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Wishbone Pivot Lubrication


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As some of you may know I have stripped down the front driver's side suspension on my 1200 Herald after noticing how tired a number of the bushes looked.

 

I'm replacing the rubber bushes with blue polyurethane items, and have bought the correct grease to allow these to be inserted.

 

However I am assuming that I also need to lubricate the internal metal bush to wishbone bolt interface where the wishbone pivots vertically, see blue circles in picture below.

 

A600C8A4-752A-4122-A9AA-77405E57D5BA.jpg

 

What should I be using for this? Grease? EP90?

 

All advice happily accepted.

 

Thanks

 

Karl

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The bush will pivot about the tube insert

this tube is clamped by the pivot through bolt it does not and should not be moving

and does not need any lubrication other than to improve / resist corrosion of the bolt

 

only fully tighten the pivot bolts when the car is on the deck at its static ride height

Not hanging off a jack or un bodied.

 

pete

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Used silicone grease on the polyurethane bushes and the stainless steel inserts I recently fitted to my Vitesse and copperslip on the bolts. Also found the wishbones moved fairly easily after tightening the bolts to the required torque. Having said that I also made an adaptor to fit the top of a scissors jack so I could lift each wheel in turn to tighten shock absorber bolts etc.

 

Regards

 

Paul

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Be very careful using grease or other lubricants with bushes.

 

Both Rubber and Polyurethane bushes don't react well to grease and oils.

 

For rubber bushes, if lubrication is necessary, use the red rubber grease.

 

For Polyurethane bushes, use a fully synthetic grease, such as Super Lube Multi-purpose synthetic grease.

 

Also, be wary of bushes that have a Stainless steel sleeve - you get more corrosion of the pinch bolt than when using a normal steel sleeve !

To minimise corrosion with stainless steel sleeves, you need to use stainless steel bolts - BUT as it is for a suspension system, where bolt tensile strength is important, Stainless Steel bolts are a no no - they aren't strong enough.

 

The best way to prevent corrosion between the sleeve and the bolt is to use plenty of waterproof grease (such as Molykote Longterm W2) on the shank of the bolt - but being careful to keep it out of contact with the rubber or Polyurethane material.

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All, many thanks for the responses on this.

 

Sounds like I ought to protect the sleeve/bolt with silicone grease purely to resist corrosion, as one of the original bolts was seized into both the sleeve and the fulcrum bracket when I removed the wishbone, and I want to avoid that in future.

 

Thanks again

 

Karl

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yes its a crush tube   , so you do the bolt up to the book figure of 22-28lbft ,  that is only achieved when the tube is clamped solid between the legs of the bracket

it may  be forced to rotate under some  extreme forces but in normal use its static,   its the elasticity of torsional twist  in the bush that allows any movement  of the wishbone,  hence the need to tighten when on the deck at kerb weight

 

well something like that 

 

Pete

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Interesting stuff indeed. I've been slowly undertaking a similar comprehensive front suspension overhaul this winter. An MOT advisory on a perished rubber fulcrum bush and one thing led to another. I realise now I've forgotten to use the little sachet that came with the blue poly-bushes - and I've only got n/s lower wishbone to go back on. Is it worthwhile me taking the ones already back on (n/s upper and o/s upper and lower) off again to put the lubricant in? Nothing has been tightened up yet as the car's up in the air with the road spring units still on the workbench. I had though the lube was for use if you couldn't get them in. Mine went in quite easily (and I was grateful to finally find something straightforward to do!).

Any thoughts much appreciated.

Cheers

Richard

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 Richard    no you dont have a life/running  problem with dry bushes as yours assembled easily.

this is c/o superflex    note it is   'ASSEMBLY'  Lubricant    not  a general working lubricant ,  so it assists assembly only    .   Pete

 

Technical Information General Handling of SuperFlex Products

  • Remove all dust, previous bush residue, paint or old grease from contact surfaces, prior to fitment.
  • Ensure any original outer shell is not inadvertently left in place. A common mistake where the old rubber bush has unbonded from its shell. In some instances the outer shell is intentionally left in place, as described in models and descriptions on our price lists.
  • Do not fit new bushes to worn, rusty, or distorted fittings. Worn components must be replaced.
  • Lightly coat bush contact surfaces with assembly lubricant (where supplied) prior to fitment.
  • Insert the stainless steel tubes (where applicable) after the bushes are installed
    into their housing.
  • Immersing high-interference fit bushes in warm water, can assist fitting in a very cold climate.
  • Before the final tightening, suspension arms must be at normal ride height.
  • When replacing original componentry, ensure that all nuts and bolts are tightened to original manufacturer’s specifications.
  • Bushes must not come into contact with alcohol-based solvents such as MEK, methanol, or methylated spirit.
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