Posted by Peter Skudder
Tom,
Great news about the diff. I must say I would cut the front end of the trailing out as well. While this will not be fun there are two plusses:
1. You will be able to hammer the remains of the bolts out by using a vice, i.e. close the vice jaws until the inner sleave only of the bush is supported by the vice jaws and then hammer on the bolt. With the trailing arms attached to the car you cannot use any real force.
2. Somebody, maybe you, will be thankful in the future that you have freed these bolts.
Your call, but I think in the end this will be the easiest method, and will save the bush. Replacing the bolts should not be hard.
Pete
Trailing arm bushes
Re: Trailing arm bushes
Posted by Tom
Hi Pete,
I would agree, but access to the other end of the locating arm is limited. I spent the last part of my day yesterday drilling out screws that hold an splash panel to reveal the other end of that locating arm. I was too tired to put a breaker bar on the nuts, and will try that first thing next week. If I have to cut the other bolt out, I won't be able to do this with a cut off wheel, but will have to get up there with a reciprocating saw. I'm just not sure if it'll fit in there. If I have to do it by hand with a hacksaw blade holder, I might as well try driling out the bolt on the other side!
Tom
Hi Pete,
I would agree, but access to the other end of the locating arm is limited. I spent the last part of my day yesterday drilling out screws that hold an splash panel to reveal the other end of that locating arm. I was too tired to put a breaker bar on the nuts, and will try that first thing next week. If I have to cut the other bolt out, I won't be able to do this with a cut off wheel, but will have to get up there with a reciprocating saw. I'm just not sure if it'll fit in there. If I have to do it by hand with a hacksaw blade holder, I might as well try driling out the bolt on the other side!
Tom
Re: Trailing arm bushes
Posted by MikeH
Tom,
Great news that the diff looks OK. As for your seized bolt, I'd be inclined to try drilling it out. Grind it as flush as possible, then get a HS Cobalt stub drill ground with a split point or four facet point. Start fairly small, maybe 1/8 or 3/16, use plenty of cutting fluid, slow speed and plenty of feed force. The trick is to get something solid behind you to brace your shoulders on. Even a grade 8 bolt should succumb eventually!! Once you have a hole through, opening it out should be relatively easy.
Good luck!
Tom,
Great news that the diff looks OK. As for your seized bolt, I'd be inclined to try drilling it out. Grind it as flush as possible, then get a HS Cobalt stub drill ground with a split point or four facet point. Start fairly small, maybe 1/8 or 3/16, use plenty of cutting fluid, slow speed and plenty of feed force. The trick is to get something solid behind you to brace your shoulders on. Even a grade 8 bolt should succumb eventually!! Once you have a hole through, opening it out should be relatively easy.
Good luck!
Re: Trailing arm bushes
Posted by Dr.Ian Levy
Peter
Check out polyurethane bushes at http://www.racecar.co.uk/superflex
Regards
Ian Levy
Peter
Check out polyurethane bushes at http://www.racecar.co.uk/superflex
Regards
Ian Levy
Re: Trailing arm bushes
Posted by Peter Skudder
Ian,
These look like the bushes that I remember, but I could be wrong. I read the 'story so far' page and looks like they are trying to make a resilent bush, but I personally think they are too hard for some uses. Note ... this is just my opinion ...
My Father has used them successfully to re-bush his Jensen Interceptor. The Jensen has a simple leaf sprung rear axle, but we used them for the front as well as nothing else was available.
The car I had trouble with was an Alfa Sud that I used to classic car race. The rear suspension of an Alfa Sud uses a Watts linkage for fore and aft location and a Panhard link for sideways location. Once these bushes were installed the rear suspension did not move much, the only movement was in the tyre walls. Thus the car became very twitchy. Maybe this is the only suspension design where they do not work, but I would prefer to have soft, supple suspension that is accurately located than no suspension. A wheel in the air does not grip the road well.
Pete
Ian,
These look like the bushes that I remember, but I could be wrong. I read the 'story so far' page and looks like they are trying to make a resilent bush, but I personally think they are too hard for some uses. Note ... this is just my opinion ...
My Father has used them successfully to re-bush his Jensen Interceptor. The Jensen has a simple leaf sprung rear axle, but we used them for the front as well as nothing else was available.
The car I had trouble with was an Alfa Sud that I used to classic car race. The rear suspension of an Alfa Sud uses a Watts linkage for fore and aft location and a Panhard link for sideways location. Once these bushes were installed the rear suspension did not move much, the only movement was in the tyre walls. Thus the car became very twitchy. Maybe this is the only suspension design where they do not work, but I would prefer to have soft, supple suspension that is accurately located than no suspension. A wheel in the air does not grip the road well.
Pete
Re: Trailing arm bushes
Posted by Peter Skudder
Ian,
These look like the bushes that I remember, but I could be wrong. I read the 'story so far' page and looks like they are trying to make a resilent bush, but I personally think they are too hard for some uses. Note ... this is just my opinion ...
