Differential mount refurb - repair

[chiefyo]

As part of ongoing S3C refurb one area that has received some attention is the above. I did take some photos but they were'nt the best so will try to explain verbally. Basically the rubber on my mount was past its best and starting to come away from the metal, so I reckoned this was a prime candidate for repair by filling with a cold curing rubber compound, this is a technique I have used in the past on various bushes on other vehicles. In this case the mount was clamped on a flat surface which had been lightly smeared with grease to allow removal, the chosen compound was then poured in until level with top of outside metal surround. Leave it to cure and the result appeared pretty good it still has a certain degree of flex but is stiffer than a standard bush and cheaper than an uprated item. The trick is finding a suitable compound cheaply enough. I used DEVCON FLEXANE which is normally pretty expensive, but I managed to by some which was out of shelf life from ebay. Hope this makes some sort of sense.

[Gerald-TVR]

Hi Dave

If it dosent work let me know as I have a couple of spares in 'as new' condition

Norman

[phillpot]

Mmmmmm........ Interesting

So all the old rubber left in place to hold centre part in place ? Never used anything like this so does it, will it bond to existing rubber and metal and not just "fill the gaps" ?

[steve j]

phillpot said:

Mmmmmm........ Interesting

So all the old rubber left in place to hold centre part in place ? Never used anything like this so does it, will it bond to existing rubber and metal and not just "fill the gaps" ?

I`ve used Flexane on the leading edges of fast jet components, if it`s applied correctly it sticks extremely well. Thinking back though it may be a bit to rigid but if it works on a mount then it`s a good tip.

[chiefyo]

Past experiences of using this technique was to stiffen up suspension bushes which had holes in from new to allow flex, and or ride comfort. When used like this the compound would bond satisfactorily to the original rubber and metal. I did have a go at making a couple of complete suspension bushes but the bond to the metal did'nt hold. Like lots of things it's offered up as an idea to play around with and in the case of our rear diff mounts it looks promising. I am still a fair way from completion so road test results will have to wait a while yet.
Dave