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Greaseable polyurethane sway bar bushings
- Thread starter Awesomeness
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I've never been able to personally see it, but a number of MTV owners have bought them and it is my understanding that they do fit. 2" diameter bar.
coachgeo
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whom has the bushings for rear axle sway bar connection to..... rear axle?
really seems like it is these bushings where sway bar attaches to the axle is the one that need grease nipple. Actually it is not bushing that needs nipple here... it is the bolt that does. What happens is the sleeve inside rusts itself to the bolt where it is supposed to be instead attached to the rubber. In action the rubber and sleeve should and pivot on the bolt. When sleeve seizes itself to the bolt.... the rubber breaks away from the sleeve and this instead pivots around the seized together parts. Other issue is once bolt and sleeve rust themselves together.... you can't remove the sway bar to replace it or the bushing cause the bolt won't come out; due to the sleeve now sieed to it, making the total diameter larger than the bolt hole.
This is where I am at now..... only thing can think of right now is to use sawzall to cut the bolt-n-sleeve through the small space between the axle bracket and the sway bar on each end. Have heated the shiat out of it to try to get the sleeve to free itself from the bolt but its not happening.
any other ideas?
really seems like it is these bushings where sway bar attaches to the axle is the one that need grease nipple. Actually it is not bushing that needs nipple here... it is the bolt that does. What happens is the sleeve inside rusts itself to the bolt where it is supposed to be instead attached to the rubber. In action the rubber and sleeve should and pivot on the bolt. When sleeve seizes itself to the bolt.... the rubber breaks away from the sleeve and this instead pivots around the seized together parts. Other issue is once bolt and sleeve rust themselves together.... you can't remove the sway bar to replace it or the bushing cause the bolt won't come out; due to the sleeve now sieed to it, making the total diameter larger than the bolt hole.
This is where I am at now..... only thing can think of right now is to use sawzall to cut the bolt-n-sleeve through the small space between the axle bracket and the sway bar on each end. Have heated the shiat out of it to try to get the sleeve to free itself from the bolt but its not happening.
any other ideas?
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Kroil, the oil that creeps. Also had luck with an air hammer breaking rust bonds.
coachgeo
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oh we did that too.... A LOT. no budge. heated to glowing red about 4 or 5 times.... first just to get the nuts off lol. Im looking to see if I can find an equivalent "wet bolt" (zerked bolt)
rustystud
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These bushings look exactly like the front sway bar bushings used on Gillig 40ft buses. They are made from heavy duty Urathane with a grease zerk hole. I replaced hundreds of these over the years.
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The design (e.g. D-shaped rubber part with grease hole) is essentially the same across most/all uses, from a small commuter car to the biggest OTR trucks. I tried finding a CoTS replacement, but couldn't (there might be one out there still). I don't think the bushings S&S used were CoTS. They seem like they were custom made for the application.
Third From Texas
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btw: I ordered a set of these. Quite happy with the results.
rustystud
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What is the size of the sway-bar shaft ? The Gillig bushings are 1.5" if I remember correctly.
Third From Texas
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rustystud
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I suppose someone could call them and ask what sizes are available from them. Here's their ebay site.
https://www.ebay.com/i/192820634269?chn=ps
Just so the moderators know, this is "not" a live auction.
JonMolander
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Awesomeness, I just replied to your last PM from months ago. I'm in need of a set of M1082 bushings. Took me a while to tear into it finally. I measured my sway bar at 1.67" and the retainer has dimensions of 2.75" tall x 2.75" wide.
Cgray
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I am constantly amazed at the amazing people on this page. Great job on the designs.
rustystud
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If that sway-bar measures out to be 1.67" then the factory "Gillig" bus bushings should fit .
At $30.00 a pop, that is not a bad price. https://www.ebay.com/i/192820634269?chn=ps
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I don't know. At $30 it might be worth a try, but that's a full 1/8" that the ID is small. I don't think you're going to get it on there.
