Urethane bushings

[uncapj]

Hey small question are urethane bushings good for street use or do they wear to fast for areas like the shift linkage irs covers and axle tube bushings in the front
_________________
I lack the tools that I have come to learn are imperative to work on a Volkswagen a compression gauge and a timing light.

they say money doesn't buy happiness but it buys car parts and those make me happy

Cars are like the perfect girl always ready and never say no

Current 74 Std Beetle (class 11ish)
Past 67 Baja

[goober]

My only experience is with the old red urethane doughnut bushings on the rear spring-plate on my '70 Bug. They've been wearing good (25000 miles, still tight) with no squeaking or noise. I lubed them with silicone grease that came with the bushings when I first put them in and haven't done anything since.

The biggest downside is that they act like solid flat bushings or bearings. Rubber doughnuts have a tendency to 'grow' to the steel at which point the rubber torques instead of rubbing like a bearing. Urethane bushings will never 'grow' to the steel and will always rub and wear like a flat bearing.

[Tim Donahoe]

Shift linkage? I tried that route with urethane.

I replaced my worn shift coupler with the red urethane bushings (I re-used the original cage). The shifting was nice and tight. But there was a price to pay. The hard urethane allowed too much vibration to travel along the shift rod, and I got a very annoying rattle.

I finally purchased a good OEM shift coupler from The Classifieds and changed out the red urethane. The rattle went away.

Original VW shift coupler bushings have a certain amount of "cush" to them. This "cush" is just enough to soften the vibration. The red urethane has no cush at all.

Tim

[uncapj]

Hmm so no good for the shift linkage are you sure the bushing in the tunnel isn't worn what about the urethane bushings for the IRS caps and front beam bushings
_________________
I lack the tools that I have come to learn are imperative to work on a Volkswagen a compression gauge and a timing light.

they say money doesn't buy happiness but it buys car parts and those make me happy

Cars are like the perfect girl always ready and never say no

Current 74 Std Beetle (class 11ish)
Past 67 Baja

[Tim Donahoe]

I replaced the shift-rod bushing at the same time I installed those red urethane coupler bushings. If I owned a racer, I'd definitely go with the red urethane--but no way with a driver. They deliver a great shift, but the virbration/rattle when driving on the street is really too much.

VW created and installed their OEM coupler bushings so that they work well--but don't transmit that vibration. However, if a noisy ride is okay with you, then go for the red urethane.

My bug is noisy enough without adding to the cacophony.

Personally, I wouldn't use urethane for anything in a bug. To me, the material is so hard, it loses a lot of shock/vibration factor. It wears better, of course--and lasts longer, but some parts are meant to have a little cushion to them. VW knew this.

Tim

[banditwolf]

I think I'll go with rubber for most or all bushings for my beetle. I don't see a beetle needing the stiff urethane. It's a light and slow car. I may use them on the torsion tubes though. I do like the urethane on my Trans Am, but that's a whole different application.
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1973 Super Beetle l 1981 Trans Am

[VWCOOL]

There is some value in poly bushes for a track car where the lack of distortion can assist with suspension geometry... but not really for a street car

Poly bush in the gear link transmits noise - as mentioned by others - and is not really nice on the gearbox internals (shift forks)

Poly in the trans mounts: the nose mounts tend to go oval after a few dozen full-throttle starts. This leads to gearbox movement, axle tramp and then busted bits

I haven't fitted poly to the beams seals as I see no performance or durability advantage for my bitumen-based cars, however there may be an advantage for off-road...

[modok]

Of course rubber lasts longest. That's why all cars use rubber. Quality does vary.

[pepsiguy78]

[60ragtop]

You need to remove this front piece on a super beetle
_________________
Rick
Certified Mechanic by the State of Michigan in 1977
ASA certified in 1987
Certified Hunter Wheel Alignment Master Technician 1986

[beetlenut]

[Tim Donahoe]

I didn't have to remove any access plate up front. I did have to remove the access plate under the back seat (above the transmission) to get to the coupler.

The 1974 Super Beetle has a long enough nose so that no front plates are required for r&r on the shift rod bushing, or coupler. However, it would be prudent to remove the passenger seat, as you're going to need the room to work in the shifter area. You can skip seat removal, but make life easy and remove the right-side seat.

Remove the back seat.

Remove the access plate under the seat at the tunnel (don't lose the screw that holds the plate down).

Clip the safety wire at the coupler and remove the coupler screw.

Go up to the shifter and put it in second gear.

Mark with liquid whiteout (the old kind with a brush) at least two areas where your shifter housing contacts the tunnel (front left, back right is good). Make sure the white out brush touches the shift housing and the tunnel. You'll have an easier time adjusting your shifter when you put it back on the tunnel if you do this.

