arms and the like including urethane bushings. I believe PST is owned by Kanter Bros.