Rear suspension carrier bushings

[auret]

My rear suspension carrier bushings are through the shiny lining into the underlying brass. Any idea where I can get replacements?
Much appreciated.

Auret.

[George Des]

These bushings are available. I just got two of them last month through the MB Classic Center in Ca. Others such as SLS also show them , but when I tried to order, they were all out of stock so you may have to call.

George Des

[auret]

Hi George,

Thanks for your reply. Are the bushings a press fit or do you have to get the seats in the swing axle reamed out and the bearings fitted? I spoke to someone at our local machine shop and he didn't think he had a reamer that size.

Auret.

[waqas]

The following figure shows all the bushings at the rear axle. 

Can you please clarify which bushing you're referring to?

Is it 151 at the differential carrier, 62 at the axle ends, or 70 at the radius arm ends?

[George Des]

Aurtet,

There are actually tow different pieces to the bushing. One is the brass bushing itself with the grease hole and grooves. This is a simple press fit into the right axle tube section--one for each side. There are also two hardened steel bearings that are fixed to the axle connecting pin. These ride in the brass liners when the right axle tube is connected to the diffferential housing. Replacement of these can be a problem since they are a press fit to the connecting pin. I just went through the process of replacing these as well as the brass bushings. I completely destroyed a brand new connecting pin by trying to drive the pin through these hardened steel bearings--the end of the pin mushroomed beyond use. Fortunatley, Joe Alexander has sent me another pin. In the meantime, I've experimented and found a much better way to attack the steel bearings. Before trying to assemble the conencting pin and shims, super cool the connecting pin with some dry ice and heat one steel bearing with a heat gun. If the back end of your connecting pin is mushrooned slightly, you will have to slip on the large round bearing plate and shim that fit against the large retaining clip on the back end of the pin.  With the pin super cooled and the steel bushing heated, you should be able to press it on to the pin with very little force. If your using a new pin, you can install the bushing from the rea and it only needs to be pushed on about an tow inches and a half or so. It should be pressed to the rear of the pin up to the point where the original previoulsy left a tell-tale mark on the connecting pin.  The other steel bushing should simply be pressed into the foward eye of the right axle tube inside the brass lining. With the connecting pin assembled as described, you can now set the axle shims up in proper sequence with the rubber o-ring seals. Grease up the connecting pin and you should be able to drive the pin back in through the two eyes with considerably less force than if you tried to drive through both steel bushings. The key is the partial assembly of the connecting pin with one steel bushing--the rear one --attached. Otherwise you're trying to drive through tow very tight fittings and will undoubtedly mushroom the pin beyond use like I did. The dry ice and the grease make this assembly really easy to do. Hope this explanation helps.

George Des

[DavidBrough]

This can be a very tricky job to complete if you don't have the correct alignment tool for the job. In the end I had one made by a local engineering shop as I just couldn't get everything thing to line up properly during re assembly.

The special tool screws into the forward end of the pin and is about the same length with a strong taper on the first half and a more gentle taper on the second half. It’s all pretty straight forward and cost me about £20 if I remember correctly. Fitting everything back with the special dowel was childs play and I was able to carry out the proper shimming routines without any problem. This requires disassembly and measurement of shims a number of times to get the correct end float. If you don’t get this part right the axle will be either too tight and groan or too loose and be no better.

Additionally I had to have the axle tube bushings reamed before the pin bushes would fit and I do remeber the pin bushes being tight on the pin but not as tight as George's.

I will post a picture of the tapered dowel tonight.

[DavidBrough]

Here are a couple of photos of the alignment tool.

[auret]

Hi George,

Thanks for all the helpfull advice. Did you have to ream the brass bushings in order to get the steel ones in? Also where did you get the brass and steel bushings?

Thanks, Auret

[auret]

Hi Wagas,

The numbers are 153 and 161.

Thanks, Auret

[auret]

Thanks for the pictures David. I hope that I can manage without a tool and reaming.

Auret.

[waqas]

The numbers are 153 and 161.

Thanks, it all makes sense now.

[George Des]

I did have to ream the brass bushings in order to get the right axle to float freely. I used an adjustable hand reamer--size J--that I was able to buy through Victor Machine Exchange--website at www.victornet.com. It was about $27.00 U.S. They sell a complete line of these in all sizes. A very easy job to do--did not have to take very much off the brass bearings in order for the steel insert to slip in an out freely and perhap more importantly, accept grease through the grease fittings. Learned many little tricks during this exercise that you can avoid pounding on the conencting pin and ruining them like I did on two of the. Thanks to Joe A I was able to get another and on the third try, I had worked through all the bugs so to speak so it is now all back together..

George Des