Floflex front spring bushes too wide

Has anyone else had this problem with floflex polyurethane bushes?

The front eyes on the front springs for my series 3 measure 62mm across. The spring hangers are roughly 63mm between the inside of the two plates. However, including the flanges, the floflex poly bushes bring the width of the spring out to around 75mm. This is far too much to force into the space between the front hangers.

Can anyone suggest any solutions, I had considered trimming the flanges off with a stanley knife, so they were a straight un-flanged tube. I was thinking I could then push them further into the spring eye. However, I thought I would check here first.

Thanks for any info.

Webley1991 said:

Has anyone else had this problem with floflex polyurethane bushes?

The front eyes on the front springs for my series 3 measure 62mm across. The spring hangers are roughly 63mm between the inside of the two plates. However, including the flanges, the floflex poly bushes bring the width of the spring out to around 75mm. This is far too much to force into the space between the front hangers.

Can anyone suggest any solutions, I had considered trimming the flanges off with a stanley knife, so they were a straight un-flanged tube. I was thinking I could then push them further into the spring eye. However, I thought I would check here first.

Thanks for any info.

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It is about ten years since I fitted pu bushes to a series, so my memory is rusty, but I have done two 90s in the last five years.
The flanges on the bushes give side to side location in the hanger. For this reason, they are supposed to be a tight fit, I use a jack to push them up between the sides of the hanger. 12mm does sound like a big difference though, are you certain there is no air, grease or dirt stopping the two halves of the polybush coming together fully?
You will get a better job if you don't cut the bushes.

Thanks for the reply. I just had a look, the flanges are all the way up to the spring steel.

Webley1991 said:

Thanks for the reply. I just had a look, the flanges are all the way up to the spring steel.

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OK, bear in mind I haven't worked on a series for a while, but can you use the side plates of the spring hanger to compress the polybush?
i.e. can you assemble the hanger either side of the bush and wind them together using the through bolt?

For the back ones yes, I have done that. However, what I am having problems with are the front dumb irons.

Webley1991 said:

For the back ones yes, I have done that. However, what I am having problems with are the front dumb irons.

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Well done. Unless you want to trim the bushes, which I would say is sub-optimal practice, best suggestion would be to bring the assembled bush up under the dumb irons and put a small jack under it. Then use clamps to compress the top of the bush while you jack it up into the gap in the dumb iron. You will find it helpful to use two thin steel strips to guide the top edges of the bush between the irons. You may be able to slightly separate the dumb irons with a lever or whatever. If ou can get the top of the bush into the gap, you will be able to jack it the rest of the way! Bear in mind you can use any amount of grease and oil with polybushes, it will do no harm.

Thanks for the tip. I fitted all four bushes today with two steel strips as suggested. As it is currently only a chassis and axles, I had my mate sit on the dumb iron to weigh it down while I jacked it into place.

Webley1991 said:

Thanks for the tip. I fitted all four bushes today with two steel strips as suggested. As it is currently only a chassis and axles, I had my mate sit on the dumb iron to weigh it down while I jacked it into place.

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Good I thought they would go in with the right mix of brute force and science