Brand new tension rod bushings split after 10 miles

[fusion]

I have a 280z that I recently finished building.  On the tension rods I installed brand new bushings.  Rubber on the front side and poly on the back, as I believe was recommended by several people here.  Torqued the nut to 40ftlbs.  I was just under the car for something else and noticed that the rear bushings on both sides are split very badly.  This is after only about 10 miles of driving.  Wondering how this could be.   I will switch the rear bushings to rubber but still want to know how this could have happened.

 

Comments welcome

 

 

 

 

Edited 18 hours ago by fusion

[NewZed]

Actually it's rubber in the back, poly in the front.  The front bushing takes the force under braking on the Z's, under compression, and is the one that you don't want compressing too much, making the steering squishy.

 

But the poly should not have split.  It does take a lot of side forces as the rod moves up and down with the suspension.  But usually it causes the rod end to fatigue and break off.  Seems like you got a bad batch of polyurethane.  Bad chemistry, or a knockoff.

[74_5.0L_Z]

I used to run this:

https://www.thezstore.com/product/6551/tension-rod-t-c-kit-70-8-87-240z-260z-280z-280zx-300zx

It worked pretty well.  I have since gone to rod ends and a clevis.