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repairing old rubber bushes
smart51 - 9/6/13 at 06:01 PM

The diff mounting bushes on my Suzuki have gone and replacements are hard to get hold of. Someone on the owners forum said he'd "repaired" his by filling the voids with PU adhesive as it sticks the parts together and sets to rubber. Do you reckon there's any mileage in this or is it a silly idea?


mark chandler - 9/6/13 at 06:20 PM

I guess it depends on the shock loading, when I wanted some non standard bushes I purchased so poly landrover bushes and cut down in my lathe to suit.

I think poly bushes are made from twin pack stuff, get hold of this and mould yourself something.

If you are just filling voids in standard bushes you have nothing to lose, you would need to build up over time or the centre will remain soft.

[Edited on 9/6/13 by mark chandler]


ReMan - 9/6/13 at 06:34 PM

Great idea, just depends on the abount of load on them as to wheter it will last 5 minuets.
I'll remebmer it as a fix though


DarrenW - 11/6/13 at 11:54 AM

Sounds plausible as a temporary fix, but i would doubt the adhesive would have the same modulus as the original bush, and i guess it would depend on how contaminated the old bush is with oil and grease etc.

if the old bush is really shot and causing issues i guess you have nothing to lose. If there is quite a bit of labour time involved in getting at the bush, the other suggestion of finding a poly bush somewhere near and machining it to fit might be a better bet.


smart51 - 20/6/13 at 08:30 AM

I did a test with some PU adhesive, putting down 2 thin layers and leaving them a day each. Only the outer 2mm cured, leaving a small gooey layer in the middle. It's not going to work. So I bought some 2 part polyurethane rubber. And here's the result.

Differential bush
Differential bush


If it was going somewhere it could be seen, I'd clean it up. I'd probably have put some black dye in to too. £250 to replace. £16 to fix. Bargain.