Fitting Bushes On Zero Suspension

[David S]

I have just started to try and fit the bushes to the suspension parts on my Zero. To do this I am trying to use a bench vice which has the word 1 tonne on the side, so I assume this is the maximum pressure it can apply. Anyway, a couple of the bushes have gone in fairly easily, not quite ‘hot knife and butter’ but not far off. The others, so far, have been far from easy. I have put a breaker bar on the vice arm to apply more ‘clout’ but they are still not easy and I am bending the vice arm in the process!! Perhaps I need a more manly vice!!

 

 

 

I wondered how others who have built Zeros have managed? Am I doing it right and just need to persevere, or am I doing something wrong? When I enquired about this at the factory, Richard told me it was something that could easily be done at home. Are there any tips to help? Any advice would be appreciated.

 

 

[Guest dinger]

Hi David,

 

the trick is to apply some grease or copperslip, I used copperslip,

The bushes go in pretty easy and I just used a long threaded bolt and some washers, If the tube does not go in perfectly straight then it will get caught up inside the bush and will be difficult resulting in a damaged bush or bent tube,

 

sometime using too much pressure can squash the rubber bush making the diameter larger and stopping it from going through the tube of the swinging arm,

 

take your time with these as you will only find out how good the bushes are once on the road.

 

and as with anything, Never go in dry!!!!!!!

 

Hope that helps

[femster87]

hiya mate,

 

Did you apply some copper grease to the wishbone tubes? should not be that difficult. Also i did smoothout the recieving tubes with a die grinder before inserting the bushes.

[femster87]

and as with anything, Never go in dry!!!!!!!

 

Hope that helps

 

That made me laugh out loud at work.

[Guest dinger]

Glad to tickle Femi,

 

As Femi says, Make sure you de-burr the inside of the wishbones as this will cause problems pushing the bushes in.

[David S]

The 'never go in dry' comment nearly made me spit out my coffee ... fantastic

 

I must admit to not trying either of those options I'll get some copperslip and also a drill attachment to de-burr the inside.

 

The option of using a long bolt and washers is also one that I never considered.

 

Many thanks for the advice.

 

Happy New Year to you all.

[Guest gixerboy600]

The 'never go in dry' comment nearly made me spit out my coffee ... fantastic

 

I must admit to not trying either of those options I'll get some copperslip and also a drill attachment to de-burr the inside.

 

The option of using a long bolt and washers is also one that I never considered.

 

Many thanks for the advice.

 

Happy New Year to you all.

 

 

Hi David,

 

If you didn't clean up the inside of the wishbone tubes then the bushes you have already inserted will be damaged. Best bet is to remove them, speak to GBS and get new bushes and start over. Look at Shaft's pics as he explains the best practice really well!!

 

Happy New Year

 

John

[Guest dinger]

Hi David,

 

If you didn't clean up the inside of the wishbone tubes then the bushes you have already inserted will be damaged. Best bet is to remove them, speak to GBS and get new bushes and start over. Look at Shaft's pics as he explains the best practice really well!!

 

Happy New Year

 

John

 

 

I always Knew John was a salesman!!!!!! good luck for tuesday mate

[Guest gixerboy600]

I always Knew John was a salesman!!!!!! good luck for tuesday mate

 

 

And I thought I was just giving good advice, a true salesman does just that, a con artist makes it feel like sales and you regret the purchase after!!!

 

Thanks Dave, looking forward to it

 

John

[David S]

Fortunately I had cleaned up the insides of the wishbone tubes so I won't have to remove the bushes all that was missing was the copperslip and the use of the nut and bolt method to push them into place. Next job is to push in the inserts. Are there any things I should look out for with that? Should the insert tubes be exactly the same length as the wishbone tube and bushes?

[Guest gixerboy600]

Fortunately I had cleaned up the insides of the wishbone tubes so I won't have to remove the bushes all that was missing was the copperslip and the use of the nut and bolt method to push them into place. Next job is to push in the inserts. Are there any things I should look out for with that? Should the insert tubes be exactly the same length as the wishbone tube and bushes?

 

 

I would check the out side ends and ensure they are not burred, also use a 10mm reamer to ream out the inside so your bolts will passthrough them ok!! You may want to quickly emery cloth the out side if they are a bit tight.

 

HTH's

 

John

[David S]

That's brill, thanks John.

[Guest Spencer Griffiths]

It was the job I was not looking forward to. As others have said the trick is to smooth out the inside of the tubes, especially if they are powdercoated like mine and then add grease to the inside and i also greased up the bushes. Second trick is they must go in 100% square, if not it all goes wrong very quickly. Third for some reason I had about 3-4 that just did'nt want to play and I had to do a lot more sanding inside tubes before they went in. If you PM me your address I have 2-3 spare that I bought after messing some up. I will send them to you for free.

 

Regards

 

Spencer