ARB bushes.

[bigbadbob76]

Hi folks.
I picked up a 21mm ARB while we were away.
I'm gonna replce my 19mm one with it and hopefully recuce body roll on the corners without ending up with a harsh ride on rough roads.
so it would be a good time to change my drop link lower bushes.
Is it worth going for powerflex ones and should I go with blue ones or yellow ones?
Blue are standard for 2wd models.
Yellow are softer and reccomended for syncro models but might give me a softer ride on my 2wd.
any comments welcome.
Cheers.
BBB.

[R0B]

Personally, i would go with the ones recommended for your van.Is your van lowered? as the ride should not be that hard.

[bigbadbob76]

Cheers Rob.
mine's standard height.

[CovKid]

You won't actually feel any difference between stock ARB rubber ones and powerflex. For longevity, powerflex probably wins out though.

[Dubworth]

I've literally had all this swapped for Powerflex purple/blue yesterday on my 30mm lowered 21mm bar van, I will report back once I've done a few miles on it. Generally, I find the purple/blue bushes to be quite easy to live with once they have settled (they can sometimes initially feel pretty firm til they have a few miles under their belt). I seem to recall they are around 30% stiffer than stock rubber, with yellow being around 20%? It's worth mentioning my mechanic showed me the inner steel tubes of the lower mounts that came off, they were totally rotten and probably not doing much, none of this was visible until the mounts were off.

[bigbadbob76]

Cheers guys.
Blue one's and tubes on order, I'll report back too.

[bigbadbob76]

My bushes arrived today so I whipped off the old ARB and stuck on the 21mm one.
Easy job with no pitfalls. I did it with the wheels on the ground, this is fine if your van is on level ground but don't do it on a sideways slope.
Took it for a spin and for the first mile it rolled like a battleship untill things bedded in.
After that there was noticably less body roll and I could carry more speed in the corners and not lose momentum by slowing down.
No harshness at all, in fact the ride felt a bit softer, probably because things are moving more freely now.
I'll be doing a 500 mile round trip at the weekend so will get abeeter feel for it then.
Thanks for the advice guys.

[R0B]

I believe renewing the steering rack bushes can really make a difference to how the drive feels.I have some powerflex ones ordered,as mine look like they need changing.

[bigbadbob76]

They definately do mate.
I've got them in allready, they make the steering a lot more positive.
well worth it.

Now I have a spare ARB and drop links..... I have to try putting it on the rear somehow don't I.
There's a few threads on "the samba" about it.

Here's a front bar used as a rear bar-





My concern would be putting stresses on the mounting point on the trailing arm.
But if it's good enough for LeMons it's good enough for me.

[RogerT]

If you do that you'll need to beef up your Jesus handles too!

[bigbadbob76]

Aye, a big fat handle across the dash for the mrs to hang on to.
4 point seat belts too.

[R0B]

Whats that about lemons

[bigbadbob76]

it's LeMons, a 24hr race in California, not to be confused with Le-Mans.
Vehicles must be worth <$500, hence the lemons.

Looking at this diagram of the OE Krankenwagen rear bar-



and the part number for the ARB (item 10) is the same as my 19mm one, just the drop links and mounting point on the trailing arm are different. oh, and the body bushes and their clamps.

[Dubworth]

Glad you're enjoying the bushings, I've got mine bedding in now and already I can echo your words, very noticeable improvement in body roll etc.

[R0B]

I wonder if the brickwerks powerflex ARB to body bushes are going to make a lot of difference to these FEBI Bilstein eBay ones.There is a huge price difference.
https://www.brickwerks.co.uk/t3-parts/s ... te-85.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Genuine-FEBI ... #vi-ilComp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;