Club 80-90 Forums

Does anyone know what this rubber bush is called. I have movement in it and think it needs replacing. thanks steve. Some reason i cant get the pic up but its in the wiki section under broken radius the last pic of it broken. If you look above the broken radius you will see it. it runs the width of the van and theirs two triangular bushes. Really dont know what it is.

I assume you're on about items 1,2 & 3 ?

http://www.brickwerks.co.uk/index.php?o ... 6&Itemid=6

Ian

Its ok iv found what i was looking for. Its the anti roll bar mounts. Found a bit of play so just been to gsf got ball joints upper and lower, suspension bushes for anti roll link new plates and sleeves etc, 60 odd quid. Just hope iv not made a mistake buying cheaper rather than brickwerks. Is it a big job and can i do it on my drive. Never done anything like this before.

No problem, any time

Hijack!

I've got a couple of cracks in no.1 in that diagram. How much of an issue is it likely to cause?

The bush doesnt quite look the same - its a big round bulbus thing on mine, but maybe thats just what they look like once its been squished in.

a few cracks isant a problem , most vans will have this due to the age of the bushes.

however

if you are keeping the van long term it is advisable to get the bushes replaced.
also you will probably be suprised at the state of the number 2 bush/sleeve
of the many vans i have broke this is usually badly rusted or worn through. this then wears through the tie bar!


next time your van is in for service, or you have time at home with the correct tools (27mm spanner from memory) remove the front nut (dont touch the rear one) check the bush ,you can pull out the sleeve and check it. it will all go back together no problem.

woth noting that the sleeves are no longer available from vw and are not a standard size tube , but you can get a much harder/rust free stainless version from brickwerks + yon can buy the bushes.!

personally i would advise anyone with a van to carry out this check as i have stripped a few very clean vans , and they have had seriously weakened rods due to wear!

Sage advice.. i'll get hold of a new sleeve. Would that need to be lubricated with oil or anything before inserting?

just had the radius rod bushes done on mine. they looked well twisted and worn. used stainless spacers. The upper wishbone bushes looked well knackered too but at 23 years I guess they would. Noticable improvment in driving though.

Also, I assume I'm okay to just replace the outer bushes? As the inner ones look alright and it'll be much less effort if I don't have to remove the bar (its an early model, so I think this could be done without disturbing the inner bolt, but even so...)

In 5 years i think I have removed those bushes and found 2 vans that were worth refitting, thats it, we do loads, all vans that have not been to me before end up with them.
Inner bushes are easier on earlier vans as you can unbolt the radius rod completley, but on later vans it's a complete suspension off job to replace them.
Inners are usually split, but we tend to do the outers to "keep them going" until such time that it is prudent to do them (spring/damper/ball joint replacement)
Also, if they are too slack then it starts wearing the front panel out, and thats not a noce job to repair!

Simon Baxter wrote:In 5 years i think I have removed those bushes and found 2 vans that were worth refitting, thats it, we do loads, all vans that have not been to me before end up with them.
Inner bushes are easier on earlier vans as you can unbolt the radius rod completley, but on later vans it's a complete suspension off job to replace them.
Inners are usually split, but we tend to do the outers to "keep them going" until such time that it is prudent to do them (spring/damper/ball joint replacement)
Also, if they are too slack then it starts wearing the front panel out, and thats not a noce job to repair!

Right, well I've decided i'm going to do just the outer bushes and the sleeves - even if its just being anal rather than actually needed. So.. 27mm socket ordered, bushes from your good self Simon and I gave the bolts a blast of rost-off last night to get them in the mood.

Tidy.
I think there are some pictures on the brickwerks facebook pages in the photographs section, in workshop I think..

Yep, 3 photos here...

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Brickwerk ... 7930360831" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Simon Baxter wrote:Tidy.
I think there are some pictures on the brickwerks facebook pages in the photographs section, in workshop I think..

Yep, 3 photos here...

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Brickwerk ... 7930360831" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Have you ever considered opening a branch in the South, so that us softies down here could benefit from your expertise?

Simon Baxter wrote:In 5 years i think I have removed those bushes and found 2 vans that were worth refitting, thats it, we do loads, all vans that have not been to me before end up with them.
Inner bushes are easier on earlier vans as you can unbolt the radius rod completley, but on later vans it's a complete suspension off job to replace them.
Inners are usually split, but we tend to do the outers to "keep them going" until such time that it is prudent to do them (spring/damper/ball joint replacement)
Also, if they are too slack then it starts wearing the front panel out, and thats not a noce job to repair!

So on a late(90) van it's not possible to unthread the radius rod from the lower arm despite how it appears in the exploded diagram?
I need to do the both inner and outer radius rod bushes, and have already bought the stainless sleeves from yourself in preparation.
Was hoping it was going to be easier than it sounds - I just fitted AVO's and replaced upper balljoints - seems I should have done radius rod bushes then?
Cheers

As I understand it...

On early vans the radius rod mount completely unbolts from the lower arm. This makes it possible to extract without changing the setting.

On later vans the rod is threaded at both ends and has to be unscrewed from the lower arm. This then means that the positioning cannot easily be retained and so you really need to realign the geometry afterwards.