Delrin beam bushings on the street

[BYeaton]

I have done LOTS of reading into the needle bearing vs urethane vs delrin argument. I'm looking for some real world feedback or advice please:

I have a 70 Bay with a 4" narrowed beam, which happens to be equipped with the red urethane bushings. I am aware that the needle bearing beams usually ride the best/ are the quietest/are most robust since it is a stock design. The front end of my bus squeaks A LOT. Greasing has done nothing for me so I'm looking for alternatives.

I understand that to install needle bearings, the beam would have to be reamed and fitted, etc which seems costly and very labor intensive. Probably not worth it. In hindsight, I would have loved to buy a needle bearing beam but this is what came in the bus and it is what it is.

The other option I came across was using Delrin (or even UHMW) bushings to replace the urethane. Has anyone ran delrin bushings on their beam on the street? Most of the info I find on this site shows them in offroad scenarios. I know Airkewld uses them in their beams, anyone from that camp give feedback?

I'd love to find a solution to make the ride smoother and quieter.

Any opinions on this would help. Thanks in advance.

[VWsArent4Hippies]

I don’t believe anyone is making delrin balljoint bus bushings
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[BYeaton]

[VWsArent4Hippies]

I’ve used delrin in beetles before, it works fine. Are the ones you have actually urethane? What brand are they?

Wagens West uses their own blend and they work well
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[BYeaton]

[VWsArent4Hippies]

[BYeaton]

[BYeaton]

Anyone else have experience with this? Maybe I should post in the type 1 forum where people may have used delrin more often?

[framed]

I made my own narrowed beam last year of orig bay beam.
Because year 2017 we had new bearing solutions
(and I am mechanical engineer)
had to try something I used on my work related designs.
SKF filament wound bearings. Maintenance free.
Inner diam = bearing surface was standard, outer diam. needed some
lathe work to fit beam.

5000 miles now testdrive behind. Quiet and smooth.

[vwwestyman]

I know it isn't a Bus, but years ago I installed the red urethane bushings in the front suspension of my VW Corrado.

It squeaked and was kind of annoying for a while, but they "wore in" or whatever and after a little while, for whatever reason, they did stop squeaking.

Perhaps all you need to do is turn the radio up for a couple months of driving and they'll quiet down, too!
_________________
Dave Cook

President, Wild Westerner Club

1978 Champagne Edition Westy, repowered to '97 Jetta TDI
1973 Wild Westerner
My Thing

[jtauxe]

I just replaced the beam bushings in my '78 double cab with delrin ones, but there are 0 miles on these so far. Maybe check back with me in a year or so....
_________________
John
"Travelling in a fried-out Kombi, on a hippie trail, head full of zombie..." - Colin Hay and Ron Strykert
http://vw.tauxe.net
1969 Transporter, 1971 Westfalia, 1976, 1977, 1976, 1977, 1971, 1973, 1977 Westfalias,
1979 Champagne Sunroof, 1974 Westfalia Automatic, 1979 Transporter, 1972 Sportsmobile, 1973 Transporter Wild Westerner, 1974 Westfalia parts bus, 1975 Mexican single cab *FOR SALE*, 1978 Irish 4-door double cab RHD

[BYeaton]

[BYeaton]

[BYeaton]

[vwwestyman]

[framed]

[raygreenwood]

Delrin....or more specifically glass filled Delrin would be good. But....in the long term Delrin has some issues with some of the by-products of grease break down. But for the more readily available materials....it should do ok.

Bear in mind that Delrin is not actually a bearibg material.....so if it gets dry before you can get around to greasing it....it will wear. Its also brittle and crack prone is very cold weather. The glass filled variety....less so.

Urethane.....is not useful for this area. In roughly 5 years it will have increased hardneas by about 15-20% and will shrink about 3% and will at this point start being attacked by grease by-products. As hard as these parts are to reach.....do you want to be doing this again in 5-7 years?

The SKF filament wound bearings are glass fiber with a PTFE cast inner surface.....and epoxy resin (there are some carbon fiber variants on thr market but that is not needed here).

While these would be excellent.....I would be wary of anything using epoxy as the resin. All of them can have age issues and issues with oils that leach out of the grease. I have used this type of bearing in numerous printing presses as precision rod guide bearinga. Very nice....but they do wear out.

UHMW would be very nice but make sure its the harder, cast machineable variety.

If your budget is good....the ideal material would be Torlon 4301.....which is bearing grade. This has a constant temp range of a little over 500°F....is chemically inert up to nitric acid.....is graphite filled....has a coefficent of friction only a few percent lower than Teflon and is about 10-15% harder than delrin. Very machineable.

This is the material Igus uses for bearings. I use them to replace the needle bearings on the coujyer shaft in 004 transmissions. But its pricey.

A piece of rod stock big enough to make about 8 bushings this large would be in the $330 range.

A company like Igus may have some pre-made bushings close to size that can be turned down. Ray