My Father has used them successfully to re-bush his Jensen Interceptor. The Jensen has a simple leaf sprung rear axle, but we used them for the front as well as nothing else was available.
The car I had trouble with was an Alfa Sud that I used to classic car race. The rear suspension of an Alfa Sud uses a Watts linkage for fore and aft location and a Panhard link for sideways location. Once these bushes were installed the rear suspension did not move much, the only movement was in the tyre walls. Thus the car became very twitchy. Maybe this is the only suspension design where they do not work, but I would prefer to have soft, supple suspension that is accurately located than no suspension. A wheel in the air does not grip the road well.
Pete
Ian,
These look like the bushes that I remember, but I could be wrong. I read the 'story so far' page and looks like they are trying to make a resilent bush, but I personally think they are too hard for some uses. Note ... this is just my opinion ...
My Father has used them successfully to re-bush his Jensen Interceptor. The Jensen has a simple leaf sprung rear axle, but we used them for the front as well as nothing else was available.
The car I had trouble with was an Alfa Sud that I used to classic car race. The rear suspension of an Alfa Sud uses a Watts linkage for fore and aft location and a Panhard link for sideways location. Once these bushes were installed the rear suspension did not move much, the only movement was in the tyre walls. Thus the car became very twitchy. Maybe this is the only suspension design where they do not work, but I would prefer to have soft, supple suspension that is accurately located than no suspension. A wheel in the air does not grip the road well.
Pete
Re: Trailing arm bushes
Posted by MikeH
I had an AlfaSud once -fantastic little car. Shame it rotted away in about seven years.
The rear suspension used watts linkages for fore and aft location, as you say. Because the watts linkage rotates the axle as the suspension moves through its travel, in theory both ends must move the same amount. The elasticity of the bushes, and twist in the axle allows independant movement of each wheel. Hence why semi-rigid bushes lock up the suspension. I do not know if the Ferrari will have a similar problem with the trailing arms fighting the leaf spring -if they do not share the same virtual centres, then again flex in the bushes is essential to allow free movement.
Mike
I had an AlfaSud once -fantastic little car. Shame it rotted away in about seven years.
The rear suspension used watts linkages for fore and aft location, as you say. Because the watts linkage rotates the axle as the suspension moves through its travel, in theory both ends must move the same amount. The elasticity of the bushes, and twist in the axle allows independant movement of each wheel. Hence why semi-rigid bushes lock up the suspension. I do not know if the Ferrari will have a similar problem with the trailing arms fighting the leaf spring -if they do not share the same virtual centres, then again flex in the bushes is essential to allow free movement.
Mike
Re: Trailing arm bushes
Posted by MikeH
I had an AlfaSud once -fantastic little car. Shame it rotted away in about seven years.
The rear suspension used watts linkages for fore and aft location, as you say. Because the watts linkage rotates the axle as the suspension moves through its travel, in theory both ends must move the same amount. The elasticity of the bushes, and twist in the axle allows independant movement of each wheel. Hence why semi-rigid bushes lock up the suspension. I do not know if the Ferrari will have a similar problem with the trailing arms fighting the leaf spring -if they do not share the same virtual centres, then again flex in the bushes is essential to allow free movement.
Mike
I had an AlfaSud once -fantastic little car. Shame it rotted away in about seven years.
The rear suspension used watts linkages for fore and aft location, as you say. Because the watts linkage rotates the axle as the suspension moves through its travel, in theory both ends must move the same amount. The elasticity of the bushes, and twist in the axle allows independant movement of each wheel. Hence why semi-rigid bushes lock up the suspension. I do not know if the Ferrari will have a similar problem with the trailing arms fighting the leaf spring -if they do not share the same virtual centres, then again flex in the bushes is essential to allow free movement.
Mike
Re: Trailing arm bushes
Posted by dave T
You might be able to use a plumbing faucet puller to push out the bolt in this situation. They cost around ten bucks at your local hardware store. The nice thing about them is that they clamp on to the unit itself, removing the need to have some external solid stanchion to brace against. Thus you wouldn't have to remove the arm.
You might be able to use a plumbing faucet puller to push out the bolt in this situation. They cost around ten bucks at your local hardware store. The nice thing about them is that they clamp on to the unit itself, removing the need to have some external solid stanchion to brace against. Thus you wouldn't have to remove the arm.
Re: Trailing arm bushes
Posted by Tom
Hi Dave,
I'm going to try a three eared hub puller first because I don't think a faucet puller will exert enough energy to break that bolt loose. The hub puller might not even work with the amount of pressure needed! Thanks for the advice!
Tom
Hi Dave,
I'm going to try a three eared hub puller first because I don't think a faucet puller will exert enough energy to break that bolt loose. The hub puller might not even work with the amount of pressure needed! Thanks for the advice!
Tom