Payne

I hear a lot of people complaining about squeaking from the poly bushings and having to relube.

Anyone Zerk their VBP bushings for easy lube? How hard was it?

Any pics?

-Jason

danswofford

I didn't do it, but others have posted about it. Drill a hole in the metal bracket and tap in a Zerk fitting. Drill a hole through the bushing at the fitting. Not much to it.

John Shiels

except your bushings will turn so the hole won't line up soon no? Bushings usually have a grove in them all the way around.

XPC5R

You can drill/tap towards the middle of the bushing pairs, and hit the space between the two bushing halves.

95jersey

I would love to hear of any way to lube these bushings without removing them...

LTC Z06

Drill and tap what? The eye of the A-arms?! Could that lead to a starting point for stress fractures?

John Shiels

You worry to much We will have Gary H analyze it but we will drill yours first

Payne

so most of the bushings are halved, correct? so for most of them I could just put the zerk inbetween the halves of the bushings?

I'm a computer scientists and not a mechE, but I dont think a small tap in the arm is going to drastically change the structural integrity.

ghoffman

with:
A I don't think it would be an issue to drill and tap the a-arm with a small Zerk in the middle of the a-arm.
B You do it first

1) The bushings are halved so as long as there is a little gap in the center that would be the place to do it. If not, a belt sander would take care of it.
2) I use adhesive (RTV) to bond the urethane into the a-arm. This way the bushing doesn't rotate nor in this case would the injected grease get where you don't want such as the space between the bushing and the aluminum a-arm.
3) VBP makes the best bushing kit, and if you take your time and put in in with care, it works great.

Payne

Good idea...

This is going to be my winter project, along with coilovers, alignment camlocks, cornerweight/alignment...

freefall

yep - just noisy, like all poly kits.

XPC5R

For those planning the mod this winter, just a couple of things to watch out for:

1) Mark the desired position of the zerk with a sharpie while the suspension is still assembled. You don't want the fitting somewhere you can't reach because lines, driveshafts etc. are in the way.

2) Cut a couple of small slots in the poly bushing ID, and thrust faces, to let the old grease get forced out. The clearances are tight enough, that without those, too much pressure from the grease gun will start to push the bushings out from the arms - I found out the hard way!

3) It is still a bit messy, but it's nice to flush out most of the dirty grease without disassembly and losing your alignment.