Cross member bushes - is there a knack?

[boost monkey 0]

Does anyone know a good way of petting these in? I made the mistake of buying new VAG rubber bushes and they're so damn tight!

 

Already soaked them in hot water, but still no luck. Any clues?

 

Ta

 

J-unit :salute:

[Toad 0]

Fairy liquid for lube.

[boost monkey 0]

The cross member cups were waxoyled already, bushes just kept squirming around.

 

Or are you just listing your required equipment and reasoning for a saturday night? :scratch:

[Supercharged 2]

My mate did my powerflex ones (that, according to the instructions should just push in) using a 5 ton vice and a massive snap-on screwdriver... he still nearly managed to stab himself in the process and I had already nearly put myself in hospital the night before trying to get them in...

 

I assumed the vag ones would be easier but maybe now - good luck! :)

[boost monkey 0]

Cheers dude!

 

I'll be using Toad's Barn-style tool shed for some more tinkering then! :norty: :salute:

[blue95 0]

pflex bushes are piss easy - grease them up with the grease that comes with them, at most all you'll need are two failry large washers and a nut and bolt.

 

So basically bolt > big washer > bush > cross member > big washer and then bolt. Tigthen down the bolt and the washer will force the bush thru one side.

 

I'll try and get a pic up of said contrapation.

 

OEM bushes take alot more perssausion IMO.

[boost monkey 0]

Thanks blue95, but not a fan on Polyurethane for road use.

 

From studying material science, the poly bushes are just too tough: bushes are designed to have some flex in them, else you might as well fill the bush gap with a big chunk of metal :shock: If bushes don't absorb the energy/forces for which they are designed, then the next structure in the path of the force will attempt to absorb it, which will be the cross member in this instance. I'd really rather replace bushes (however difficult!) than fatigued crossmembers! (and remember, rusty metal is weak metal...)

 

For the track where the surfaces are uniform and there aren't potholes etc, then go for it.

 

2p :salute:

[blue95 0]

When I took my OEM ones out they were like crispy fried duck....was surprised at how soft the replacement Pflex ones were actually.

 

As for stressing subframe/chassis I guess the same comments could be applied to lowering suspension, fitting strut braces or fitting uprated engine mounts.

 

I guess it's all personal pref though.

 

As for fitting, I am pretty sure you could fit oem subframe bushes the same way, just use plenty of fariy liquid.

[pete_griff 0]

Thanks blue95, but not a fan on Polyurethane for road use.

 

From studying material science, the poly bushes are just too tough: bushes are designed to have some flex in them, else you might as well fill the bush gap with a big chunk of metal :shock: If bushes don't absorb the energy/forces for which they are designed, then the next structure in the path of the force will attempt to absorb it, which will be the cross member in this instance. I'd really rather replace bushes (however difficult!) than fatigued crossmembers! (and remember, rusty metal is weak metal...)

 

For the track where the surfaces are uniform and there aren't potholes etc, then go for it.

 

2p :salute:

 

 

i'll echo what blue95 has said here - polys (certainly from powerflex anyway) aren't as bad as you might think. i recently put some polys in my rear beam and they still flexed (even by hand) although granted it wasn't quite as much as the originals...

 

they were certainly much easier to fit though and they aren't too expensive either - it is personal preference at the end of the day though i guess.

 

good luck with getting them fitted anyway - the long bolt/washers technique is normally pretty straight forward

[boost monkey 0]

I may go poly later, who knows?

 

tbh, most of the perishables on my car are so perished that even returning to OEM spec is gonna make it feel so much better!

 

And that is the plan :salute:

[yeti 0]

well you need a special vw tool to insert the rear subframe vw bushes (500 ish inc vat!!) and vw want £500 to do the job, they need to be compressed with the special tool else you ccant get them in, every garage i spoke to said the same thing, so goign powerflex takes the same 3hours to fit but as said above will fit in yourself without the need fo a very smilarly priced vw tool :D ... i appreciate its more cost to shell out when you already bought the vw ones but i know the feelign and when you think that vw whnt that much for their tools i'll stick with poly bushes, even if there is the theoretical argument of the body and the next softest part in line taking the brunt of the force, i studied mech eng to and although i agree, just fit poly's as i never had any major issues in 4 years in a fully polybushed mk3 gti!

[boost monkey 0]

Ah, I'm sure I can manage the rear bushes by myself with a press! Cheers though.

 

I won't be building up the rear beam for a while yet.