Making solid bushings for biconcave shaped trailing arms

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ELS
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Making solid bushings for biconcave shaped trailing arms

Post by ELS »

so I had the trailing arm break where the rod is welded to the bushing outside, since I need to replace it I thought I might try making solid suspension bushings while I'm at it. (ofc this isn't for a street car)

but the problem is that the trailing arm bushing exterior piece has a biconcave shape (it's narrow at the middle and wide on the ends), how do I make a bushing that will fit in this? I thought maybe just casting it inside the trailing arm thus making it non-removable, but that will lead to a sloppy fit when the aluminum cools.

and I don't quite understand how solid bushings work too, I assume the middle sleeve around the bolt moves freely in the bushing, but how do the 2 sides of the bushing stay pressed into the trailing arm if so?
dannobee
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Re: Making solid bushings for biconcave shaped trailing arms

Post by dannobee »

Do you have a pic of the broken trailing arm?

Regarding double cone shaped bushings, I can think of a few ways to do it. One of which would be to make the bushing two piece, then bolt the two halves together in the control arm with a big hollow bolt, then run the sleeve through the bolt. The "bearing" surface is between the sleeve and the bolt, with the sleeve being a tad longer so that the suspension bolt clamps only the sleeve, leaving the big hollow bolt and bushing to move with the control arm.

If you make the bushings out of delrin or urethane instead of aluminum or steel, make them oversize so that the OL length is wide enough that the frame slot keeps everything in place.
ELS
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Re: Making solid bushings for biconcave shaped trailing arms

Post by ELS »

dannobee wrote: Fri May 06, 2022 8:44 am Do you have a pic of the broken trailing arm?

Regarding double cone shaped bushings, I can think of a few ways to do it. One of which would be to make the bushing two piece, then bolt the two halves together in the control arm with a big hollow bolt, then run the sleeve through the bolt. The "bearing" surface is between the sleeve and the bolt, with the sleeve being a tad longer so that the suspension bolt clamps only the sleeve, leaving the big hollow bolt and bushing to move with the control arm.

If you make the bushings out of delrin or urethane instead of aluminum or steel, make them oversize so that the OL length is wide enough that the frame slot keeps everything in place.
hmm, couldn't I instead have smaller bolts all around the circumference, with countersunk nuts? pretty sure there would be enough room for them.
but I see the appeal of using a single hollow bolt, since then it would wear much less, and quicker to replace.


here's an identical arm to the one that's broken:
image1.jpg
image0.jpg
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