Slotted Bushes

[Strange Rover]

Heres what I got on the slotted bushes at the moment.

Heres a pic of some slotted bushes and the bushes mounted in an arm and how the bushes deflect when the front axle is articulated.

Now in the pics of the bushes mounted in the arm you will notice that there is some rubber in the middle of the slots. This comes about because on the later model bushes are wider than the earlier bushes and we are using the same molds to make both styles. So in the wider style bushes the molds are mover further apart and therefore we end up with the rubber in the "gap" in the middle. Now we experimented with what to do with the rubber and in this instance with these pics we drilled a hole in it and basically we found that the thin piece of rubber in the middle makes no difference at all - so we just leave it as is.

Meaning that if you get the later model wider bushes you carnt see all the way through the slots and with the early model narrower bushes you can see through them.

Sam

[Strange Rover]

Now here is a series of before and after shots of my absolutely stock as a rock disco. The before shots have the standard factory late model radius arm bushes which have 3 steel shells in them (the centre crush tube and then an intermediate shell and then the outer shell) and the after shots are with our slotted bushes.

In both instances the sway bar and front shocks have all been disconnected. So basically it is only the radius arm bushes that are limiting the front flex.

Sam

[Strange Rover]

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[Strange Rover]

So thats it so far. What I will do is get some measurements of the amount of flex we are getting from this setup so that you can compare to your current setup. What I will do is measure from the bottom of the guard to the top of the rim on each side and work out the difference. This measurement will be the amount of articulation measured in millimetres at the rim and will give a number that we can compare no matter what setup or lift you are running. Running a wider rim will give a slight advantage but not enough to worry about.

The cost for a set of 4 bushes is $150.00 and to freight them anywhere in Aust in an Aust Post express bag is $10 (actually $8.66 so I get the extra $1.34 in fuel money to get to the nearest post box) These prices include GST.

To pay for them write a cheque payable to "Haultech Engineering Pty Ltd"
and sent to :

Haultech Engineering Pty Ltd
139 Murray Rd
Logan Village Q 4207

and make sure you enclose your contact details (name, address and phone no) and whether you want the early narrow style or the later wider style (or just measure the width of your radius arms where the bushes go)

OR

you can direct deposit into bank account:

Bank of Queensland
Account Name: Haultech Engineering Pty Ltd
BSB: 124-152
A/C Number: 10-594410

and PM me OR email me the direct deposit details and contact details and bush type details ..... try to put some info on the direct deposit request so I can ID your transfer.


If these options are too hard then just PM me or email me.

Now I got a heap of them at the moment so no need to rush into buying them. I will get the measurements this week so you can see how they will work compared to your current setup.

And like I said before if you buy them and dont like them i will refund your money.

Sam

[Strange Rover]

So ... any questions?

Sam

[Brett]

How long do you reckon they'll last on a daily driver?

Will you ship to UK?

Cheers

Brett

(I don't want them just for driving on the road)

[Strange Rover]

How long do you reckon they'll last on a daily driver?

Will you ship to UK?

Cheers

Brett

(I don't want them just for driving on the road)

They should last a long time - and ideally we would be wanting to give a 12 month warrantee with them (which we are working towards) but it isnt that simple at the moment.

In rubber bushes there are two styles commonly available. The late style 3 shell bushes and the older style 2 shell bushes.

Now the 3 shell bushes will always last a long time because they are very strong and can limit the articulation without cutting themselves. Meaning if you have these bushes and drive lots off road then they will survive.

Now the old style 2 shell bushes which do provide more articulation because they are more flexible will basically destroy themselves quickly off road. Because as the axle articulates the crush tube moves towards the outer shell distorting the rubber and either cuts the rubber or delaminates the centre crush tube. With this style of bush you can start the delaminating/cutting process from the very first time the rig is articulated and basiclly its all down hill from there. As the crush tube becomes more delaminated (meaning not glued to any rubber) and the rubber cuts up more then the rig will no longer drive straight on the road.

Now our slotted bushes - because they have the slots in them - allow the crush tube to move and flex the rubber without cutting or delaminating so they will definataly last longer than the 2 shell bushes if they are driven at all off road. I dont think they will last as long as the 3 shell bushes because these bushes are just so strong and dont distort and hurt themselves (which is also why they dont provide much articulation).

Now with standard length shocks and the slotted bushes the bushes will last a long time (im confident they would last longer than 12 months although they havent been tested that far) because the shocks limit the travel and the slotted bushes can easily handle this standard level of deformation with out cutting or delaminating.

Now if you run longer shocks so that it is the bush that limits the travel, the centre crush tube is really jamed hard against the inside of the outer tube in full articulation. This is the case where we become more uncertain. The first iteration of the slotted bushes that we made handled it quite well although they wernt perfect. After 6 months of fairly hard off road use in a very heavy range rover and lots of road miles the bushes did show some signs of cutting and a small amount of delaminating ... so basically the bushes were on the way out and would have ended up destroying themselves. Now on road the bushes did still feel very good - the rangie would still drive straight on the highway. We knew that these bushes wernt perfect from the moment when we first tested them because we could see them starting to cut themselves (this is also why I didnt start selling them at that point on Pirate BB).

