Is there a grease on the market that I can use on these urethane bushings? Are they meant to be lubricated? These things sound like creaky doors in an old haunted house. I've driven this 5000 miles and can't tolerate it much longer. Got any cure for this?
As has been pointed out, these usually come with a silicone grease that is applied when they're installed.
There's your problem. As suspension guru Herb Adams says in his book Chassis Engineering "Urethane looks good on the shelves of the parts store" and "most urethane bushings are so hard they must be considered solid, because they offer little ability to absorb rotational shear within themselves". Use some graphite.... www.chevelles.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-29435.html
Get some Milspec GMD, (Grease Molybeium Disulfide), same stuff we use inside the 25 Mike Mike Bushmaster Chain Gun! It is an Extreme Pressure, extreme temp lube that comes is a quart can and can sometimes be found at surplus stores for next to nothing. MIL-G-21164D: Grease, Molybdenum Disulfide, for Low & High Temperatures, NATO Code# G-353. This specification covers the requirements for one grade of low and high temperature molybdenum disulfide grease for use as a lubricant on heavily loaded sliding steel surfaces. This grease is identified by NATO Symbol G-353, Military Symbol GMD. Our part #: MIL-G-21164D-P MIL-G-21164D-Q MIL-G-21164D-G MIL-G-21164D-PL MIL-G-21164D-D
Since I'm going thru the squeaky urethane bushing Hell , this thread is very timely. So ,let me ask some questions,just to clarify ... If I replace all my 4-link urethane bushings with rubber,do I install/run them without any lube? If lube is needed ,what do I use that won't degrade the rubber?? (On my urethane ,I used 3M silicone paste which did not last but a few days at best) Anybody here got any real world advice ?? and ,a source/numbers,etc... Replacing all my bushings will take a while,so I'd rather not do this but once... Thanks Stan
Rubber bushes isolate noise and harshness, and dampen unwanted vibrations. Rubber bonded bushes can be used to mount the steering rack to the vehicle frame. The rubber absorbs small impacts from the suspension action, without transmitting them to the vehicle. Rubber requires no lubrication....
Well you need poly bushings on your road ripping race car. You should have on a helmet, running near open exhaust, and your crew will be taking the bushings apart and lubing them before each race. Or you could run rubber bushings
It's not rocket science, guys. If you have urethane bushings, lube them with a silicone base grease (like in my picture). The bushings are supposed to slip in the metal parts. If you have rubber bushings, run them dry, they twist and are not supposed to slip in the metal parts.
i just replaced all bushings in mine with the new TCI units that have grooves in them for grease. Quiet as a mouse now.
What are they made of? How expensive?? Anybody know of a source for rubber bushings....all I'm finding are polyurethane or something like it
Many rubber suspension bushings seem to be cheap shit made in India or China of unknown quality.Replaced all the soft rubber bushings in an O/T G body El Camino with urethane.Used the grease provided,they didn't squeak. Yes,the urethane bushings are harsher than rubber,but the improvement in steering response and handling was worth it to me.
Thread title reminds me of my favorite pirate joke.... A pirate walks into a bar with a peg leg, a parrot on his shoulder, and a steering wheel on his pants. The bartender says, "hey, you''ve got a steering wheel on your pants." The pirate says, "Arrrr, I know. It''s driving me nuts."
Some people install grease fittings. In some joints that's possible, in others not. The black bushings are supposed to be less inclined to squeak, but sometimes those do too.
I prefer hiem ends or tie rod ends on bars that twist. The poly bushings will not twist an often the rotation is accomplished by the ends turning in the threads. I use oilite bushings in spring shackles.
When Pete & Jake's first started selling their 4-bar kits they used GM bushings that were originally used on a sway bar application. The GM part # is 3764839 and are available once again from any GM dealer.