New Wishbone Fitting Problems
Discussion
Got some new front lower wishbones and some nice new polywhatsit wishbone bushes and I'm struggling to get the buggers to fit.
Old wishbone
The widest part of this is the steel inner of the wishbone bush which stands proud and is 50.5mm
New Wishbone
Whilst the steel inner of the wishbone bush is exactly the same length as the old one,
the protruding polywhatsit flanges mean that the overall width of the wishbone is 54mm.
As the distance between the wishbone hangers is only 50.5 mm I cant get the new wishbone to fit. The flanges do squish a little bit, but not enough to get the wishbone positioned.
Questions
Have the right bushes been supplied with the wishbones?
How do I get the buggers to fit?
Old wishbone
The widest part of this is the steel inner of the wishbone bush which stands proud and is 50.5mm
New Wishbone
Whilst the steel inner of the wishbone bush is exactly the same length as the old one,
the protruding polywhatsit flanges mean that the overall width of the wishbone is 54mm.
As the distance between the wishbone hangers is only 50.5 mm I cant get the new wishbone to fit. The flanges do squish a little bit, but not enough to get the wishbone positioned.
Questions
Have the right bushes been supplied with the wishbones?
How do I get the buggers to fit?
Its what the real men do.... 
Look at your mounts - I bet they are wider at the back so have deformed - you are just knocking them back to correct shape. Look at old threads on thrust washers if you are interested, if you search old threads the method I described is the only one I can recall. Ive never heard of anyones polybushes having the flanges chewed off....
Dave
Look at your mounts - I bet they are wider at the back so have deformed - you are just knocking them back to correct shape. Look at old threads on thrust washers if you are interested, if you search old threads the method I described is the only one I can recall. Ive never heard of anyones polybushes having the flanges chewed off....
Dave
Ive just replaces the front and rear bushes with polys.
Yes they are a bast### to do but it can be done.
Best advice i can give you is get one side in and put a thin screwdriver through the bolt hole and use a nylon hammer to help locate the other hole.
Screwdriver is there to help the other side from popping out which will piss you off.
A trolley jack helped me push the wishbone up from underneath also loads of copperslip.
There is no real easy way.
The worst are the metal type instead of nylon where the weld is on the chassis locate that first.
Try and keep the wishbone straight too much of a angle makes it impossible.
Hope that helps you.
Just think how much you are saving by doing it yourself.
Regards
V8 Animal
Yes they are a bast### to do but it can be done.
Best advice i can give you is get one side in and put a thin screwdriver through the bolt hole and use a nylon hammer to help locate the other hole.
Screwdriver is there to help the other side from popping out which will piss you off.
A trolley jack helped me push the wishbone up from underneath also loads of copperslip.
There is no real easy way.
The worst are the metal type instead of nylon where the weld is on the chassis locate that first.
Try and keep the wishbone straight too much of a angle makes it impossible.
Hope that helps you.
Just think how much you are saving by doing it yourself.
Regards
V8 Animal
spend said:
Its what the real men do....
Look at your mounts - I bet they are wider at the back so have deformed - you are just knocking them back to correct shape. Look at old threads on thrust washers if you are interested, if you search old threads the method I described is the only one I can recall. Ive never heard of anyones polybushes having the flanges chewed off....
Dave
Look at your mounts - I bet they are wider at the back so have deformed - you are just knocking them back to correct shape. Look at old threads on thrust washers if you are interested, if you search old threads the method I described is the only one I can recall. Ive never heard of anyones polybushes having the flanges chewed off....
Dave
piemanpaul on another thread 2 years ago said:
As I was putting the lower wishbones in last night with powerflex bushes....on the passenger side I managed to fit the thicker white thrust washers either side of the bush as per instructions but on the driver side I could only fit a thinner black thrust washer on one side of the front bush (and a white+black washer on the other side of the bush). Hence net result is I guess that the drivers side lower wishbone front mount is about 1mm further forward. Is this likely to cause any issue (i.e. should I be dismantling it all and hitting it hard with hammer until it does eventually fit a thicker white washer???)
FFS I'm having enough bother getting the bushes in the hangers. Besides which, I haven't been given any thrust washers. Should I have had some or are they optional extras for those whose bushes are a little sloppy?
(lubricant, sloppy bush, clamps, plenty of hammer grunt, wallop, bang and flange chewing all in the same thread and not a lesbian in sight!)
Edited by sparkythecat on Monday 2nd April 22:04
Never heard of thrust washers with poly bushes before TBH. Thrust washers were to pack metalastic bushes which were deforming/distorting mounts cos the sleeve protruded and was the only clamping point, if you see what I mean. It is common that the mount flanges have just closed up - so simply open them out again. This was the advice I was given, by someone with rather a lot of experience, if you want to do it another way thats fine.
Dave
Dave
sparkythecat said:
Spend, there isn't really a lot of room to swing a big hammer....
