Thread: Poly bushes

Originally Posted by PAT303

3 months ago I replaced the rear trailing arm bushes with poly however you spell it bushes and the stupid things are clunking worse than the worn out rubber ones were.There is a metal sleeve inside the poly that is longer than the poly itself so it's metal to metal.I will have to pull it apart,shorten the sleeve and then re-fit,should have bought genuine. Pat

Hi Pat303,
Unfortunately, you are not the first to have trouble with the Polybushes. They last well, but are, generally, too hard (even though you can buy different hardness ones now).

I'll stick with OEM.

My experience is that the only place for polys is the panhard rod, especially if you have a leaky steering box.

Other than that, my vote is to stay with OEM rubber bushes elsewhere. Poly seems to crack or limit articulation. I know there are varying hardness/flexibility polys but I am yet to find one that I like.

This topic can be another one of those religious debates. eg. Do you run grease or oil in the swivels, finer air filter or paper one etc etc.

If poly is working well for someone else out there, that is great. I'm not trying to stop you. Enjoy!

Originally Posted by isuzu110

My experience is that the only place for polys is the panhard rod, especially if you have a leaky steering box.

Other than that, my vote is to stay with OEM rubber bushes elsewhere. Poly seems to crack or limit articulation. I know there are varying hardness/flexibility polys but I am yet to find one that I like.

This topic can be another one of those religious debates. eg. Do you run grease or oil in the swivels, finer air filter or paper one etc etc.

If poly is working well for someone else out there, that is great. I'm not trying to stop you. Enjoy!

I agree and from my own experience use them in the panhard rods only, they may be ok in the wet climes of the UK where dust is rare but down here they tend to chew out quickly as you have found.

Depends on the brand.
I'll only use Super Pro, and I'm very selective where I'll use them. They cured a bad clunk on the A frame to chassis mounts where the OE ones had flogged out the centre crush tube and 3/4" bolt !

Pat, exactly which bush ? you might find that that centre sleeve needs to be long enough to be trapped by the clevis and the poly bush is supposed to rotate on it (it acts as its axle )

There blue and there the ones that go to the chassis.There is a 1/8 gap on both sides of the poly,so the trailing arm moves forward and back that much before the poly comes into play.All over a poor show. Pat

i replaced the a frame bushes in mine with genuine and with new bolts. found the bolts worn out and panhard bolts worn out too i recon there made of cheese

Just for the record, Panhard bolts only wear out when they are too loose. they should TIGHTLY as in about 150Ft Lb clamp the inner tube of the metalistic bush so it doesn't move, and the angle movement is taken up by shear elasticity in the rubber.
BUT often servicers and mugs like me do not go around often enough with the big spanner.
Regards Philip A

ahhh hhaaa mine are all rattle gun tight mmhmm