JonMolander
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I'll admit I haven't worked with polyurethane much. Could I potentially drill or ground out the inner diameter to get it to fit on the sway bar? The height is pretty close but the length is 1.25" extra...shouldn't be a big deal though.
rustystud
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Like I mentioned earlier. I don't know the actual size of the Gillig sway-bar. I just assumed it was 1.5" . It very well could be the 1.67" that "JonMolander" measured. That is why I said to get a hold of Gillig to find out.
I am retired from the transit department so I no longer have access to the buses or I would just go and measure one.
I'm pretty sure though that this part will fit. Why ? Because most manufactures will use what is out there in the market place instead of manufacturing a totally unique piece. Since this front sway-bar system totally looks like the Gillig system which by the way they bought, they did not manufacture this system. That tells me it is in all likely hood the same parts the military vender used.
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It's right in the post on eBay that you linked. That's where I got it from. "Inner Diameter: 1 1/2""
"this front sway-bar system totally looks like the Gillig system"... All swaybar systems on everything look like this, so that's not really justification for anything. The parts the military used are 100% definitely not the same as this Gillig one.
The polyurethane is a rubber, a little harder than a car tire. You really can't drill or grind it without it looking ugly (e.g. tearing, pilling, melting, etc.). Maybe if you froze it hard with liquid nitrogen? Before I tried that (I wouldn't), I would do something else like wrap 1/4" rubber sheet around the bar, or some other hillbilly rigging.
rustystud
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Well I will just say this. When I used to replace the sway-bar bushings you had to really squish them in and use an impact gun to tighten the bracket. So that tells me that the bushing is "under-size" for the shaft being used.
As far as "every sway-bar system looks like this" that is so wrong in so many ways I cannot even begin to say !
Having worked in the heavy truck industry for 40 years I can assure you that is defiantly not true !
If you look under a Mack truck or a Peterbuilt ,or Kenworth, or Navistar, or even the foreign models like Hyundai or Hino you will see every kind of sway-bar system imaginable !
I'll I'm saying is someone try it and see if it will work. If it does then "everyone" will save money and have a easy access source for parts.
Isn't that what we are trying to do here ? Help each other out with our vehicle problems ?
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I don't doubt that somewhere there is a commercial application with a bushing that fits, but this Gillam bushing is not it.
The formula for the circumference of a circle is pi*diameter. So a difference on the diameter will end up over 3x as big a gap when you put it on the bar. In this case, trying to stick a 1.5" bushing on a 1.67" bar ends up with a 0.53" gap. No amount of squishing and impact gun is going to make that fit.
The kind of tight fit that you're describing is more correctly from a very small diameter mismatch, perhaps in the 0.010-0.020" range. While a 1.5" bushing is out of the question, personally I would be hesitant even with a 1-5/8" (1.625"), which would leave a 0.141" gap to have to force closed. At least if a 1-3/4" (1.750") bushing could be found it would be oversized a little, though it's still not going to be a good replacement.
It's also worth noting that I find the 1.67" measurement to be a little suspect. I measured the bar on my M1082 once, and while I can't remember exactly what I found, I vaguely recall that it was an obvious/common/expected size. 1.67" doesn't equate to any common imperial (43/64") or metric (42.42mm) size. So it's probably a different size that is either worn down, or has corrosion/paint/debris on it.
The formula for the circumference of a circle is pi*diameter. So a difference on the diameter will end up over 3x as big a gap when you put it on the bar. In this case, trying to stick a 1.5" bushing on a 1.67" bar ends up with a 0.53" gap. No amount of squishing and impact gun is going to make that fit.
The kind of tight fit that you're describing is more correctly from a very small diameter mismatch, perhaps in the 0.010-0.020" range. While a 1.5" bushing is out of the question, personally I would be hesitant even with a 1-5/8" (1.625"), which would leave a 0.141" gap to have to force closed. At least if a 1-3/4" (1.750") bushing could be found it would be oversized a little, though it's still not going to be a good replacement.
It's also worth noting that I find the 1.67" measurement to be a little suspect. I measured the bar on my M1082 once, and while I can't remember exactly what I found, I vaguely recall that it was an obvious/common/expected size. 1.67" doesn't equate to any common imperial (43/64") or metric (42.42mm) size. So it's probably a different size that is either worn down, or has corrosion/paint/debris on it.
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