Alemites in Trailing Arm to grease Nylatron Bushs.

[TR6BILL]

Richard Good suggest installing grease fittings into the aluminum trailing arms to keep the Nylatron bushes greased. Has anyone done this yet and what did you do?

 

[Tinster]

Bill, that sounds more wierd than some of the things I've
had to do to get my car off jackstands.

I'd have to pass on THAT suggestion.

d!!

 

[dklawson]

I don't have a TR6, but the suggestion sounds reasonable as long as grease pressure isn't so high that lubing the arm doesn't move the bushings out of place. The Mini uses a bushing on one end (and a needle bearing on the other end) of its trailing arms. The arm assembly includes a zerk fitting and it's important to keep the arm lubed. The downside on the Mini (and perhaps on the TR6) is that the inside of the trailing arm can hold a lot of grease. The Mini arm is supposed to have an internal sleeve to minimize the grease required. On most arms the sleeve fails and you end up pumping about a cup of grease in the arm before it starts coming out of the bushings.

 

[rchakr]

See Bob Danielson's excellent website at https://tr6.danielsonfamily.org He installed grease zerks in the trailing arms, and talks about their orientation. Bob

 

[LastDeadLast]

Bill,

I put the zerks in my trailing arms like Bob. There's a flat spot on the bottom of the trailing arm that's a great place for this. I just trilled and tapped and hole and installed the zerks. I could take pics tonight if you'd like. I was planning to check bolt torque's on the HVDA conversion and change the lube in the gearbox anyway.

-s

 

[BobbyD]

.....and talks about their orientation.

That's the nice way of saying he did the first one upside down!

And here's the right way to do them

 

[Tinster]

My Bad - sorry about that.

I installed the hardened rubber bushings.
It appeared to me the trailing arm grabbed the bushing
surfaces and the entire assembly rotated on the steel
tube center piece. I filled the center steel tube
with red wheel bearing grease.

I was not aware the bushing itself rotated against
the trailing arm surfaces.

Again, sorry for the bad info.

dale

 

[TR6oldtimer]

Dale, you got it right the first time, the Nylatron (and other non-rubber) bushing does not rotate against the trailing arm surfaces, it rotates on the inner sleeve, held in place by the through bolt. The original hard rubber bushes are molded to the inner sleeve and are not designed to rotate on the through bolt. Instead, they act as a torsion fitting, the rubber flexes radially as the arm swings. When installing, the trailing arm needs to be in the mid position of it's travel movement. The best way to find the mid position is to wait until the rear wheels are on the ground then torque down the through bolts. Many a rear rubber bush has failed due to improper installation where the upward or downward swing is beyond the bushings ability to flex.

As far as installing a grease fitting to extend the life of a Nylatron bushing, I have no experience to support the installation one way or another. If one were to do this, insure the fitting is located were the two Nylatron bushings meet inside the arm, also insure there is sufficient space between them to allow grease to access the inner sleeve.

 

[Brosky]

In the old days we were taught that grease attracts dirt and it sticks together and then the dirt grinds into the bushings and then you get the squeaks when it gets a little dry in the dirty spots. So you add more grease and it's OK for a while then it starts to squeak again, so you add more grease and on and on...........

Dale put the grease in the right spot where the bolt will ride inside the metal sleeve in the bushing. The other bushing sits solidly inside the casting.