Beam bushings

[andrewlandon67]

So I've come to notice a good amount of the slop in my car's front end seems to be coming from the left lower trailing arm moving around inside the beam, which means it's time to replace some bushings and bearings. I'm well aware of the issues with urethane bushings on the street, and the Delrin replacements seem to be pretty similar in their pros/cons, so I'm looking for a more OEM-type bushing/bearing setup.

So far I've only found them available in two places, from CSP and from Wolfsburg West, but only W.W. has any actual information about them as-listed. Does anyone have any experience with the CSP ones, or any warnings about either of them?

[ibg]

I have used the Wolfsberg west one with success but I had to ream it to size after fitting.
I also made one out of a bronze bush for an arm that was quite worn but was 'camber adjusted' so I didn't want to chuck it.
completely worth it compared to urethane

[j-dub]

Can we discuss beam bushing a bit more in detail? From the factory there was a bushing on the inside and a needle bearing on the outside to support the trailing arms.

The con of the urethane is that it is sort of soft and spongy and allows the trailing arm to deflect, the delrin is harder and slicker and is commonly used in suspension joints.

Both the urethane and delrin has the possible benefit of more support since the bearing surface is larger. Depending on the tolerance, both could have the negative of having drag however I would think delrin would be much better here than urethane.

What is your opinion of the pros and cons, I sort of was under the impression that delrin is the best choice on the market right now.

Thanks,
Jeremy

[ibg]

I like the bush on the inside and the roller bearing on the outside, very smooth/low friction/no deflection.
The urethane bushes are very 'approximate' and while they do support the whole inner arm they are not a great fit to the arm. Also some of the red urethanes get 'brittle' and crumble with age. I have also seen steering couplers tear. The bushings also squeak and deflect, but probably excellent for off road, as needle rollers don't like shock impact that happens in long travel suspension and you would rebuild them often.
I have not used delrin for a front beam, but I recently got delrin bushes made to replace the urethane bushes in my Mendeola suspension but it's not on the road yet, so I can't say how they work.
They had a tiny bit of give which allowed a press fit and I was able to ream them to size easily so I'm impressed so far.
let us know which way you go.

[andrewlandon67]

Been a while since I updated this, but having done some reading on the pros/cons of Delrin vs Micarta, I've decided to go with the Wolfsburg West ones to keep my car feeling like a proper bug. Hopefully I'll have the front end all freshened up and aligned before the summer starts so I can get on the job of just enjoying my car.

[ibg]

Good decision. Check your trailing arms to make sure the diameters are not under size from wear.
My top arms were 'special', bent on a press to add extra neg camber and one was worn quite a bit so I used a ream to size a bronze bush instead of micarta on that corner, so 3 micarta and 1 bronze 

[andrewlandon67]

Good decision. Check your trailing arms to make sure the diameters are not under size from wear.
My top arms were 'special', bent on a press to add extra neg camber and one was worn quite a bit so I used a ream to size a bronze bush instead of micarta on that corner, so 3 micarta and 1 bronze 

Do you know what reamer you got/what size reamer is best for this?

[ibg]

I borrowed it so I can only describe it. It was adjustable in diameter with about 6" long blades, and it had a square head like a tap to attach the handle.
looked like this https://www.aimsindustrial.com.au/maxigear-adjustable-hand-reamer-1-1-2-1-13-16-38.1?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI5sXBwq729gIVTysrCh3mYQBSEAQYASABEgLA2fD_BwE

I ran it in, checked the fit of the arm, made the reamer a bit bigger and repeated until it slid in.