Sorry its Friday afternoon,

 KY jelly came to mind

:-)

--- harald_nancy <harald_nancy@EARTHLINK.NET> wrote:
> Well, the bushing I have in front of me
> ( "elastmetall" 202346 LME Germany 251407077)
> is very tight inside. The rubber inside is actually
> somewhat
> under pressure, really pressed in.
> Silicone paste would be the ideal lubricant,
> but I don't think there is a way to get any more in
> there.
> If you drill a hole and install a grease nipple on
> the outside,
> you would damage the bushing too much.
> Just my opinion.
> Harald
> '90 westy
> ----------
> From: BRENT CHRISTENSEN
> <bchristensen@infogenesis.com>
> To: 'harald_nancy' <harald_nancy@earthlink.net>;
> vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: RE: upper control arm
> Date: Friday, March 10, 2000 10:04 AM
>
> Anyone know what kind of grease this is and if there
> is a way to force more
> of it in there?
>
> I'm getting ready to install new ones this weekend,
> and I sure would love
> to
> be able to put in some "extra" lubricant...
>
> Brent Christensen
> '89 GL Syncro Westy
> Santa Barbara, CA
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: harald_nancy
> [mailto:harald_nancy@EARTHLINK.NET]
> Sent: Thursday, March 09, 2000 7:42 PM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Re: upper control arm
>
>
> Cross section of upper control arm bushing:
> I was asking before if anyone ever cut one in half.
> I guess not.
> Took the right ctrl arm to the shop today and had 2
> new bushings
> pressed in and spot welded. Cost me a hundred bucks.
> Took the old ones (2 yrs, 25,000 miles) home and
> sliced one with
> a hack saw in half.
> It looks like this:
> The inner shaft has about 1/8" thick rubber bonded
> to it.
> The outer housing has a nylon liner (about 1/16").
> The liner has grooves that fit into the outside
> housing grooves,
> so the liner itself does not turn.
> The rubber on the inner shaft is NOT bonded to the
> outside housing.
> There is a thin layer of grease between the rubber
> and the outside nylon
> liner.
> The inside shaft can rotate freely.
> Bushing looks like it's in perfect shape.
> But I'm pretty sure it was squeaking anyway.
> At this point, I assume that one of them was
> defective, perhaps not
> enough rubber grease. And that's possibly why it was
> squeaking.
> Tomorrow I'll install the upper swing arm with the
> new bushings.
> I agree new springs might help, but I'm not ready
> for that yet.
> I also suspect the upper rubber spring seat. Anyone
> try that?
>
> The local vw mechanic was wrong when he told me the
> rubber is
> bonded to the inside and outside part of the
> bushing.
> I was suspicious, because it doesn't mention in the
> Bentley
> anywhere that the van has to rest on its wheels when
> tightening
> the upper ctrl arm nut.
> Harald Rust
> '90 westy
>
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