Front Radius Arm Bushes

Hi Guys,

I been MoT'ed and now have a list of advisories to work through..

one of them is for the Front radius arm bushes..

The garage want about £200 for the job BUT looking at Busters guide (cheers Buster!) it looks like something I could tackle..

I'll need to burn the old out but could I put OEM bushes back in? or is it easier/better to go for Polybushes? Bearing in mind that I have a basic DIY tools..

Cheers!

new oe bushes will need pressing back in poly bushes if two piece ones are much easier to fit and change at later date if necessary

It is pretty straight forward. Took me about 2 hrs a side. I banged the sleeves out and used a hole cutter for rubber and hacksaw for outer sleeves. Came out easy enough.

I can do any OE bushes in 30-minutes start to finish without the need for burning or a press which is handy when you aren't near anyone with one and with the vehicle off the road you have no way of getting there.

Cut through the rubber with a hole-cutter and with the centre removed use a hacksaw to cut through the outer sleeve, tap the sleeve a couple of times to free it off and it will push / fall out.
Make sure all surfaces are clean & lubricated and push / tap the new bush into position using a spacer of the correct size (i.e. it is the same size as the outer sleeve). Obviously it is going to need some pressure when you get started but I find that they can be driven in quite easily as long as it is prepared correctly.

As I say, each bush takes about 30-minutes start to finish which isn't bad using only hand tools. Replaced the original bushes this way and 8-years later I fitted OE replacements.

Well I did each bush in 29 mins. So there

"30 minutes? Starting from jacking up the vehicle to letting it down. I am impressed."

Weren't quick enough on the edit were you!!!

No, not including jacking (why would you need to?).
Timing was an indication of how long to remove a metalastic bush and fit a new one using hand tools, not to remove & refit the radius arm. The point was to show that with a bit of care it is perfectly possible to fit new bushes without using a press yet not damage the bush in the process (i.e. burr over the outer sleeve or compremise the bond between rubber & metal).

Well mine did take an hour for one side, but several hours driving around fecking parts places trying to find the right bushes.

The chassis number said it should be the later (wider bushes) which everyone has in stock, but it was actually the earlier (narrower) ones it needed.

It's not a difficult job at all, I did do the hacksaw out and bang in with a large socket method though. A heel bar is useful for lining the bolt holes back up.

Litch, I first thought that was what you meant but obviously too slowly corrected myself. Jacking the front to take the wheel off and rest the axle on a stand surely?

Be careful what polybushs you buy, the blue ones ( britpart ofc ) have a flange on each end which won't allow you to press them in, I left mine as they were not in bad nick. The whole set was a pain as I could only use half of it in the end.

i think there the bearmch ones and they are ****e to fit

It was a white box plain with a little sticker on the bottom with britpart on it ( tiny writing as well) , whether they are originally bearmach I don't know, still a waste of money, I wish the shop were more specific as they had the Orange ones on display which I thought were the ones I was going to get but as I went for the suspension kit only it turned up blue ( Orange kit included shock bushs as well )

Hi Hext, I bought the yellow polly bush set as I was told they were easier to fit. I'm not that mechanically minded. I had a look at them and thought I don't know which ones go where so I took it all down to my local Land Rover guy and handed it over to him. He fitted the complete set plus changed the ball join on the A frame and fitted new shocks on the rear. He charged me £200. I bought all the bits he just fitted them. Watching him do the work I thought if I knew where all the bits went I could have done it myself. I bought the Polly bush set from Padddock. The instructions were none existent, hence why I had no idea where all the bits went. When I went green laneing with the new polly bush I thought I had a flat as the ride felt just like having a flat but they have now settled down and the ride does not feel so harsh. I have no idea how they compare to the rubber ones as when I got my landy the bushes were completely shot but I have no problem with these. I have had them for just over a year and done just over 12000 miles

Has anyone tried fitting the gen landrover ones? if so what are they like to fit for the Diy'er? you can buy new radius arms with orange bushes already fitted to them, but I cant remember where I saw them. it was deff in one of the landy mags though.

Badger said:

It was a white box plain with a little sticker on the bottom with britpart on it ( tiny writing as well) , whether they are originally bearmach I don't know, still a waste of money, I wish the shop were more specific as they had the Orange ones on display which I thought were the ones I was going to get but as I went for the suspension kit only it turned up blue ( Orange kit included shock bushs as well )

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i only wondered as i had a kit similar (cotton reels as i call them)and are a nightmare

they are a tight fit and best done with press ,poly are much easier and simple 2 halves pushed in by hand then lubed steel tube hammered through

I have a box of Superpro's ready to go on

G

jamesmartin said:

they are a tight fit and best done with press ,poly are much easier and simple 2 halves pushed in by hand then lubed steel tube hammered through

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Would a standard bench vice do the pressing ok? Sounds like the poly bushes will be better then. Prob last longer too.

i doubt it you can get bus pulling removal kits snapon and others do them but would want to be good quality

Cotton reel sounds about right james, that's what they look like.

landie man said:

Would a standard bench vice do the pressing ok? Sounds like the poly bushes will be better then. Prob last longer too.

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Mine were standard lr ones. I did try using a vice to push them in (I don't have a press) but gave up because I couldnt find anything exactly the right circumference to push the rims rather than the centre collars.

Basically the centre collars are the widest part of the bush, which you don't want to push out of the rubber, so you need to push against the outer skin of the bearing, but without getting whatever you use to push stuck in the radius arm if you go too far. Also they have to go in square.

I could have made something up with a couple of bits of plate and the right size hole cutter, but i thought id just try gently tapping them in with the copper hammer. Very gently all around the circumference of the outer skin, and they went in fine.