I've been stripping down my rear subframe for overhaul and knew my Radius arms needed a refurb.
On inspection one is very bad, with the bush being worn away significantly on one side.
My question is whether this is salvageable for a refurb (there are several places online who offer exchange refurbed ones for old), or if Im better off not bothering to post it to those, and just buying a fully built new arm outright.
Pics attached. So far as I can tell, the wear hasn't begun to encroach on the arm itself.
If they've worn through into the arm then generally that means they're too far gone to rebush with a normal kit. I'm sure if it was worthwhile you could have a machinist rebore and rebush the arm but it's likely more cost effective to just find rebuildable replacements.
I've been stripping down my rear subframe for overhaul and knew my Radius arms needed a refurb.
On inspection one is very bad, with the bush being worn away significantly on one side.
My question is whether this is salvageable for a refurb (there are several places online who offer exchange refurbed ones for old), or if Im better off not bothering to post it to those, and just buying a fully built new arm outright.
Pics attached. So far as I can tell, the wear hasn't begun to encroach on the arm itself.
Cheers, Peter
Are they bushes or are they massively damaged needle roller bearings. They look like needle rollers to me. If the outer casing of the needle roller bearing is still in place it should be possible to simply replace the bearing.
I've been stripping down my rear subframe for overhaul and knew my Radius arms needed a refurb.
On inspection one is very bad, with the bush being worn away significantly on one side.
My question is whether this is salvageable for a refurb (there are several places online who offer exchange refurbed ones for old), or if Im better off not bothering to post it to those, and just buying a fully built new arm outright.
Pics attached. So far as I can tell, the wear hasn't begun to encroach on the arm itself.
Cheers, Peter
Are they bushes or are they massively damaged needle roller bearings. They look like needle rollers to me. If the outer casing of the needle roller bearing is still in place it should be possible to simply replace the bearing.
Thanks all. On closer inspection, yes its a horrendously worn needle bearing not a bush!
Hopefully it can be refurbed, no harm in sending it off to try
P
It looks like the inboard end, so should be a needle roller (very early cars excepted). The outer end has the bush, but if it's anything like the same condition.....
As long as the bearings aren't worn through to the arm it should be straight forward, though (reputable) refurbished arms are worth considering - they'll have a chemical tank to do a proper job of cleaning them and a jig to ensure they're not bent.
If you can borrow a long 13/16" reamer you can do it yourself for the price of a repair kit.
If you ream it don't you need an oversized version of whatever the bit that goes through the middle is called though?
No, the new bush is undersize when pushed in and the 13/16 reamer opens it out to the correct size for the standard spindle.
i think he might have meant using a longer round bar of some sort to keep the reamer perfectly straight with the other end and making sure it remains concentric. the proper kit has a long rod built into it for that purpose
for what it's worth (and at the risk of people sagely shaking their heads and saying oo that's not the right method..) I just bought a normal reamer and did my best to try and keep it straight, honestly the amount it actually moves up and down, we're not talking about needing precision engineering really are we. the new shaft fitted nice and snug when I was done and turned smoothly and nicely by hand, seemed perfectly fine to me. I think that was about £15 on ebay, I might have spent more on a quality tool if I felt that it would get used again in the future
the far harder (fiddly / time consuming) bit was pulling the old parts out and cleaning up all the resulting greasy mess. that consisted of a couple of old sockets on an extension bar, a length of threaded rod, some big nuts, washers, a big hammer, and so on
the extension bar ended up being ditched and a new one ordered such was the hammering required, in hindsight a block of wood may have saved me there but hey it was old anyway
various videos on youtube doing it, it's not 'hard' per se
If you can borrow a long 13/16" reamer you can do it yourself for the price of a repair kit.
If you ream it don't you need an oversized version of whatever the bit that goes through the middle is called though?
No, the new bush is undersize when pushed in and the 13/16 reamer opens it out to the correct size for the standard spindle.
i think he might have meant using a longer round bar of some sort to keep the reamer perfectly straight with the other end and making sure it remains concentric. the proper kit has a long rod built into it for that purpose
for what it's worth (and at the risk of people sagely shaking their heads and saying oo that's not the right method..) I just bought a normal reamer and did my best to try and keep it straight, honestly the amount it actually moves up and down, we're not talking about needing precision engineering really are we. the new shaft fitted nice and snug when I was done and turned smoothly and nicely by hand, seemed perfectly fine to me. I think that was about £15 on ebay, I might have spent more on a quality tool if I felt that it would get used again in the future
the far harder (fiddly / time consuming) bit was pulling the old parts out and cleaning up all the resulting greasy mess. that consisted of a couple of old sockets on an extension bar, a length of threaded rod, some big nuts, washers, a big hammer, and so on
the extension bar ended up being ditched and a new one ordered such was the hammering required, in hindsight a block of wood may have saved me there but hey it was old anyway
various videos on youtube doing it, it's not 'hard' per se
No I did mean oversized diameter, because the reamer is surely removing some material? Sounds like you did a great job anyway. If it moves up and down and doesn't clonk from side to side I would call it good!
The bushes are deliberately undersize so they can be reamed out to the correct size once fitted. It also helps ensure the inner outer bearings are concentric.
I always fit both inner and outer bearing. The roller bearing I fit first. Be careful when fitting it as it's possible to crush the end flange. Don't hammer it in, use grease on the outer face and a long piece of threaded studding with a big washer and nuts to pull it home.
Then fit the plain bush. Use a long 13/16" reamer and to keep it straight I wrap part of the plain part of the reamer with tape to the diameter of the needle roller bearing. This keeps it straight as you twist it through the plain bush.
Don't forget to fit the grease tube before fitting the plain bush! (been there, done that!).
Finally fit the new shaft and grease thoroughly before fitting.
I do like to use my own same old arms as I am able to check them to ensure that they are not bent by checking the wheel camber on each wheel before removing the brackets and arms.
The bushes are deliberately undersize so they can be reamed out to the correct size once fitted. It also helps ensure the inner outer bearings are concentric.
Ah so you're inserting a sort of tube first and then reaming it? That makes sense. I thought we were reaming out the actual arms themselves (which look like they're cast). Mine are actually pretty new so this is probably something I won't have to do :)
yes the refurb kit has a new bronze bush about an inch long that you press in, the casting stays as-is and should be unaffected (but that is the OP original question in this case)
that said Nick did mention replacing the bush for a bearing which sounds great but in that instance I don't know if the casting needs milling or reaming to achieve that (interested to know..)
and I'm wondering why they didn't just use bearings at both ends in the first place, was that just cost saving, or does the reamed bush give a slightly tighter fit which offers some benefit ?
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