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Full Version: Powerflex "P" Bushes for M49/59
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I've seen a fair amount of low-grade internet chatter about these pieces (eg, unsupported opinions, hearsay, aspirational bias).

Has anyone seen failure of them in normal loadings/usage? I've bought new PSA rubber bushes for the front eye from Louth's but the P bushes are tragic. Landed cost for a pair is almost on par with local price for Motaquip or PSA stock.

Thanks, Adam.
Hmm... Will "buyer's remorse" surface?

I just dropped £86 on a set posted to me. Hoping that whoever did the "P" bushes last time, hasn't scarred the spindles with a hacksaw blade.
Eight days door to door isn't bad. They arrived in a dainty purple box that looked like it should have held cosmetics. The internally threaded fixing hole is equipped with a monolithic insert, not a coil. I'm tempted to cobble up a grease fitting that can be temporarily screwed into this hole - it'd be quite easy.
Be interested in your opinion of them in use. I used a Powerflex type in the transmission mount and am quite happy with it
Hmm... It's been quiet in this thread! :eek:

The arms, circa May 2000, were ORIGINAL. They held moulding dates in the rubber of late '99 and early 2000, also one eye bush still carried the "96" part number. So far as I can tell, only the drop links and ball joints had ever been changed. Not bad for 400000 kilometres, but no wonder it handled like a sack of spuds!

The old eye bushes were chiselled out one side, using a sharpish half inch cold chisel applied around the flange. When one began to resist, it was partly caved inwards with longitudinal chisel blows. A suitable drift was employed to remove the other side - a Koken impact grade universal joint... :whistle:

New eye bushes were pressed in using a combination of ad-hoc outer bearing race from something to support the inboard flange, and a suitable sized piece of the Würth press-and-pull "suitcase" kit on top. A smear of hydraulic oil was used to lubricate.

The P-bushes first had their outers removed - easily done by clamping the "P" in the vice and twisting the arm off by hand. I didn't say that they were any good, just that they were original! The inner sleeve was pressed out with a bearing splitter for support and half inch impact extension as the driving mandrel. A slight scar to one from the splitter being a shade tight, was dressed out with a smooth flat file.

Powerflex supply copper grease with their bushes, this was applied as directed noting the inner surface of the bush has a snakeskin texture that initially can hold a good amount of grease. Fit was a firm push by hand.

Pictures will be furnished in a day or so; I didn't repaint the arms as their galvanising appears in good health and I'm feeling a budget/time squeeze this month...
Doesn't sound a fun job to fit them! I was going to fit some of the butch polyurethane? bushes to our Land Rover some years ago but chickened out after talking to a couple of serious off-roaders told me LR were warning against them. The suggestion was that the composition of the material in the poly bushes was much harder and impacts that would be absorbed by the original (softer) bushes were being passed through to the chassis and steering/suspension, sometimes causing damage in off-road use. Probably not a problem unless you off-road the Blingo!
I don't intend to go mudding or canyoning with it!

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The arms do look in decent nick. Galvanising seems a very good idea. Might take a look at mine before the winter hits. I've got a tin of Waxoyl doing nothing and there seem to be plenty of holes to squirt it through.
Just use the updated berlingo bushes less rubber to cause failure. Got mine of eBay for less than £20 posted

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