Date: Wed, 24 Jul 2019 18:27:50 -0500
Reply-To: "Jim. Felder" <jim.felder@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: "Jim. Felder" <jim.felder@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Installing rear poly suspension bushings
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I have had a set of T3 Techics poly bushing sitting around for several
years, and bad wheel bearings gave me the excuse to tear into all that rear
suspension stuff and thoroughly go through it. Except there is a
hitch--they don't tell you how impossible it is to do the rears as a home
mechanic, they let you think you can because the front bushings weren't all
that bad. That's how they get you. But if you want poly on the rear, read
on to read the latest Felder Industries triumph of technology.
I tried a press, giant c-clamps, and a 4-wheel drive ball joint tool before
I sent them to a local VW shop. The shop called today at lunch to tell me
they had given up on installing my bushings. When I went by to pick up my
parts, they showed me a $40 GoWesty tool made for the job. One of the
mechanics who once was in the commercial landscaping business recognized
the tool, which is essentially a steel pipe that has been drawn into a
slight funnel shape to connect two different hose sizes, as a landscaping
product. Whatever the part was actually for, nobody in the shop thought it
could be purchased locally. With GoWesty I figured it would cost another
$20 to ship andI wanted to be done this weekend anyway.
So, Felder Industries has a new product, a Poly Rear Bushing Reducer. It
costs less than $3 in materials at Lowes. It's a steel coupler with
external threads for 2 inch pipe. It's 3 inches long of pretty heavy
malleable iron. I put it in the vise and cut 16 slot about 5/8 long into
one end with a jigsaw, equally spaced apart, doing 4 slots
north-south-east-west and then bisecting the pipe section between those
slots several times. I laid it on concrete and beat the slotted end down
with a hammer until the tabs between the slots touched and would not allow
any more reduction. Now there is a reduction in the pipe. You slip a poly
bushing with its steel center installed into the reducer into the reducer
and pull it into the sleeve in the trailing arm (two per arm) with 3/8 all
thread and washers until seated. In practice it is helpful to use a sleeve
from a Harbor Freight front end tool to get the two flanges on the ends of
the poly centered just right. It is difficult to see what the lips on each
end are doing when the whole thing is inside the reducer. But that's a fine
point, the main point is that the onerous poly bushings go right into place.
Anyone wanting a picture of the install setup and tool just ask.I would be
glad to send this out to people ready to do this job because I doubt I will
ever need to do it again.
Jim
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