Thread: Rear Axle Bush Question

okay just a quick question,
seems like my Drivers side Axle bush is fooked, bit of knocking/clunking when cornering.
i was thinking, what if i make a set of solid bushes, out of aluminium?
would it be possible? what would the drawbacks be?
the drift boys have been doing it for years on subframes.
i would also drill and tap the axle to add grease nipples so i could grease up the solid bush.

The originals are hydraulic [oil filled and give a cushion to the rear sub frame to body frame ] I think the ride would be harsh and the car would twist and not give under load and would eventually cause structural damage.. if you think it will do the job then try it ..but then put the car in for a M.O.T test to see if it comes up with an advise note..

i'm just annoyed that the bushes were only changed about 4kmiles ago and one has failed already, thats why i was thinking of going down the "solid" route.
maybe a little seam welding around the rear chassis would suffice?

i have looked for Poly rear bushes but i cant find them anywhere. i will have another look.
i wonder if it would be possible to get a piece of nylon on push it in the laithe to create an axle bush

I've heard tales of woe about the rear bushes failing from a chap I know who works at a Fiat garage - he observed that they weren't genuine Fiat parts I had the rears changed on mine some 30+k miles ago with bushes from shop4parts and they're still sound, to be fair the originals were actually not too bad at all.
However, he also pointed out that the rear bushes tend to give way if there's strain being place on them beyond normal tolerance - ie. it's symptomatic of a problem elsewhere in the suspension and in alignment.
At the time I was shopping for rear bushes, I did look around for polybush kits and there's naff all available for the Stilo. The rear bushes, due to their make up, are tricky to retro-engineer as a solid bush.
However, if there were enough interest, it's possible to have a run of around 20 car sets made up - at a price. We did this in my Lancia days as there was (again) naff all available for the Beta - I can't remember what the cost per car was but it wasn't cheap at the time.
It would be possible to manufacture your own solid bush on a lathe but I suspect (as Phil pointed out earlier on) any form of solid bush is going to make the car uber-hard at the rear end, any compliance provided by the oil filled bush would be gone so a solid replacement would have to take that into account.
The bush would still need to be sleeved as per standard (for bolt fitting/mountings etc) which means you would need old bushes to work from and re-engineer to fit.

Personally, I wouldn't fancy the idea of a solid metal bushing, but it would be easier to make than a replica in a hard wearing nylon.......

my bushes were genuine fiat, i've been doing a bit of reading, and nylon only absorbs shock in an up down fashion it does not take the "sideways forces" well as there is not side to side flex, so it would have to be polyurethane.
i will see what is available in this sense.
i know noone manufactures poly bushes for the stilo but there may be other ways

I made inquiries about polly bushes direct to the company about three years ago they said at the time they would look into it but as far as I can see on the net thats as far as it did get..zilch nadda nothing..I would say its because of the physical fact that they are hydraulic and not solid that put them off ..cost of R&D might be ofputting in cost to the actual number of sales that would be made initially..personally I think there would be a market for a correctly engineered bush if it was available.but thats just me ..not everyone has the forsight and thinks the same as this old fella..

well you could get a solid polybush manufactured and when installing grease the bush, but i would say the axle would need to be drilled and tapped with a grease nipple to stop the inevitable "squeek" when the bush goes dry.

Polyurethane is self lubricating no grease needed..