Trailing Arm Bushes
Discussion
Just thinking ahead really, I see that Steve Heath now does the powerflex trailing arm bushes which I have to say look a lot easier to fit than the normal ones due to them being in two parts, what I'd like to know is has anyone used these yet and how are they getting on with them ?
Cheers.....Tony..
Cheers.....Tony..
Whilst I know a lot of people on this site rate Steve Heath I didnt have the same overall experience !
I bought the bush kit..... which included the bolts. These to be fair where sent really quickly and the buying experience, was, in that respect painless and quick. The bushes are really easy to fit, and seem OK, in my experience of fitting many bushes in the motor trade, they will be fine (I am in the middle of a complete chassis rebuild so have not been on the road yet,but from a technical point of view they should be OK) !
However, the bolts supplied are not correct for the application, and will if used not tighten properly, the thread is too long and if fitted will not have sufficient thread to clamp the bushes correctly.
even I contacted Steve Heath... twice by email and once spoke to his wife, who assured me he would call.....I am still waiting for about 2 months now... so that experience was not good.
The bushes if you want them are easy to fit and come with assembly instructions, they also came quickly but I am not impressed with the overall "customer service". For the fronts I have gone to TVR car parts they are about the same price, maybe more expensive, but, I wont accept poor Customer Service from anyone............ however big their reputation ! Use the bushes but avoid the bolts !
Graham
I bought the bush kit..... which included the bolts. These to be fair where sent really quickly and the buying experience, was, in that respect painless and quick. The bushes are really easy to fit, and seem OK, in my experience of fitting many bushes in the motor trade, they will be fine (I am in the middle of a complete chassis rebuild so have not been on the road yet,but from a technical point of view they should be OK) !
However, the bolts supplied are not correct for the application, and will if used not tighten properly, the thread is too long and if fitted will not have sufficient thread to clamp the bushes correctly.
even I contacted Steve Heath... twice by email and once spoke to his wife, who assured me he would call.....I am still waiting for about 2 months now... so that experience was not good.
The bushes if you want them are easy to fit and come with assembly instructions, they also came quickly but I am not impressed with the overall "customer service". For the fronts I have gone to TVR car parts they are about the same price, maybe more expensive, but, I wont accept poor Customer Service from anyone............ however big their reputation ! Use the bushes but avoid the bolts !
Graham
shoab said:
However, the bolts supplied are not correct for the application, and will if used not tighten properly, the thread is too long and if fitted will not have sufficient thread to clamp the bushes correctly.
even I contacted Steve Heath... twice by email and once spoke to his wife, who assured me he would call.....I am still waiting for about 2 months now... so that experience was not good.
I am sorry. Obviously things have not gone right for which I must apologize. even I contacted Steve Heath... twice by email and once spoke to his wife, who assured me he would call.....I am still waiting for about 2 months now... so that experience was not good.
The problem with the bolts is that the spec changed and it was not the thread that had changed but the length of the shank. I now have the appropriate tools to recut a longer thread and thus address the problem. This is the only way apart from getting the bolts remade which is simply not practical or economic.
I have already supplied modded bolts to other customers and to be honest, I thought that you had been on the list. From your comments, obviously not.
To be fair to Steve, I also got the wrong bolts and he replaced them with no fuss. I think he didn't realise they were wrong until they went out, i'm sure they will be right in future.
Given that Steve is the only person doing the suspension bolt kit (all the others buy from him), we might as well keep going direct.
Given that Steve is the only person doing the suspension bolt kit (all the others buy from him), we might as well keep going direct.
spivvy said:
I am in the process of reassembling my trailing arm and must say I am a bit worried about using the bolts I got from steve Heath following your comments,
I was led to believe that they are too long but you can cut them down and they would be okay , anyone used these bolts ?
Please let me know if you have problems and I'll swap them for the modded ones. I was led to believe that they are too long but you can cut them down and they would be okay , anyone used these bolts ?
Compare with an old one ?
Measure the length of the shank and compare with distance across brackets (about 78mm from memory)?
The way I'm reading this is that its just a case of the shank being a little too long, needs a die running down a few more threads so that nut tightens onto bracket and doesn't bottom on the thread first?
Measure the length of the shank and compare with distance across brackets (about 78mm from memory)?
The way I'm reading this is that its just a case of the shank being a little too long, needs a die running down a few more threads so that nut tightens onto bracket and doesn't bottom on the thread first?
Exactly as philpot says.....the threaded section is not long enough ie the unthreaded section "shank of the bolt" in my case extended right through the brackets on the chassis so when tightened, the nut would reach the end of the thread before any "clamping" force was achieved ie the nut could be tight but the bolt will remain loose. Just check against old bolts when removed or make sure that the shank (unthreaded section) is not longer than the distance measured between the outside of the brackets... ideally it should be a 4/5mm shorter. I'm sorry I am away at the mo so cant give you dimensions.
On another tack...when fitting the bushes.....I used the grease as supplied.... and then I used a piece of fully threaded bar (all thread) which was sort of the right size for the insert, that I had lying around to 'wind' the bushes in. The bushes will go in by hand but the insert is much tighter so I locked two nuts together on the one end of the thread and put it into the insert using some quite thick penny type washers on each side of the bush/insert and put a nut on and 'wound' the insert in ! It went in really smoothly and as it ensures everything is correctly seated..... when refitting the swing arm it went into the brackets easily.
Regards
Graham
On another tack...when fitting the bushes.....I used the grease as supplied.... and then I used a piece of fully threaded bar (all thread) which was sort of the right size for the insert, that I had lying around to 'wind' the bushes in. The bushes will go in by hand but the insert is much tighter so I locked two nuts together on the one end of the thread and put it into the insert using some quite thick penny type washers on each side of the bush/insert and put a nut on and 'wound' the insert in ! It went in really smoothly and as it ensures everything is correctly seated..... when refitting the swing arm it went into the brackets easily.
Regards
Graham
k me, a 9/16 penny washer would be a bit of a monster !
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