BMR's "CB005" S550 IRS Cradle Bushing Lockout Kit - PICS & INFO!

I got a chance to go to a local 1/8 mile strip last Friday.

Running my Hoosier DR2s I had zero wheel hop on mild launches (3K RPM).

I am very pleased with the results and plan on getting to a 1/4 mile strip in August to try some harder launches!

Congratulations to Midnight Performance and Crew!


When ultimate performance is on the line, look no further than the CB005 for superior IRS Subframe control.

BMR IRS Cradle Bushing Lockout kit (stage 2) fitted on two cars. One red kit (on my car) and a black one (on a friend's car). I took the car for a ride afterwards. It really feels well planted to the ground! Well done

I'm looking to install these this weekend on my 2016 v6. I'm very excited. Can anyone give me a quick rundown of tips to help during install?

cyclonetron said:

I'm looking to install these this weekend on my 2016 v6. I'm very excited. Can anyone give me a quick rundown of tips to help during install?

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Do your due diligence. Tons of info in this thread alone. Quick tips: do each corner then move to the next or both front then rear or vice versa. When its all done, clock the bushings; in other words, wherever a bolt goes through a bushing (or any suspension connection point for that matter), loosen and then torque to specs WITH WEIGHT ON WHEELS...extremely important the caps part, it will eliminate pops, binding, creaks, etc.
Also agree with some of the others, Steeda sleeves make the CB005 even better. Even though they are competitors, very often their parts compliment each other.

5.0_SD said:

When its all done, clock the bushings; in other words, wherever a bolt goes through a bushing (or any suspension connection point for that matter), loosen and then torque to specs WITH WEIGHT ON WHEELS...extremely important the caps part, it will eliminate pops, binding, creaks, etc.

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Eager to learn but is that necessary for CB005? I mean its not really a suspension piece and I never heard anybody say they torqued the cradle to body bolts with weight on the wheels.

For a street performance car, the IRS lockout and Spherical Toe Link bearings are the biggest improvement in handling. However I still get wheel hop on stock Pirellies even with both if the tires break loose on SOME streets. Depends on the road surface. On corner exit if I hang the tail out, 0 hop. But in a straight line on a well traveled sticky road (rough surface or lots of rubber on it) it will hop, but about half as much stock.

If your NOT breaking traction, even the stock IRS won't hop. Braski ran a 12.08 with just a Power Pack 2, Cat back exhaust and a full set of big / littles on a stock IRS. Eventually he managed an 11.86 after a full IRS re-work with all the BMR goodies. Pretty impressive a 6 speed manual GT with only a single power adder that's covered under warranty...fastest stock 8 Speed Auto Camaro SS ran an 11.9 WITH drag radials (yah they put DR's in the "bone stock" category) in a -800 DA just to give you some perspective.

IRS cradle lockout rids the car of that delay between the front and rear. They work together in harmony instead of one waiting for the car to "take a set" mid corner. The toe links provide much more consistent traction and improved feedback in power down situations, both straight line but even more so on corner exist. Helps you get out of the hole faster. S197's could only dream of such things.

Best of all it doesn't seem to add any noticeable NVH unlike differential bushings (even the red poly one's add some clunking when the drive shaft oscillates in a manual). Over all those two modifications rid the car of it's strange and oddly exaggerated handling quirks (well other than the PP bounce) stock. Both aren't too terrible to do either.

@TheLion which Spherical Toe Link bearings are you talking about? I already installed the IRS cradle bushing lockout kit (CB005) but I was thinking to fit a set of vertical links as well. Those Spherical Toe Link bearings seems to be a good alternative.

The outer toe link bushings even on a Performance Package car are rubber while the inner ends use spherical bearings. Ford Performance sells the spherical bearings, but you can find them for about $55 if you do some google search shopping with their PN.

If you have a Performance Package GT then you only need the spherical bearings that go into the hub knuckle. If you have a base model or other non-performance package variant you will need the Performance Package Toe Links AND the spherical bearings. In that case I'd just buy after market toe links and pair them with the Ford Performance Spherical Bearings that go into the hub knuckle with most after market suspension shops recommend anyway.

I think you will see a much greater benefit from toe links than vertical links. Ford Performance said in their testing they found little to no benefit from vertical links and that's why they don't offer them. I'm not suggesting there is no benefit, but I think most of their benefit is in drag racing applications as opposed to street / track / auto x.