I should mention that even if these bushes are totally flogged out they still drive OK. They just drive like any other radius arm bush that is totally flogged out - the rig just wanders a bit on the road and you just keep driving it until you get to the point where you are sick of chasing the steering wheel on the h/way and then you start replacing bushes (and by this point your steering box is probably a bit flogged also).

So in this version of the bush we changed the shape of the slot a bit and changed the rubber compound a lot and so far they look like they will last a long time. They have been in the silver range rover for a couple of months now and look perfect. This rangie is very heavy (2600kg) and the bushes limit the articulation. It does about 60 000km per year and goes off road more than once every month so it is one hell of a test bed.

And yes Im sure I can send them anywhere!!

Sam

[TuffRR]

Sam

I've got to say i'm very impressed by the increase in travel shown in the pictures.

I've got a motor to build and install at the moment but when thats done i'll be getting me some of those!

Keep up the good work!

[GRIMACE]

I am keen too But about the different lengths.......... I will be putting these into the Rovertym crank arms..... does anyone know what width/length I will need ? Longer or Shorter ?

[modman]

anthony, you can measure the inside width of the bush "hole" or the gap between radius mounts. i'm pretty sure sam will be able to work with that.

[Brett]

Thanks for the reply Sam, My main concern was coz my truck is a dd as well they'd wear quicker than on a purely recreational rig. I didn't fancy changing bushes every couple of months coz they're a bit of a ball ache to swap out.
Anyway you've conviced me on durability, so I better get measuring
Thanks again.
Brett

[wilsby]

Sam,
how much should I add for shipment to Sweden? My drilled ones are getting worse by the day, so I do need your stuff. No warranty called for!

Btw, will they fit in a Rangie II as well?

Christer Wilsby

[DiscoDino]

Sam,
I'm in....shipping to Saudi?
(1992 Disco...I have blue Polys...so not sure if I have the wide or narrow ones...)

[RUFF]

Guys Sam may be a few days before he can answer your questions as his wife has just had their first baby

But im sure as soon as he has time he can answer all your questions.

[DiscoDino]

WooHooo....

That is some GREAT news! Can't wait to have some of mine when I finally grow up!

[Britswed]

Congratulations Sam on the new arrival!!!!!

Sam with these slotted bushs what do you think they will be like for OBC & Winch Challenges in genral,Iam very tempted!!!!

Cheers Mal

[GURU]

G'day

Congrats Sam on the new arrival.

How long do the front flexy brake hoses need to be with the slotted bush's ?

[Strange Rover]

Thanks for the congratulations guys.

Im sort of back on deck and will try to respond to the questions soon (when I find the time!!) Although its more just a matter of getting myself organised.

Sam

[Strange Rover]

G'day

Congrats Sam on the new arrival.

How long do the front flexy brake hoses need to be with the slotted bush's ?

The bushes by themselves wont make any difference to the length required. This will only depend on what length shocks you run.

If the shocks let the axle droop, say 2in more, then you need 2in extended brake lines.

In the pics of the disco with stock everything and disconnected front shocks it pulled the front brake lines tight so for the pics I temporarily unbolted the brake line mounting point.

Sam

[Strange Rover]

Congratulations Sam on the new arrival!!!!!

Sam with these slotted bushs what do you think they will be like for OBC & Winch Challenges in genral,Iam very tempted!!!!

Cheers Mal

They could work well. they will definately give you more front travel over stock bushes but you have to ask if you need more front travel??

If you ran them then you will loose a lot of roll stiffness out of the front end so you will get more body roll on the fast stuff.

So if you ran them then what you could do is run stiffer front springs to maintain your required roll stiffness which will maintain (or increase depending how you set up the stiffer springs) your current front end travel. Now the stiffer front springs IMO would be better on the fast stuff giving better axle control and less bottoming out. So this may be worth wile.

So basically what you would be doing is trading the roll stiffness caused by the stock radius bushes and putting this stiffness into running stiffer springs. And the stiffer springs should work better in the fast stuff.

So it could be worthwile but you would have to run stiffer springs IMO if that makes sence.

Sam

[Slunnie]

Sam,

Can you tell me the dimensions of the bushes please? I'll suss out if they fit the D2 front and rear. Also, how do the fit into the radius arm? I assume a press fit.

[Slunnie]

seems they are a press fit in the D2.

[Strange Rover]

Sam,

Can you tell me the dimensions of the bushes please? I'll suss out if they fit the D2 front and rear. Also, how do the fit into the radius arm? I assume a press fit.

The outside diameter is a bit over 51mm - I think they are a press fit into a 2 inch hole.

The widths are about 44mm for the late style and 37mm for the early style.

Sam

[Slunnie]

Bugger. The D2 bushes are about 64mm Dia, and 55mm wide.

[A1]

Sorry to butt in with a different make truck ...........

But Sam are these only goin to be made for Rangies and so forth or are you going to make this type of bush setup say for patrols/cruisers ......i realise the difference in size ........but im impressed with amount of travel increase for the bucks and would luv to trial a set on the mav!

And obviuosly they have to be pressed in as you have shown to work properly to allow the movement up/down of the steel sleeve through out travel...........