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Thread: greasable shackles poly bushings...installed!
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Brad
Rotorhead
Posts: 1672
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posted March 04, 2011 03:17 PM |
 Edited By: Brad on 4 Mar 2011 15:44 |
Greasable shackles with poly bushings...installed!
SuperPro poly bushings with crush tube. Gun drilled bolts with zerk. Home made shackles out of 1/4" thick mild steel plate.
Truck rides softer and smoother. No squeaks and rear supension isn't has harsh. It rides quieter - less BOOM and vibration. It allows the leaf springs to work properly and the bolt to rotate inside the bushing instead of fighting a bolt that doesn't want to turn inside the stock bushing. Due to lack of grease and rusting. Also lets the head of the bushing to slide against the shackle since there is grease inbetween the two. The stocker bushings are always ripped and torn where they meet the stock shackle.
I don't cringe anymore when I drive over the washboard section of the 91 and 605 freeway.
Overall the truck's handling changed from slight oversteer and easy rotation to neutral.
I used the included grease on the O.D. of the bushing as it's designed to last a LONG time. And used Sta-Lube Moly-Graph high pressure wheel bearing grease everywhere else. Harbor Freight sells a little 3oz hand held grease gun and the Moly-Graph grease for a few bucks. It is amazing stuff.
Nylox nut threaded over a generous amount of blue loctite gel. Grade 8 hardened washers. Por-15 black paint.
SuperPro website:
http://www.fulcrumsuspensions.com.au/superpro.html
THE SHACKLE BUSHING
http://www.fulcrumsuspensions.com.au/images/stories/superpro_technical_pdfs/SuperPro_Shackle_bushes.pdf
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mattraver
Revvin Up
Posts: 95
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posted March 04, 2011 10:02 PM |
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thanks for the info ,great write up
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TimPA136
Redlining
Posts: 325
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posted March 06, 2011 02:06 PM |
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rear poly bushings
Thanks for the excellent information , references and pictures.
Tim
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repuzentn
Redlining
Posts: 225
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posted March 06, 2011 09:14 PM |
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That's awesome Brad! Yeah, I know what you mean about that washboard section on the 91, the 10 is the worst though! Another thing I have to put on the things I need and gotta do list. Thanks for the info.
____________
-'74 Phoenix Blue
-Daily driver ;-)
-Stock GSL-SE engine
-Stock Nikki carb.
-4-spd tranny (time for a
TII one, synchro's are
grinding)
-Racing Beat road-race
headers
-RB 20" pre-silencer
-REV25 Rotor muffler
-Gilmer drive pulleys(fun
while it lasted!)
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repumax
Redlining
Posts: 427
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posted March 07, 2011 10:42 AM |
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Awesome Brad! Thanks for sharing the info.
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Brad
Rotorhead
Posts: 1672
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posted March 25, 2011 02:12 PM |
Edited By: Brad on 25 Mar 2011 14:14
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More info,,,,and the prices I paid back in 2008.
Poly bushings are SuperPro SPF0311K bought from http://www.globalperformanceparts.com/. They were on backorder, had to ship from Australia by boat, took over 2 months to arrive. AUD$ exchange rate was in our favor then. Below are 2008 prices!@!!!@@#
3 x REAR SPRING FRONT EYE BUSHING KIT (SPF0311K) = $96.21
You can also order it here for $44 for 2 bushings and sleeve.
http://www.tein.com/products/superpro_price_02.html or try the manufacturer direct http://www.fulcrumsuspensions.com.au/superpro.html
Shackle bolts - rifle drilled with the zerk ready to go with nylox nuts. Made by DAYSTAR. They were also on backorder, took several weeks before shipping.
http://www.jeeperz-creeperz.com/manufacturers-daystar-18mm25-110mm-greaseable-bolt-p-4187.html
3 x 18MM-2.5 x 110MM Greaseable Bolt Kit (KU02014) = $71.85
The bushings have a hardened steel crush sleeve with a 17mm Inside Diameter to fit the stock REPU shackles. *No one* makes a 17mm bolt let alone a greasable one. So you need to enlarge the ID of the sleeve by one millimeter. Since it's hardened steel I used Cobalt SAE sized drill bits until it was a hair under 18mm then I used my HSS 18mm bit with lots of cutting oil to finish the job. This took *hours* with a drillpress as the sleeve kept seizing onto the bit and spinning. The table needs to be kept parallel to the bit so it goes in straight and true, etc...
You also want to drill some chamfered holes through the sleeve first for the grease to flow thru the sleeve and into the ID of the bushing.. I did 4 holes. Then enlarge the ID of the sleeve and finish it with a wire brush to smooth it out and put a faint grooved pattern for the grease to move in.
These bushings are not setup to be used with a greasable bolt since REPU did not come from Japan with greasable bolts......Poly bushing needs to be modified for use with greasable bolts. I used a fine metric tap to cut a spiral groove in the ID of each bushing for grease to flow in. Then dremel some grooves on the head of each bushing but don't go all the way to the outer edge or it'll rip and also create a pressure relief for all your grease to flow through instead of also greasing the inside of everything.
Use 3/4" HARDENED washers and 1/4" thick plate for the shackles. POR-15 paint is smooth as a baby's behind and works well with the moly grease. Don't forget generous amounts of blue loctite so the nut won't come off. I installed one side at a time, torqued it to 25 ft lbs while in the air then dropped in on the ground. Bounce it 10 times then quickly torque to 58 ft lbs before the loctite sets. The 76 ft lb spec for REPU is totally unnecessary and compresses bushings too much leading to a deformed and ripped bushing while accomplishing nothing.. All the other MAZDA trucks in my Chilton shop manual call for 58 which is just fine.
It's also nice and quiet. No squeaks.
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-brad-
74 REPU Lawn Green
81 Rx-7 racecar. 12a J-
Bridge
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