Nice to meet you from the Netherlands!

[Sybolt]

Good afternoon!

My name is Sybolt Wiersma. Yesterday I bought my first US car, an 1982 AMC Eagle Wagon! 

I always loved the Eagle, especially the Wagon, but as I live in the Netherlands, you don't see them very often. Probably a big understatement as I believe there's around 10 on the road here. A while ago one came along which was reasonably priced and yesterday I shook hands with the seller.

I'm really looking forward to picking the car up in the near future and start preparing it for it's approval tp get Dutch plates, and I am hoping to ask you all for help every once in a while during this process. A big thanks in advance!

I already know the car needs new sway bar/control bar bushings which I found at prothanesuspensionparts.com, but I'm also looking for ball joint boots in the right size. Do you happen to know if universal boots can be used?

Thanks again, and have a nice day!
To give you an idea, I've attached a picture of the car.

Sybolt Wiersma

[89 MJ]

Welcome! I’m not sure if you can use universal boots or not. Sounds like it doesn’t need a whole lot to be ready for the road though.

[Ludworks]

Hello Sybolt. Congratulations on your new car.

Ball joint boots will vary depending on what brand of ball joint is installed. Some are easy to replace, some are integrated. You may want to go with a universal polyurethane one. Is the upper or lower that needs the boot?

[Sybolt]

Thank you 89MJ and Ludworks!

As far as I can see the car is in quite a good condition, but it lived in sunny Texas for most of it's life. So very little rust, but very dry seals and rubbers 
I'm not sure whether the upper or lower boots are bad, but as I'm hoping to order all the suspension rubbers at once, I intend to replace them both as well.

Attaching the photo didn't seem to work, can anyone help me with that? Or do I need to wait for a certain period to be allowed posting photos?

[vangremlin]

Welcome to the Den and congratulations on your new to you Eagle!

We had another member from the Netherlands, Jurjen, although he hasn't been active for awhile.  Here is a link to his information, which includes an email address.  You may be able to have an Eagle meet up with him!

https://forums.amceaglesden.com/index.php?action=profile;u=483

[rmick]

Hello Sybolt. Congratulations on your new car.

Ball joint boots will vary depending on what brand of ball joint is installed. Some are easy to replace, some are integrated. You may want to go with a universal polyurethane one. Is the upper or lower that needs the boot?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/394291595491?_trkparms=amclksrc%3DITM%26aid%3D1110013%26algo%3DHOMESPLICE.SIMRXI%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D275637%26meid%3D08d67b5a260f4eaba032b3e2ec97c2f6%26pid%3D101879%26rk%3D16%26rkt%3D25%26sd%3D315784097127%26itm%3D394291595491%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D0%26pg%3D3959035%26algv%3DPersonalizedV1_7%26brand%3DUnbranded%26fpg%3D1&_trksid=p3959035.c101879.m1851&itmprp=cksum%3A39429159549108d67b5a260f4eaba032b3e2ec97c2f6%7Cenc%3AAQAJAAABEKvm%252Fyh69RlaKAbV6iGzdDPVDUjfMviQzBGczkQFmkML479Sq30cLgN2u6f9957IYg83jimhpneowr6xAAzL8gNBa3jY3h53Oy4tIQ6A3WXH6%252BeHfZ5Vj7Jyf6AghzAZF1oH57WEL2AvMYuqbrAC9DDrMNMY%252FsNOT9Dg7kfsU2oBYipjsRWvagVZ21KyyLolpXgxpFPSNp9rauizFqdpPbjXHauB9rTNxpnXp8nEcRPIkuC3uYTHhNYMPgt1QuTFfYLSDilqjui639XXyWmL811kYJupSbairqnKuTq%252FoJhgXC2V7vui7rh0key9WqAu3WvRCC9ZHiBdOfdIUWx2psH6%252Bb4nz9uw9SVrGvyQYjdw%7Campid%3APL_CLK%7Cclp%3A3959035&itmmeta=01JAYCZ8F82ZBQZJKZMNJ0N0N1

[Sybolt]

[...] We had another member from the Netherlands, Jurjen, although he hasn't been active for awhile.  Here is a link to his information, which includes an email address.  You may be able to have an Eagle meet up with him!

Thank you! I saw that there also was another Dutch member added recently:
https://forums.amceaglesden.com/index.php?topic=47662.0

Seems like we already have almost half the Dutch Eagle "population" present here on this forum 

[Sybolt]

Wondering if this works to share a first photo of the car!

[vangremlin]

Photo came through, looks like a great Eagle!  Congratulations

Hope you are able to connect with the other Dutch Eagle owners!

[Sybolt]

Good day!

I'm making some progress on getting my Eagle ready for the road. Received a complete polyurethane bushing kit from Prothane, as well as replacement leaf springs, H4 headlights etc. and we're trying to fit everything to the car. But I'm hoping you can help me with some question I still have.

I am missing the lower control arm bushings for the front wheels (oddly, they are not part of the Prothane kit) and I'm comparing the ones at AMCLives with Rockauto. It seems like polyurethane isn't available for these bushings. Strangely, AMCLives ones cost the same as the Rockauto ones TIMES 3. Is the quality that different? Or am I looking in the wrong place and is there a PU option?

Furthermore, I noticed the connection between the upper control arm and the front coil spring holder also has some very worn rubber bushings. I can't find these anywhere online, does anyone know if there is a solution for this?

Thanks a bunch!

[Taylor]

Welcome to the forums.
Hopefully someone on this list can help.

http://kennedyamerican.com/
http://www.americanpartsdepot.com/
https://www.rockauto.com/
https://shop.advanceautoparts.com/  Bought out CarQuest. Where I got my front CV Half shafts
https://www.summitracing.com
https://www.blaserauto.com/
https://www.ramblerparts.com/
https://www.theeaglestore.com/

[Ludworks]

Sybolt,

AMCLives typically resells the same parts you can buy on Rockauto. There is no quality difference.

There is polyurethane available for the lower control arm bushing, it's a GM part so plenty of other cars used it. Prothane 64055 or Energy Suspension 3009, I believe. You'll probably have to buy it as part of a kit. However, I personally recommend against using polyurethane for the lower control arm bushings and strut rod bushings. i think rubber is a better choice there due to the compound motion they experience.

For the spring perch bushing there is a thread here which explains how to convert them to poly using the "John Elles" method. Rubber has long been discontinued.
https://forums.amceaglesden.com/index.php?topic=47212.0

[rmick]

These are also supposed to work for lower perch repair https://www.ebay.com/itm/264495487770

[Sybolt]

Hi! Fantastic info from all of you, thank you very much!

I ordered brake hoses and all bushings from Rockauto, and already received them! The fact that getting parts from the US to the Netherlands in four days, including a weekend, is unbelievable to me, but I'm happy work on the suspension can continue.

For the spring perch bushings I'm going to use the John Elle method with these Energy Suspension bushings:
https://teamenergysuspension.com/product/energy-suspension-4-2126g-rear-spring-frame-shackle-kit/