"Dog Bones" - How much play is nomal?

[bobs]

Here's hopefully an easy question for someone: When you check the "dog bone" components (camber arm, thrust arm, etc...) for wear, how much play is too much? For example, when I was looking a a thrust arm, I wasn't able to easily push it forward and back, but I was able to get 1/8 inch or so of play when I wiggled / twisted the link like a screwdriver. What would be considered to be a normal amount of play in a link like this?

[junqueyardjim]

But I think that any play you can see while moving front end parts around is suspect and I would take it to a quality alignment shop or the "stealer" and have it checked out. Then you will have the piece of mind you are looking for in driving a fine automobile.

[stevebfl]

I'm guessing that what you see is normal. Most suspension links are designed for a certain rigidity in the tention compression state, but are mounted in rubber to deminish road vibration. They have no stress component in the rotational sense so they are not firm in that sense. Many links can be rotated ten degrees or so by hand. What is important is that they remain rigid to original characteristic in the longitudinal sense. The best way to tell is to look for cracks during such rotation.