Trailing Arm Bushings, What material to select? Options

[Rob-O]

I lightly skimmed this thread but thought I'd add this in case it wasn't brought up before. Back in the day when there was nothing but poly and factory (and as far as I remember you couldn't just buy the factory rubber bushings) the trick was to pull the rubber ones out, and then machine all three pieces. The inner shaft, the bushing and the control arm.

My pivot arms were rusted, so after rust removal we welded the shaft and then turned it down on a lathe. Got the measurement precise on the pivot then the bushings inner diameter was machined slightly to fit the pivot arm. The trailing arm was machined as well to get it in round so the bushing would fit correctly.

All of the poly bushings had different measurements. Even without a micrometer you could tell that they were different. One would fit perfectly, the next was tight on the same spot on the same trailing arm. The next was loose, and so on. That poly material seemed to swell as it got warm as I recall.

It sounds like Chris at Tangerine attacked this issue since he provides a hone to get the trailing arm portion round (assuming I read that correctly).

Ultimately, since rubber was used as the initial material, I doubt any of the aftermarket offerings will be perfect right out of the box. Not because they don't make a great product, but because the factory tolerances were never designed for a precise fitting bushing.

So, to me (and I worked in the polymers industry for a long, long time) we may be over engineering this problem. As long as you have a good bushing material and machine all four mating surfaces (the trailing arm housing, the bushing outer diameter, the bushing inner diameter and the pivot arm outer diameter), you should be fine and if the material is correct, squeak free.

[malcolm2]

UPDATE: Rebel stuff has been returned and my VISA has been credited. Today the elephant stuff arrived from PMB.

UPS from Cali to TN really sucks. Obama only takes 2 days and UPS takes about 6.

But it is here and it has instructions and tools to install the RUBBER BUSHINGS and NEW PIVOT ARMS. I am fired up about getting this done.

I didn't bring it up this weekend, but with all those cars driving around in that grass field in Townsend, TN I heard quite abit of squeaking. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif)

Anyway here are a few pictures of the new Elephant stuff.



I will not be able to do anything with this 'til next week. My up and coming VOLUNTEERS are playing the gators on Saturday and I am going to be there.... If I was not taking 2 people I would drive the 914 to East Tn again this weekend.

More next week: Go Big Orange

Clark