legacycentral bbs

Hello all. I joined the forum back in 2011 when my SO bought a 1990 legacy 4wd Wagon.

She's up to 230k miles now and running smooth and reliably, but the suspension is getting an overhaul with new struts and steering components.
I'm just having difficulty sourcing the proper rear bushings for the LCAs, and after reading every control arm thread on here I'm still a bit lost.

I know a lot of you have gone down the rabbit hole and have done some amazing parts swaps/upgrades and that's great, but I just need some plain old vanilla rubber bushings to replace the old ones. No poly for the lady, and no need for any changes to the camber/caster or whatnot through the bushings.

The closest I can find are these for a 1998-2003 legacy:
http://www.amazon.com/20201Aa030-Bushin ... B00DMA3IOU
But I don't know if a 1990 wagon has a taper in the pin, or if these bushings have a taper.

I can also get the assembly like this, again listed for a 1998-2003 legacy:
http://www.amazon.com/20201Aa030-Bushin ... B00DMA4CPE
I was led to believe that a matching set of these would fit, but I thought I would check here.

Pressing the new and old bushings isn't an issue (I have access to a 120 ton press/brake I've used on different cars), I just want to make sure the parts will fit.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!

Looking at the control arm posts again, it seems that the whiteline poly bushings have the same part number from 1990-2003 Legacys. Is it safe to assume that the factory rubber parts cover the same interchange years?
Thanks.

The rear bushing for the front lower control arm should be interchangeable.

These are the ones I'd use.

http://www.amazon.com/20201Aa031-Bushin ... B00DMA4ESE
http://www.amazon.com/20201Aa041-Bushin ... B00DMA49OI

Getting bushings that include the aluminum housing that bolts to the chassis will make your life much easier.

And yes, they interchange all the way from 90-04 for legacies and also with the parts from a 93-01 Impreza.

I ordered the aluminum ones.

Installed the rear struts an it only took about an hour per side. The old KYBs were totally shot and with the new rear struts that wagon feels like a go-kart through the corners. I can't wait to get to the front.

Welp. The aluminum ones aren't the same. I'll post a pic tomorrow, but the aluminum one would act as a drop bracket.

Amazingly, the factory rubber bushings looked to be in great shape after 26 years. My 2002 Jetta bushings were rotted out at half that age.


Now with new struts front and rear, I definitely see the appeal of a turbo .

Which aluminum ones did you order?

I ordered the ones you suggested in the links above. These are the ones that showed up:




Maybe I ordered the wrong part number? I'll have to triple check.

$50 a pair is nice if they'd fit right

Those are fine, possibly from a forester or outback, but they'll fit. They will take out most of the anti-geometry, which will increase brake dive a bit, but mostly likely results in an overall benefit and better cornering grip.

jamal wrote:Those are fine, possibly from a forester or outback, but they'll fit. They will take out most of the anti-geometry, which will increase brake dive a bit, but mostly likely results in an overall benefit and better cornering grip.

I thought about it but didn't see how it would be an improvement over the stock configuration; the front bushings would just be squished axially and the balljoint angle would be closer to maxed. I just didn't see how it could affect the geometry otherwise. Plus, the original bushings were totally solid.

Performance wise, stock is tops when it comes to the driver. I'd get reamed if I changed the ride of the granny-wagon.

The part #'s they list on the site are correct for the application so if you don't want to use them I'd send them back to Amazon and tell them they are not the correct part.

Yeah, but that page lists both the Legacy and Outback, which are different.

I've heard those taller bushings are where the idea for the whiteline ALK came from. The whiteline part has a similar amount of drop but is also offset to the outside to add caster plus uses a stiffer biushing. I've had a set forever and it's one of the first things I recommend.