I have got to go down this route....i found if you take the body off you have loads of room to swing a hammer
I have noticed that the wishbone brkts do taper towards the outside...so i am going to measure mine before it goes to the powder coaters and open them up so i can get the new wishbones in easier.
Rather than get Irish with the mounts, you could procure a short length of studding (say 10mm thread) and a couple of nuts. Push the studding through one of the mount holes, put the nuts on the studding between the flanges with a washer first and last, and push through the other hole. Apply grease to washers and flanges. Now with two spanners wind the nuts in opposite directions to push against the flange and force them apart. Go slightly wider than the bushes, they will pull back when you bolt up, and you'll be thankfull of the extra clearance as you fit the wishbones back.
This will work where you can't get in with a hammer, and is slightly more scientific.
If you ask me your bushes aren't in far enough anyway. You did sand away the plastic coating on the inside and grease before insertion? (ooo-er!). You could try a similar trick to the above but use studding, nuts and washers to compress the bushes in.
The thrust washers are in the Powerflex bushes - yours look like Superflex, the purple ones that I've just replaced because some melted. The Superflex (at least when I fitted them a few years ago) have a top hat shape, with the "washer" moulded in.
The Powerflex bushes have a metal pin, two thin cylindrical metal glacier bearings, two cylindrical moulded bushes, and depending on location either two white plastic washers or one white plastic washer and a thinner black one where the pin has a metal "washer" built in. They can be fun to locate if you try to insert them straight, but put one end in then pivot the other end in place and you only have to hold one washer in place and they go in pretty easily. A largish allen key is a godsend when trying to align the bush to insert the bolt; you can insert the smaller end and use it as a lever to fine tune the position.
This will work where you can't get in with a hammer, and is slightly more scientific.
If you ask me your bushes aren't in far enough anyway. You did sand away the plastic coating on the inside and grease before insertion? (ooo-er!). You could try a similar trick to the above but use studding, nuts and washers to compress the bushes in.
The thrust washers are in the Powerflex bushes - yours look like Superflex, the purple ones that I've just replaced because some melted. The Superflex (at least when I fitted them a few years ago) have a top hat shape, with the "washer" moulded in.
The Powerflex bushes have a metal pin, two thin cylindrical metal glacier bearings, two cylindrical moulded bushes, and depending on location either two white plastic washers or one white plastic washer and a thinner black one where the pin has a metal "washer" built in. They can be fun to locate if you try to insert them straight, but put one end in then pivot the other end in place and you only have to hold one washer in place and they go in pretty easily. A largish allen key is a godsend when trying to align the bush to insert the bolt; you can insert the smaller end and use it as a lever to fine tune the position.
Edited by victormeldrew on Tuesday 3rd April 09:07
victormeldrew said:
Rather than get Irish with the mounts, you could procure a short length of studding (say 10mm thread) and a couple of nuts. Push the studding through one of the mount holes, put the nuts on the studding between the flanges with a washer first and last, and push through the other hole. Apply grease to washers and flanges. Now with two spanners wind the nuts in opposite directions to push against the flange and force them apart. Go slightly wider than the bushes, they will pull back when you bolt up, and you'll be thankfull of the extra clearance as you fit the wishbones back.
This will work where you can't get in with a hammer, and is slightly more scientific.
This will work where you can't get in with a hammer, and is slightly more scientific.
Thanks for that Victor. In an inspirational moment this morning whilst 'dropping the kids off at the pool'
, I'd come up with the same solution. I'll give it a go and report back. However, I dont think scraping a few microns of plastic coating off is going to give me the extra 3mm+ of clearance that I'm looking for
The thrust washers were only for metalastic bushes ~ which kind of floated around, and packed the bush outer to a similar width as the centre. The two piece top hat bushes just slot straight in.
I can see the logic in using studding, but... you will need a lot of washers of ascending diameters to spread the load; will it spread out the flanges centrally with regard to the wishbone/chassis c/l?; is it any less damaging than drifting the flange out (block of wood whatever); it will take much longer.
The hammer is an invaluable engineering tool and it saddens me how much it is maligned, it is a fine implement which can be played with as much variation as any musical instrument.
Dave
I can see the logic in using studding, but... you will need a lot of washers of ascending diameters to spread the load; will it spread out the flanges centrally with regard to the wishbone/chassis c/l?; is it any less damaging than drifting the flange out (block of wood whatever); it will take much longer.
The hammer is an invaluable engineering tool and it saddens me how much it is maligned, it is a fine implement which can be played with as much variation as any musical instrument.
Dave
Use of studding does sound a bit gay to me - when you could just use a hammer. Maybe I am just too old school..
sparkythecat said:
victormeldrew said:
stuff
Thanks for that Victor. In an inspirational moment this morning whilst 'dropping the kids off at the pool'
, I'd come up with the same solution. I'll give it a go and report back. However, I dont think scraping a few microns of plastic coating off is going to give me the extra 3mm+ of clearance that I'm looking for
Gassing Station | Chimaera | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff