Hi John,
The original bushings are intended to have the steel sleeves clamped
solid before the rubber is clamped. The rubber bushing is a torsion
spring, bonded to the sleeve & clamped into the arms, which is supposed
to flex/twist as the suspension moves. There was not intended to be any
rotating motion between the sleeve & the suspension arms or bolt. If
there is any rotating motion, there is no way to lubricate the joint &
premature wear will occur. If there is no grease fitting on a bushing it
was never intended to rotate.
The rubber torsion springs actually add a bit to the spring rates. This
is why the shop manuals say to center the suspension travel before final
bolt tightening. (The part about placing a block of wood between the
upper arms & the shock tower). Also applies to the lower inner front
bushings & rear spring bushings. Centering prevents destructive over
rotation/flex of the rubber.
To repeat, the sleeve should come up tight before the rubber is clamped
to any great extent.
Dave Russell
John Loftus wrote:
> When tying to install new trunnion bushes (rubber bushes with steel
> sleeve positioned between the ends of the two shock arms) I was
> running into great difficulty getting the shock arms to bottom in the
> middle where the cross bolt fastens them together. I compared the
> new bushes with the old and found the steel inner sleeve to be
> appreciably longer on the new ones (approx. .95" compared with .875"
> for the old). I ground the inner side of the new ones down to the
> .875" length (with bench top belt sander) and everything fit together
> properly. I plan to bring this to Moss' attention but curious if
> others have run into this and to alert others who may face the same
> problem.
>
> Cheers, John
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