Remove the two shift housing bolts. Pull up the shifter and its housing and inspect all up in there--after removing the boot. Clean and re-grease the interior of the shift housing, and the shifter bell. Set aside.

Look at your shift plate. Remember how it was sitting when you removed it. If it's not worn, grease it well at the side ramps.

Get a pair of pliers--the old kind with the interior circular pincers--and turn the shift rod so that the cup on the shift rod is sideways or upside down (in the upright position, the top of the cup will bump into interior tunnel things if you don't turn the rod).

Now this is important: use the front edge of the shifter hole as a fulcrum point (this give you leverage) and grab the shift rod with the pliers and with the arms of the pliers, resting against the edge of the tunnel, start working the rod forward a little--an inch or so.

Now stop and go back to the back seat and remove your coupler. You may need to turn the rod with your pliers to get a good grip on the coupler nut and bolt. Twist the rod one way or the other to get your wrench (and pliers to hold the nut at the coupler) so that you can get the coupler apart. Remove the coupler.

Go back up front and grab the rod as before and, using that tunnel edge as a fulcrum point, start working the rod forward toward the front of the car. It takes a while, Pinch with the pliers and lever the rod forward. You may encounter resistance as the cup's edge bumps into whatever. So turn the rod until it slips past the obstruction. Sometimes, you may have to work the rod back again and start over.

Keep moving the rod forward until it's out of the front bushing. It will actually move out of your way. Try your best not to scrape the rod with the teeth of the pliers. You want that rod to stay smooth.

Remove the old bushing and its important metal ring--unless it just falls apart, in which case, just let it fall.

Shine a light into the shift-rod hole to inspect the bracket that holds the shift-rod bushing. Hopefully, it's still nice and round.

First, put the new shift-rod bushing metal ring on the new shift rod bushing. Grease up the inside and outside of the bushing--and with your longest finger, insert the bushing (tapered end toward the back of the car) into the shift-rod bracket hole--making sure that the shift-rod bushing "split" is pointing toward the left (3 o'clock position). Push it home. If you drop it, use a magnet to retrieve it (the metal ring around the bushing is metal, after all). Push the bushing home, using your closed pliers after getting it in most of the way, if necessary.

Grab the rod and brush grease on the tip--all over. Turn the rod if necessary, but get the entire tip greasy. Then grab the rod with your pliers and fulcrum that end into the bushing. It's not easy to get it started, but with the leverage from the fulcrum point edge, it will go.

Now use a brush and grease as mush of the rod as possible (you'll only get 3 inches) and grab and shove the rod backwards. Watch the rod to see that it's going in straight. If not straight, it will encounter inner-tunnel items--tubes, brackets, that is.

After three inches, brush on more grease to the rod--working it around the bottom with your fingers (it's a messy job, you know) and fulcrum the rod some more. Keep doing this greasing and shoving until you're to a point where you can actually reach in and grab hold of the rod from the coupler access hole. Grab it with your hand, level it up, and pull it back, making sure you greased the rod up front.

You may encounter obstacles while doing this, so turn the rod, as the front cup may be catching, or the coupler end of the rod is catching on a tube.

Once the shift rod is where you want it, make sure the cup up front is facing UP, then attach the new coupler--using safety wire, too.

Fill the shift rod cup with grease, and attach your shifter, by lining up the white out marks exactly.

Try shifting a little to see if you need to adjust the shifter. Hopefully not. but, if so, just come back to this thread and ask how to do it.

This is how you do this job without removing that front crash shield. But, since the greasing a few inches at a time is a real pain, the next time I do this on a Super Beetle, I will definitely try to remove the front crash panel and grease the entire rod at once before shoving it in.

Get your coupler, shift-rod bushing and its metal ring, at Wolfsburg West. However, I got a good OEM coupler from the Samba Classifieds, and the shift-rod bushing and metal ring from Wolfgang International here in town. No issues in the past two years.

Get the stock coupler--not the urethane.

You'll notice your shifting is infinitely easier to shift after completing this job. But whenever it starts to get a bit harder to shift, remove the back shift-rod housing bolt ONLY and spray some spray CRC lithium grease into the hole, aiming the spray at the area of the rod just before the shift-rod bushing. Use a flash light to see that you're spraying the rod--and not the tunnel floor .

Tim
_________________
Let's do the Time Warp again!

Richard O'Brien

[pepsiguy78]

Thank you very much Tim for all the advice - Very much appreciated.

Rick

[Tim Donahoe]

I just remembered something. I only used the shift-hole edge as a fulcrum point to rest the pliers on, when re-installing the shift rod.

When removing the rod toward the front of the car, I just grabbed it with the pliers and yanked it a few inches at a time.

Tim
_________________
Let's do the Time Warp again!

Richard O'Brien