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Old 04-20-2021, 09:18 AM   #1
Shawnqa800720
 
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Zl1 1LE Solid Cradle Bushing Question (?!?)

I recently had the Zl1 1LE solid rear cradle bushings installed. Does anyone know why GM doesn't mate a more flat bushing surface to the frame and lower frame braces? There is a "washer" nub on both the upper and lower aluminum bushing surface that mates to the body and frame support brackets (see attached pics) on both the front and rear cradle positions. This seems like a bad engineering design. There is a lot of daylight between the majority of the bushing surface and the mounting locations on the body and frame support brackets. Those "washer nubs" put more leverage stress on the bolt to hold everything in place as opposed to a large flat bushing surface. The only thing I can think of is having a bit of flex available puts less stress on the overall system.

Additionally curious if anyone has machined those washer nubs off to create a more solid contact patch?

I had the BMR lockout kit installed before the solid bushings, and their kit has a wide contact patch for their washer (the top and bottom washers are wider that the cradle mount holes, with no nub). Not saying BMR engineers are better than GM, but just that the wider patch can work.
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Old 04-21-2021, 07:26 AM   #2
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That looks like it's designed to have the same contact footprint as the rubber bushings, meaning it's not stressing anything any more than the stock design does. Having a smaller contact footprint like that also doesn't stress the bolt anymore as the bolt's stress is purely axial, but changing the footprint does change the stress profile between the bushing and cradle/frame. While a larger surface is technically more distributed it doesn't imply that it's better. The OEM parts are tested to show that they can last the life of the vehicle without failing and may have been designed that way to make the load paths better follow a reinforced part of the cradle vs having a larger one that potentially loads a non-reinforced section. Not to say that the BMR one will cause a failure, but personally I'd be more comfortable with the OE design because I know that one's designed with the full system in mind instead of just going based on what "looks right."
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Old 04-21-2021, 10:18 PM   #3
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I figured along the same lines, but was curious if anyone knows for sure (doubtful, unless a GM engineer happens to read this). Well formed guesses are certainly welcome and the one above is certainly the most likely scenario (thanks Alpha!)
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Old 04-22-2021, 08:10 AM   #4
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Any time!
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