rear springplate bushings

[flipper]

I purchased new spring plate outer bushings from our sponsor, and my ? is......how do I Install them? Do I glue them in place? or do the old ones just slide off, and I slide the new ones on? Thanks all for the help

[Rot 911]

Ah if it was only that easy my friend. A search will give you several posts. I assume you got the Neatrix bushings and yes they are glued in place using superglue. The easiest way to get the old bushings up is to cut lengthwise on the bushing, use a torch to heat up the metal on the inside until the bushing starts to smoke and then peel it off. Use a wire wheel to clean up the remains on the springplate.

Here is a tech article you may find useful: Rear bushing replacement

[MotoSook]

You should refresh both inner and outer bushings. Did you by the Neatrix rubbers or the hard poly?

[imcarthur]

The superglue will be unstuck after just a few miles. After gluing last weekend, I had to disassemble to re-index the torsion bars. Removing the cover pulled the top bushing off & the inner bushing remained in the body tube.

The glue is useless.

Ian

[yeuporsch]

Agreed, glue is useless. Did mine last year, glue did not hold down bushing.

John

[eddiehotrod]

I found that heating up the spring plate to melt off the bushing is quite messy. Instead I heated up that silly little knife that Neatrix give you, then used that to core them like an apple. Then just cut down the back with a hacksaw and twist them off with channel grips.

[vesnyder]

I helped a fellow Pelican remove his two weekends ago and he set them on fire. Burned for about 15 minutes and the rubber (what was left) was very brittle and peeled off relatively easily. I peeled mine off like I was scalping. Not a fun job. Good luck!

[MotoSook]

An oxy-acet torch on the a-arm makes it a snap with little to no clean up...heat the arm and the rubber will release.

[coloradoporsche]

I cut the majority of the old rubber off following Chuck Moreland's article. Instead of lighting the remaining bits up with a torch, I used the wire brush on a 4" grinder:


.


It cleaned up the spring plates nicely without a lot of fumes/smoke.

I had trouble getting the new bushings back in the holes once on the springplates. I used long bolts to torque the spring plate cover down, thus pulling the new bushings into place.

Good luck

[PeteBrown]

As Vance mentioned I burned mine - set them on fire with a propane torch and then scraped the rubber off with a razor blade. One took 15-20 min the second one seemed to take 30-45 min. I could not get a good grip of the rubber with a vicegrip or plyers per Chuck's article.
Good luck

[cantdrv55]

So if glue won't stick, what do you use, if anything?

[Chuck Moreland]

The referenced article very old news. I wrote that when I was early on the learning curve, much of the info in it is dated and has given way to greater understanding and experience.

I no longer advocate that razor knife method of removing rubber bushings. It is way too difficult.

Hold the spring plate in a bench vise. Use a propane torch to heat the metal tube from the inside, opposite the rubber bushing. Get it hot and it starts to metal the rubber at the contact point.

Then work a flat blade screw driver between metal and rubber, go all the wat around. Then use a razor to slice the rubber away from the flat part of the plate.

Now the entire rubber bushings can be pulled off. You should get 95% this way. Then use a wire brush, razor, sandpaper to remove the last little bist.

This method is MUCH faster.

[randywebb]

55 - use nothing - or grease

there is a thread on this whole topic -- no proof but some see no need to try and make the bushings fixed to the arm - it can't possibly add much to the spring rate, and it is unclear what other function that would have. The factory did it however. Why they did, we may never know - could have been for manf. efficiency from the supplier.