Suspension bushes

[djm16]

Has anyone recently tried either the "new improved" sets from Wadhams, or the urethane sets from Scotts Old Rubber? I have to replace mine (again) after approx 6 years and 40,000 miles (and I am not looking forward to it).

[enigmas]

David about 14 years or more ago I fitted red nolathane bushes to the lower driver side inner suspension arm swivel. This was prior to having the 'forever weeping' power steering box properly modified to overcome the design problem.
Synthetic bushes to suit weren't readily available at this time. I modified a suitable set in my lathe. This was was done due to a 2 yearly rubber bush replacement maintenance programme I'd had to carry out as the ATF would rot out the rubber bushes on the drivers side. The nolathane bushes are still in place and still in fine fettle. They were also unaffected by the constant coating of oil from the weeping PS box at the time.

Note:
If you decide to fit synthetic bushes bear in mind that they function like a 'bearing' not a metalastic rubber bush.
So allow for this difference in functional operation when fitting them. They should be coated with the appropriate lubricant/grease when installed.

[djm16]

Hi enigmas,
After getting the same problem with replacement bushes on the P3 and P4, I replaced those with mix and match (and cut down to size) urethane bushes from Pedders or similar.

The P5 bushes are different in being a single sleeve rather than a pair of bushes with shoulders on both inner swivels. I have to admit I was considering using a pair of bushes with shoulders for each.

[djm16]

Update.
Scotts Old Rubber sells urethane bushes for top and bottom links. He does not stock urethane radius rod bushes.

The front radius bushes are close enough to W52400 from Whiteline (at a price!). All of the urethane bushes have shoulders on them. None of them needed any adjustment with a knife etc. and fitted relatively easily. They are all only slightly harder than the original rubber.

The rear radius rod bushes came from Wilkinsons Suspension, and apparently are also used on Land Rovers.

Now for the difficult bit. When I did this job 6 years ago, I had a hell of a time getting the "17: Link Mounting Pin Housing" back on. By the time I had the three mounting holes lined up with the threaded holes in the chassis, the lower link arm had drifting rearwards on the lower link bushes.

This time I removed the torsion spring for inspection. One end of the spring was nicely finished, the other end had crudely guillotined ends. The spring looked like it was too long. When I offered up the 17:housing to the chassis, I estimated I needed to remove 6mm from the end of the spring. This took around 30 mins with a cutting disc on and angle grinder.

Even so with the spring shorter, it still took nearly two hours of levering and pulling to get the three bolts back through the 17:housing, and even then only by over-compressing the lower link bushes could I get the holes to line up.

The question is:
how critical is the torsion spring length? Would it matter if I shortened the spring enough to make it easy to get the 17:housing back on?

[enigmas]

There's something obviously wrong with your front suspension setup and or the arrangement/fit of the components David if the assembly process is that torturous.

Generally it's easier to use the weight of the car when needing to rotate the leaf spring pack back to its correct orientation. Prior to doing this, the lower suspension should be fully assembled with the bottom suspension link/arm (item 1) full dropped with no spring tension applied to it. Then jack it up (using a small floor jack at the bottom link.

Has the spring pack orientation been lost/reversed (during removal) so that the assembly is against the 'set' the pack has taken over the years of use?

If you need to chop the spring pack length down in size then there's a component stacking/error in the assembly somewhere. Spring packs don't grow of they own accord. Something is fitted incorrectly.

Component List.
Item 17 in my parts manual shows as a 3/8" UNF set bolt (for the link mounting pin housing.)
Item 19 is the bottom link mounting pin with the 3 holes that mount to the inner end of the lower suspension arm.
Item 45 is the torsion bar adjusting lever at the rear of the spring pack
Item 14 is the link mounting pin housing (or the front swivel for the inner lower suspension arm.)

[djm16]

Hi Vince,

Thanks for your reply.
The trouble with working on a car that has been owned by someone else is not knowing how much is original and what is due to someone else's inadequate work.

I have to suspect that the torsion bars have been replaced at some point, because neither side actually fits the car (without modification).

[Edit: the same was true of the rear springs. The bolt hole for the Y bush were offset by approx 10mm, applying a constant shear force to the Y bushes. Extending these to a slot solved the problem]

So I take it from your answer that it should not be hard to get the mounting pin housing screwed back on to the chassis. Which also answers my question about it being OK to shorten the bars so that this is easy.

[Mike’S-a-loon]

Does anyone have an original front torsion bar set they could measure, to put this poor chaps mind at ease?