Neil,

I made new spacer sleeves from stainless stock (gotta keep my lathe time hours up). I then applied a generous amount of my home made Waxoyl (wax, chainsaw oil, etc. melted and combined to make a firm paste)  to the threads on the radius rod itself where it passes through the bushings and sleeve. It worked fine, was still there when I finally replaced the bushings recently. When I put it all back together this second time, my Waxoyl concoction was hard (3 C in workshop) so rather than warm the tub of goo up, I used some LPS marine grease.

Here is my blog post on making new sleeves (man, way back in 2011, took me so long to replace those bushings)

http://shufti.wordpress.com/2011/09/19/vanagon-steering-arm-boot-and-radius-arm-sleeve/

here is my blog post of the radius arm bushing replacement I finally got around to doing recently

http://shufti.wordpress.com/2013/01/06/vanagon-syncro-front-spring-swap-and-radius-arm-bushing-replacement/

Oh, and I did grease around the hole in the frame on both occasions, again with same stuff as on the rods.

alistair

On 2013-01-10, at 9:54 AM, neil n wrote:

> The radius arm bushing sleeves are NLA from VW. However, VC and BD
> both have them as does Frank Condelli. I made some out of steel pipe
> (the dimensions are really close) but that is a waste of time.
> 
> The radius arm parts on my lower mileage '88 were more worn than
> anticipated. The sleeves were ok but the lip on each bushing (one per
> side) was really worn. Thankfully the holes were nearly perfect with
> minor rust pitting. Hopefully the holes on your sub frame are ok. They
> can be repaired though.
> 
> IIRC, Alistair "greased" his new bushing sleeves (rust protectant
> measure). Can't recall what he used.
> 
> @ the list: add some kind of "thick" grease or equal between bushings
> and sub frame? Help keep the frame from rusting (as fast) or slow down
> rust?  Something that wouldn't affect the rubber?
> 
> on my '88 holes on d-side were in really good shape. P-side much
> different http://tinyurl.com/b7oy7u3  though both still ok. In
> hindsight I should have at least put some protectant on the sleeves.
> 
> Neil.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On Thu, Jan 10, 2013 at 7:29 AM, Jeff Lincoln <magikvw@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
>> Every bit of rubber I have looked at under there
>> is cracked, split, or torn to some degree. Some of the other items - well I
>> agree maybe I shouldn't be so hasty in replacing them. My, still novice,
>> thinking was that if I know some parts are shot chances are others aren't
>> far to follow - I'd be willing to bet I'm looking at all original 28 year
>> old parts under there and this vehicle (as far as I can tell) has lived
>> here in the midwest snow areas of Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan all it's
>> life. It was also rescued by the PO from a scrap yard (possibly days before
>> being crushed). However, my thinking has been flawed before and I can fully
>> entertain the idea that it is flawed here as well. I'll be sure to have my
>> friend take a look more closely before I order any parts.
> 
> 
> 
> --
> Neil n
> 
> 65 kb image Myford Ready For Assembly  http://tinyurl.com/64sx4rp
> 
> '88 Slate Blue Westy to be named.
> 
> '81 VanaJetta 2.0 "Jaco"  http://tubaneil.googlepages.com/
> 
> Vanagon VAG Gas I4/VR Swap Google Group:
> 
> http://groups.google.com/group/vanagons-with-vw-inline-4-cylinder-gas-engines