I think you will really like having just the cradle lock out and solid toe links. It really tightens up the back of the car without any negative side effects or introducing a new handling quirk for the sake of solving an old one. You will need a ball joint press to press them out, but it's not that hard. Took me maybe 30 minutes a side when I had the whole IRS off the car to repair a sheared diff bolt. I detached the hub knuckles and drive shafts completely as I had to remove the diff to replace the cover.

But you can do it with them still on the car and you only need to remove the outer toe link bold and nothing else. I think a lot of people do vertical links because it's one of the easiest mods to do and the slightly harder work scares them away from a more value added change of the toe links.

Toe Link Spherical Bearing for the Hub Knuckle: M-5A460-M

For NON PP GT's you will also need M-5972-M or an after market equivalent. But factory parts are the best cost and they use cam bolts, so yes factory toe links are adjustable. Since I had a PP car I just installed the Toe Link Bearing as I already had the toe links with spherical bearings on the inner ends from the factory.

TheLion said:

The outer toe link bushings even on a Performance Package car are rubber while the inner ends use spherical bearings. Ford Performance sells the spherical bearings, but you can find them for about $55 if you do some google search shopping with their PN.

If you have a Performance Package GT then you only need the spherical bearings that go into the hub knuckle. If you have a base model or other non-performance package variant you will need the Performance Package Toe Links AND the spherical bearings. In that case I'd just buy after market toe links and pair them with the Ford Performance Spherical Bearings that go into the hub knuckle with most after market suspension shops recommend anyway.

I think you will see a much greater benefit from toe links than vertical links. Ford Performance said in their testing they found little to no benefit from vertical links and that's why they don't offer them. I'm not suggesting there is no benefit, but I think most of their benefit is in drag racing applications as opposed to street / track / auto x.

I think you will really like having just the cradle lock out and solid toe links. It really tightens up the back of the car without any negative side effects or introducing a new handling quirk for the sake of solving an old one. You will need a ball joint press to press them out, but it's not that hard. Took me maybe 30 minutes a side when I had the whole IRS off the car to repair a sheared diff bolt. I detached the hub knuckles and drive shafts completely as I had to remove the diff to replace the cover.

But you can do it with them still on the car and you only need to remove the outer toe link bold and nothing else. I think a lot of people do vertical links because it's one of the easiest mods to do and the slightly harder work scares them away from a more value added change of the toe links.

Toe Link Spherical Bearing for the Hub Knuckle: M-5A460-M

For NON PP GT's you will also need M-5972-M or an after market equivalent. But factory parts are the best cost and they use cam bolts, so yes factory toe links are adjustable. Since I had a PP car I just installed the Toe Link Bearing as I already had the toe links with spherical bearings on the inner ends from the factory.

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Incorrect. All GTs come with the PP link. The only cars that did/do not are V6, non-PP EB.

Ok, makes sense then. I had a 2016 EB Base, so I assumed (incorrectly) that the links of non pp GT's used rubber bushings in both ends. So it seems the case is that V6 / Ecoboost Base models are the only ones to use rubber bushings in both ends. All GT's use the Performance Package GT Links, but NONE of them use spherical bearings in the knuckle in stock configuration.

TheLion said:

Ok, makes sense then. I had a 2016 EB Base, so I assumed (incorrectly) that the links of non pp GT's used rubber bushings in both ends. So it seems the case is that V6 / Ecoboost Base models are the only ones to use rubber bushings in both ends. All GT's use the Performance Package GT Links, but NONE of them use spherical bearings in the knuckle in stock configuration.

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Correct, no S550 (even GT350R) has them in the knuckle.

BmacIL said:

Correct, no S550 (even GT350R) has them in the knuckle.

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Any idea why not for GT350R? Cost saving doesn't make sense. Making the ride harsher doesn't makes sense (plus people say it doesn't). It doesn't help handling doesn't make sense because forum members say it does.

HoosierDaddy said:

Any idea why not for GT350R? Cost saving doesn't make sense. Making the ride harsher doesn't makes sense (plus people say it doesn't). It doesn't help handling doesn't make sense because forum members say it does.

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The only explanation is complexity in the plant.

2017 GT PP. Further to wheel hop, I've only installed the CB005 and the wheel hop is still very bad when ever the wheels break loose. I've also only installed the Ford Performance Power Pack 2 CAI, so not pushing lots of HP/TQ. Love the car just really disappointed in how bad it bucks when jumping on the throttle.