New Pedders cross member bushings installed

**Sarge** · 02-23-2008, 01:21 PM

Easy as hell. To my suprise....I got the outer plate off....pulled the 18mm bolt from the center.....dropped the cross member down to get the top bushing out first....and it wasnt there! Three years I've been riding around without any top bushing between the cross member and the frame. My Goat must have been a Friday build

They forgot to put in the top bushings! Installed the new Pedders cross member bushings. Rear end was raised 1/2"......now...I get more traction and less smoking tires from a punch much less at launch. I had learned to feather the throttle until I got traction.....now I get traction much sooner from a punch. I launched from a stop light and yup....much much better...the ride is sure and solid. Damn best $150 bucks I have spent on this car yet. You guys have got to Pedderize man.....damn best return on your investment of any mod money I have spent....I can see how the M6 guys would all but kill wheel hop with these Pedders Cross Member bushings....they are stiff...and dont allow that tire to "bounce"...these bushings keep downward pressure on the tire..the OEM bushings is flimsy as hell and I can see how it would allow "bounce"....Me....running around without the top portion of the bushing made it even worse....I cannot say loud or often enough. Pedderize your car!
Every GTO...04/05/06 should at the least have...
Strut Mount bushings/bearings
Radius Rod front and rear bushings
Cross Member bushings.

**superchargedblackgto** · 02-23-2008, 02:36 PM

Originally Posted by Sarge

Easy as hell. To my suprise....I got the outer plate off....pulled the 18mm bolt from the center.....dropped the cross member down to get the top bushing out first....and it wasnt there! Three years I've been riding around without any top bushing between the cross member and the frame. My Goat must have been a Friday build

They forgot to put in the top bushings! Installed the new Pedders cross member bushings. Rear end was raised 1/2"......now...I get more traction and less smoking tires from a punch much less at launch. I had learned to feather the throttle until I got traction.....now I get traction much sooner from a punch. I launched from a stop light and yup....much much better...the ride is sure and solid. Damn best $150 bucks I have spent on this car yet. You guys have got to Pedderize man.....damn best return on your investment of any mod money I have spent....I can see how the M6 guys would all but kill wheel hop with these Pedders Cross Member bushings....they are stiff...and dont allow that tire to "bounce"...these bushings keep downward pressure on the tire..the OEM bushings is flimsy as hell and I can see how it would allow "bounce"....Me....running around without the top portion of the bushing made it even worse....I cannot say loud or often enough. Pedderize your car!
Every GTO...04/05/06 should at the least have...
Strut Mount bushings/bearings
Radius Rod front and rear bushings
Cross Member bushings.

NO Pics Sarge?.......and I guess your feeling better?....Good!!!
Brad

**Sarge** · 02-24-2008, 04:08 AM

No pics on this one. Just did it

Yeah I am feeling much better. Antibiotics are a good thing. Pneumonia is a bad thing.
On the installation.....
Just jack the car up ...jack it up on the cross member bushing....get a couple of jack stands and put them under the factory jack points right on the edge....(right under the door edge)....take your floor jack and just snug it up on the cross member....bust loose the three bolts holding the retainer plate....then the center bolt.....lower the floor jack...letting the cross member "sag"....take a pry bar/big screwdriver and pry it down and remove the top bushing.....take a socket and place it on top the bushing....jack the cross member back up and the socket will push the big bushing right out....wipe everything down clean and install the new bushing.....tighten the 3 outer bolts to 53lbs and the center bolt to 109lbs. Do the other side. Less than an hour to do the entire thing.

**surfinjoe** · 03-18-2008, 06:39 AM

Sarge - did you have any trouble with the 18mm centr bolt? The some-b broke my 1/2" crapsman ratchet and would not come loose with my 250 ft./lb. impact gun. I bought an IR 700 ft./lb. impact gun on Saturday but now I am sick so maybe I will get to her over the long Easter weekend. I bet that will break her loose.

What about the front sway bar bushings. It looks to me like the sway bar is mounted on the top side of the frame????? Is this a difficult install????

I did change out my front radius rod bushings last week. The crazy thing is that on the drivers side, there was one large washer that mated to back end of the radius rod, but no washer on the passenger side. What gives????? Did the aussies forget a part or something? Do I need these washers, or only the ones that came with the Pedders kit? I opted for the "Sport Setting" so I did not use the 4mm & 8mm washers. Even without an alignment, it made a huge difference.

I am still experiencing the wheel shake at 60 mph, but I am hoping it is a tire issue.

Any advice/help would be greatly appreciated!!!!

**Sarge** · 03-18-2008, 02:13 PM

Nope....breaker bar and 1/2 Craftsman did it

See the sticky above for front sway bar...get em from the top....the one large washer is to compensate for the crown in the road.....Make sure your tires are properly torqued to 100lbs. Torque them down in the star pattern.

**surfinjoe** · 03-19-2008, 05:24 AM

I didn't jack the tire up when I tried to remove the 18mm cross member bolt. Maybe this was the issue. I'll try again this w/e. Thanks for the help.

Justice Pete told me that these cars have issues with the rotor hat rusting. This was his recomendation FYI:

"The GTO has modest size hub faces and is suceptable to hub / hat / wheel distirtion form uneven torque, rust, corrosion and crud.

Replace nothing. Dissassemble your front rotor / hubs. Remove the rotor and clean the hub face until it look like new. Clean the back of the rotor hat and reinstall the rotor with a two lug turn. With the out portion of the rotor hat as clean as new and the back of the wheel clean as new put it on three lugs over. Tighten thre lugs in a triangular patter finger tight. Snug them up incrementally and slowly. Use a good quality torque wrnech and bring the lugs up to 90 pounds in five lug increments. Your shimmy should be gone.

Asssuming the front wheels are in balance you should be good to go for 3 to 5k. When the shimmy returns just rotate the wheel and CAREFULLY retorque them. The GTO has modest size hub faces and is suceptable to hub / hat / wheel distirtion form uneven torque, rust, corrosion and crud.

Let me know how it goes."