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why does my rear end sway when i hit a bump??


jmalkw

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I have a 1994 cadillac deville 4.9. And everytime I hit a bump , the whole back end sways hard. It feels like the car wants to turn sideways sometimes. I was told it could possibly be bad bushings, but I wanted to get the experts opinion. Or somone who had a similar problem.

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This is typically due to the rear knuckle bushings being bad.

Pre-1995 - DTC codes OBD1  >>

1996 and newer - DTC codes OBD2 >> https://www.obd-codes.com/trouble_codes/gm/obd_codes.htm

How to check for codes Caddyinfo How To Technical Archive >> http://www.caddyinfo.com/wordpress/cadillac-how-to-faq/

Cadillac History & Specifications Year by Year  http://www.motorera.com/cadillac/index.htm

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If I'm not mistaken you can buy those rear bushings separately now, instead of buying the whole rear knuckle?

WARNING: I'm a total car newbie, don't be surprised if I ask a stupid question! Just trying to learn.

Cheers!

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very common. easy to check ,and not bad to change.

leave th car on all 4 wheels and pull in and out at the top of the rear tires. if it clunks and has play they are typicaly bad. I did one or 2 writeups on these and amazon seems to be the cheapest for them. They come as a set per side. one set comes with upper, smaller, and installation sleeves.

I might add it causes one heck of a sway over bumps, and alot of times clunking noise can be heard.

Did them last year on 3 devilles and all 3 took under 3 hours complete.

GM FAN FOREVER

Nice, clean, luxury= fine automobile

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Ok so I went to tire barn and they did a free suspension check for my car, and it was indeed the knuckle bushings on the rear. They gave me a nice price to fix it, plus a discount on a allignment. Thanks everybody for the help.

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great. the ride quality improves 200% when the worn bushings are replaced. nice to hear you got it fixed

GM FAN FOREVER

Nice, clean, luxury= fine automobile

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sorry misunderstood. thought you had it done already. It shouldnt be bad at all.

One thing I cant stress enough on is the long bolt for the lateral arm on the rearward side of the knuckles must be tightened with the suspension at ride height otherwise it will flex too much when the car is at ride height and tear the bushing.

I use a jack oncee everything is together to jack the corner to ride height then tighten the bolt. then lower the jack. Easy to do and never had an issue yet.

Surely someone else will chme in on this

GM FAN FOREVER

Nice, clean, luxury= fine automobile

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If I'm not mistaken you can buy those rear bushings separately now, instead of buying the whole rear knuckle?

Yes, thank heavens someone came up with a solution

Pre-1995 - DTC codes OBD1  >>

1996 and newer - DTC codes OBD2 >> https://www.obd-codes.com/trouble_codes/gm/obd_codes.htm

How to check for codes Caddyinfo How To Technical Archive >> http://www.caddyinfo.com/wordpress/cadillac-how-to-faq/

Cadillac History & Specifications Year by Year  http://www.motorera.com/cadillac/index.htm

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sorry misunderstood. thought you had it done already. It shouldnt be bad at all.

One thing I cant stress enough on is the long bolt for the lateral arm on the rearward side of the knuckles must be tightened with the suspension at ride height otherwise it will flex too much when the car is at ride height and tear the bushing.

I use a jack oncee everything is together to jack the corner to ride height then tighten the bolt. then lower the jack. Easy to do and never had an issue yet.

Surely someone else will chme in on this

Very good advice about tightening the pivot point bolts at ride height!

(Hmmm, I am almost at 20,000 posts, now that is scary!)

Pre-1995 - DTC codes OBD1  >>

1996 and newer - DTC codes OBD2 >> https://www.obd-codes.com/trouble_codes/gm/obd_codes.htm

How to check for codes Caddyinfo How To Technical Archive >> http://www.caddyinfo.com/wordpress/cadillac-how-to-faq/

Cadillac History & Specifications Year by Year  http://www.motorera.com/cadillac/index.htm

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sorry misunderstood. thought you had it done already. It shouldnt be bad at all.

One thing I cant stress enough on is the long bolt for the lateral arm on the rearward side of the knuckles must be tightened with the suspension at ride height otherwise it will flex too much when the car is at ride height and tear the bushing.

I use a jack oncee everything is together to jack the corner to ride height then tighten the bolt. then lower the jack. Easy to do and never had an issue yet.

Surely someone else will chme in on this

Very good advice about tightening the pivot point bolts at ride height!

(Hmmm, I am almost at 20,000 posts, now that is scary!)

Work at it hard and you can go over 20K by the weekend... :D:P:D:P

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sorry misunderstood. thought you had it done already. It shouldnt be bad at all.

One thing I cant stress enough on is the long bolt for the lateral arm on the rearward side of the knuckles must be tightened with the suspension at ride height otherwise it will flex too much when the car is at ride height and tear the bushing.

I use a jack oncee everything is together to jack the corner to ride height then tighten the bolt. then lower the jack. Easy to do and never had an issue yet.

Surely someone else will chme in on this

Also, it is a good idea to use blue Loctite on the lateral arm bolt since there is evidence of a threadlocker on the OEM bolts. The shop manual says to replace the bolt but it is no longer available.

Kevin
'93 Fleetwood Brougham
'05 Deville
'04 Deville
2013 Silverado Z71

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sorry misunderstood. thought you had it done already. It shouldnt be bad at all.

One thing I cant stress enough on is the long bolt for the lateral arm on the rearward side of the knuckles must be tightened with the suspension at ride height otherwise it will flex too much when the car is at ride height and tear the bushing.

I use a jack oncee everything is together to jack the corner to ride height then tighten the bolt. then lower the jack. Easy to do and never had an issue yet.

Surely someone else will chme in on this

Very good advice about tightening the pivot point bolts at ride height!

(Hmmm, I am almost at 20,000 posts, now that is scary!)

Work at it hard and you can go over 20K by the weekend... :D:P:D:P

HaHa....maybe if we have a political discussion, I'll see if I can muster up something to say, I think I can post 200 times on the subject by tomorrow, but that would be unfair.... :lol:

Pre-1995 - DTC codes OBD1  >>

1996 and newer - DTC codes OBD2 >> https://www.obd-codes.com/trouble_codes/gm/obd_codes.htm

How to check for codes Caddyinfo How To Technical Archive >> http://www.caddyinfo.com/wordpress/cadillac-how-to-faq/

Cadillac History & Specifications Year by Year  http://www.motorera.com/cadillac/index.htm

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I have not replaced the bolts on the ones I have done due to the bolt not being available. also have not used loctite but it helps. I didnt understand why they say to replace the bolt as long as it is in good shape. I realize it holds a bit of a load but all of them used the same bolt and it is discontinued.

I do believe the 99 Deville was slightly different somehow. It might come to me.

GM FAN FOREVER

Nice, clean, luxury= fine automobile

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