Polyurethane bushings

[Mellow Yellow 74]

The radius rod bushings were replaced with rubber ones and they are fine.

You might be right about the grease but I used the recommended grease in the recommended locations as per the supplied instructions. The stuff I used was pretty tacky and I used plenty all over when I regreased them, plus I greased inside the bores and inside the mounts. Surely this would provide enough lubrication to prevent making noise for a short time if it was just a grease issue?

I see from your photos in the other thread that the LCA mounting point on the Syncro is different to the 2WD. You're seems to leave more of the bushing exposed at the sides so maybe this has something to do with it. On mine when I torqued the bolts up I could see the gap between the bushing and the arm closing and grease squeezed out. The flange on the end of the bushing seemed to bulge out a little, so they are wedged in tight which doesn't seem right to me.
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1962 Karmann Ghia
1974 Deluxe Microbus
1985 Caravelle (Vanagon)

[MsTaboo]

The steel inner sleeve will prevent the bushing from being squeezed too far.
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Currently:
'90 Syncro Westy 3 knob w/Zetec

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[Mellow Yellow 74]

[pushkick]

i installed some new rubber bushings on the radius arm and when they did the alignment last time i checked the front bushings and the rubber had splits and cracks from tightening the outer nuts on the radius arm. i am currently in the process of rebuilding the front suspension and when i took the old lca bushings out the rubber was in good shape not dry rotted but there was wearing on the outer edges of the where it had rubbed against the mounting frame. so given that the rubber had worn down there if this was to happen with poly maybe the poly would not wear in the same way or not at all with rubbing motion and this would cause the noise issue. the characteristics of the rubber seems to be like sanding a piece of wood small granules rub off with friction over time and i dont know if this same action would have the same result with poly.
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i see said the blind man to his deaf dog
i am going to quit smoking and drinking and die a healthy man. gotta laugh
there is no deed to the planet earth
1990 vw automatic camper

[pushkick]

here is a interesting issue when i removed my trailing arm bushings the bolt wouldnt come out was able to take nut off but bolt would spin but i could not extract it. what was going on was the rubber bond had deteriorated and the sleeve was seized to the bolt so the bolt and sleeve were turning and could not be pulled out. had to cut the bolt off on both sides to remove bushing
_________________
i see said the blind man to his deaf dog
i am going to quit smoking and drinking and die a healthy man. gotta laugh
there is no deed to the planet earth
1990 vw automatic camper

[Mellow Yellow 74]

I had the opposite problem on one of my rear trailing arm bolts - it wouldn’t turn at all because the bolt was rusted to the sleeve and I snapped the bolt (and almost my shoulder when it let go) when I swung (swang?) on it with a 1/2” breaker bar.
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1962 Karmann Ghia
1974 Deluxe Microbus
1985 Caravelle (Vanagon)

[tencentlife]

[pushkick]

i guess it would be routine service every couple of years to pull all bushing bolts out and camber and re-anti seize them. or you could make the sleeves out of a metal (corten, titanium ss etc)that was less prone to oxidation.
_________________
i see said the blind man to his deaf dog
i am going to quit smoking and drinking and die a healthy man. gotta laugh
there is no deed to the planet earth
1990 vw automatic camper

[Mellow Yellow 74]

Good call on the antisieze when assembling but routinely pulling them and reapplying seems like overkill to me.
_________________
1962 Karmann Ghia
1974 Deluxe Microbus
1985 Caravelle (Vanagon)

[pushkick]

i am by no way a chemist but it seems that the poly bushings i have seen that are worn or failed do not wear in the same way that rubber bushing wear and fail. the poly seems to smear or deform vs rubber seems to rub off in very small granules. the difference in material characteristics are probably causing the issues with noise.
_________________
i see said the blind man to his deaf dog
i am going to quit smoking and drinking and die a healthy man. gotta laugh
there is no deed to the planet earth
1990 vw automatic camper

[tencentlife]

[porterbrown]

[MarkWard]

I smeared everything and this is what I noticed. The arm was rotating around the outside of the bushing too. It’s designed to rotate around the sleeve. The design probably dictates to lube only the moving surfaces. I was more concerned about dry surfaces that “might” move.

I’ll see how it goes. So, it’s up to you I suppose.
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☮️

[Christopher Schimke]

[TinyPickle]

Hey,

reviving this old thread for a question, what would be a good alternative for bushing snot on european market for powerflex bushings?

Shipping is 60$ from 'merica across the puddle..

[Christopher Schimke]

[TinyPickle]

Hey, thnx for the reply!
Will do. I would rather buy an alternative closer to my location (no import tax and messing with import office..), but i guess this snot is the real deal..

Could you perhaps point me to some good alternative (if it exist..)?
Otherwise, i'll get you snot

[Christopher Schimke]

[TinyPickle]

[Crankey]

I have powerflex on most of the front end now and I like them. Not squeeky, used provided grease from t3 and my personal opinion is they are great. If it's time to replace your bushings...I'd say these work really well. I'm confident I will be dead before they wear out.