Can i make my own suspension bushes?

[Gannon]

The bushes on the bottom of the shocks in the rear of my Outback are rooted. (damn council pothole patches)

The struts still seem ok, and i cant source bushes separately, so i want to make my own.

I have come up with 2 options.

1. Buy a tube of some type of polyurethane in liquid or paste form and pour it in between the bolt and the base of the shock where the bush goes. Wait till it sets and hope for the best.

2. Buy a blank rod of polyurethane and use a lathe to mill my own bush to press into the base of the shock.

Im open to alternatives to polyurethane too, but its the only one i know.

Maybe something like this scoobymods.com $5 dog bone mod


Opinions.....

[AlpineRaven]

You could...
But I can tell you from experiences in the past - I did same thing to engine mounts and strut bottoms on Holden WB Panel vans struts - lasted like a month as they broke into pieces, i was using correct stuff. - I ended up getting aftermarket bushes and ever since before I sent it to wreckers it was okay. Engine Mounts story, lasted me 6 months before they broke into pieces.

Again, depends what brand your using, Ive forgotten what I used, but it was in yellow/orange tube with black crap.
Cheers
AP

[discopotato03]

Gannon those bushings are made of rubber for a reason , they allow movement that isn't linear . That's why in competition applications they use rose joints in that area rather than solid type bushings .
Urethane is fine when movement is required in one plane , it is a backwards step say in L Series rear semi trailing arms because their locating points don't allow movement in the same plane . The usual ill is that the "bush" breaks up or overloads the suspension members mounting points . If your real lucky all it causes is binding of the joint .

Often factory works competition bushes are made of less compliant rubber than standard road production ones , the reason being that they have some compliance just less than std ones .

If the bushes are dead in your dampers that's probably telling you that its time for new dampers .

A .

[maxxair]

I definately wouldnt do any pouring type ones myself. surely ARB could have something?? i got mine there

[Gannon]

So ya rekon i would be better off with rubber? What if i got a tube of that black mastic, Its pretty strong, but flexible.

What do i ask for from ARB?

[steptoe]

take your bits in and try to match up something from a pretty big box of options. I think some joints have listings of bushes based on dimension requirements.

[spike]

ummm
weve done it before
they need to be solid so cant use the liquid rubber idea
you have to make them the same material as before
if your got a lathe just go and do that