Citizen Kane
Well-Known Member
Not so long ago I managed to extract all my old metalastic chassis bushes.
Not a job I was looking forward to but I had planned ahead and brought in some Britpart poly bushes.
I figured that I would struggle to get the old ones out but moving over to poly bushes would mean this was a once only trial and if I ever needed to replace the poly bushes it would be simple.
Anyway, the old ones came out with surprising ease and of course the poly bushes just slipped into the chassis with nothing more than a dollop of grease and hand pressure.
I was a little concerned when I noticed that the spacer tube was significantly shorter than the flange to flange dimension of the poly bushes, this would mead that the shackle plates would squash these outer flanges until they eventually meet the inner steel spacer tube. But hey, what do I know, these things have been designed specially for the Series Land Rover to overcome all the deficiencies of the standard rubber bonded bush.
Anyway, once fitted the Land Rover drove reasonable well, perhaps a little firmer than before but the old bushes were well and truly used up so it to be expected.
Move on a few weeks and I'm convinced that the ride is getting worse but I have other more pressing issues to deal with on the vehicle so put it to the back of my mind. So I get all the other things sorted over the next few weeks and get back out on the road, with nothing else to distract me I'm becoming increasingly aware of the terrible ride quality, its getting so bad that Mrs Kane has reverted to the sports bra that was a necessity when I had a set of very knackered and rusty multi leaves.
Something had to be done so I stripped it all down today and found that all the poly bushes were seized solid. I removed the spring bolts but left the chassis bolts done up, I couldn't budge the shackles, the poly bushes should allow then to swing smoothly but they appeared to be locked solid. These things have ruined the ride of my Land Rover. I needed to use a puller to remove the inner sleeve from the poly bush, still plenty of grease around and the sleeve looked immaculate, like it had never moved.
I had some metalastics to replace the rear chassis bushes but no spares for the front so I made up a few spacers to increase the length of the sleeve to match the bush length then added the same amount in spacers for the spring bush to keep the shackle plates parallel.
What a revelation, the ride is back to what it should be and fashion bras are again the order of the day.
So, what next. I think the poly bushes at the front need to be replaced, but with what. Are my problems typical or is it the make of bush I have. If I go back to metalastics who's should I use, I have parabolics and the extra articulation seems the consume metalastics, normally I just buy what Paddocks sell, cant remember the make, can you still get genuine ones?
Not a job I was looking forward to but I had planned ahead and brought in some Britpart poly bushes.
I figured that I would struggle to get the old ones out but moving over to poly bushes would mean this was a once only trial and if I ever needed to replace the poly bushes it would be simple.
Anyway, the old ones came out with surprising ease and of course the poly bushes just slipped into the chassis with nothing more than a dollop of grease and hand pressure.
I was a little concerned when I noticed that the spacer tube was significantly shorter than the flange to flange dimension of the poly bushes, this would mead that the shackle plates would squash these outer flanges until they eventually meet the inner steel spacer tube. But hey, what do I know, these things have been designed specially for the Series Land Rover to overcome all the deficiencies of the standard rubber bonded bush.
Anyway, once fitted the Land Rover drove reasonable well, perhaps a little firmer than before but the old bushes were well and truly used up so it to be expected.
Move on a few weeks and I'm convinced that the ride is getting worse but I have other more pressing issues to deal with on the vehicle so put it to the back of my mind. So I get all the other things sorted over the next few weeks and get back out on the road, with nothing else to distract me I'm becoming increasingly aware of the terrible ride quality, its getting so bad that Mrs Kane has reverted to the sports bra that was a necessity when I had a set of very knackered and rusty multi leaves.
Something had to be done so I stripped it all down today and found that all the poly bushes were seized solid. I removed the spring bolts but left the chassis bolts done up, I couldn't budge the shackles, the poly bushes should allow then to swing smoothly but they appeared to be locked solid. These things have ruined the ride of my Land Rover. I needed to use a puller to remove the inner sleeve from the poly bush, still plenty of grease around and the sleeve looked immaculate, like it had never moved.
I had some metalastics to replace the rear chassis bushes but no spares for the front so I made up a few spacers to increase the length of the sleeve to match the bush length then added the same amount in spacers for the spring bush to keep the shackle plates parallel.
What a revelation, the ride is back to what it should be and fashion bras are again the order of the day.
So, what next. I think the poly bushes at the front need to be replaced, but with what. Are my problems typical or is it the make of bush I have. If I go back to metalastics who's should I use, I have parabolics and the extra articulation seems the consume metalastics, normally I just buy what Paddocks sell, cant remember the make, can you still get genuine ones?
