Hi,

Just finished my Luego and I am very pleased with it. A problem I have however is that the car squeaks and groans as it drives down the road. Is it a case of WD40 on all the suspension bushes or have I missed a trick?

Steve

I would have thought it would settle down after a little use. My missus used to squeak and groan but over time she's quietened down too.

What sort of bushes do you have?? Depending on the type of bush you might need to have the car on the ground at full weight before tightening the suspension bolts to allow it to settle properly.

This is a problem with Luego's.
The Crush tubes are about 30thou too short.

Hence you nip up the nylon bush.

Take the bushes out and skim off a few thou off the outside face.
The assemble the bush in the arm, and then nip up in a vice.
If its still tight, take a few thou off the bush again. repeat untill you get a nice fit with free movement, but no side to side sloppyness.
I ended up taking about 30 thou off each bush. (but you will need to check as you go).

Then generously lubricate the bushes with proper rubber grease, and re assemble.

Check them by nipping up the arm / bush / tube in a vice (Its quicker than re-fitting to the car)

Rusty Nuts found this out first, and his suspension now works like a dream.
Mine is much better, but could do with a little more work.

Do NOT slacken off the bolts to stop it squeeking. This will wear the holes oval in the brackets and wear thru the bolt. Its dangerous, and hassle to have to change all the brackets in a few years time.

The Bolts should be done up tight and hold the crush tube solid. It is the bush that moves on the tube, not the Bolt, which is merely a securing device NOT a hinge pin.

Its been done to death on here.
See...
http://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/viewthread.php?tid=90858

http://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/viewthread.php?tid=91498

http://www.locostbuilders.co.uk/viewthread.php?tid=78091

Rubber lube on the bushes should shut it up. Im assuming they are poly bushes? Do the centre tubes sit flush with the edge of the bushes or just inside? If theyr just inside theyl be tight and creek like mad. U need to shave a bit off your bushes.

Usual reason on the Luego is that the crush tube in the poly bushes is a fraction to short. There are several ways to cure it.

Strip the arms off and pare down the outer faces of the mounting eyes on all the arms until when reassembled the crush tube projects past the bush by a few thou. the strip, grease and reassemble bushes and refit arm(s).

Similar to above, but this time you pare/machine down (usually in a lathe) the outer faces of the poly bush(es).

Have special washers/shims made that have a step or taper that clears the poly bush(es).

Regular doses of oily lubricant. This last option is not quite so satisfactory as it still stops the pivots from working as freely as they are supposed to. For further information Rustynuts is the man to speak to.

Hope this helps.


Enjoy
JGG

[Edited on 25/6/08 by jollygreengiant]

Blast beaten by Geoff, I wish I could type faster.

[Edited on 25/6/08 by jollygreengiant]

My car now has no squeaks , groans or feels like your spine is compressing everytime you hit a bump . Geoff and Clive have explained how I cured it . If I was doing it again I would thin down the eyes on the wishbones but when I did the job I was worried about damaging the powder coating. Shouldn't have worried as it fell off on its own ! As Geoff says nip the crush tube in a vice and try rotating the wishbone . Spoke to Ben Lord last year at Stoneleigh about the problem , he was going to sort it out but don't know if he ever did. I suspect that a lot of the broken wishbones that people have had may be due to tight bushes??? Ride is much better with bushes sorted as well as no noises

Poo, this will take hours.

As eznfrank, have you tried leaving the wife at home, this normally cures the moans and groans in my car.
Barry

[Edited on 25/6/08 by LBMEFM]

I have the same on the avon, front end is ok,
rear creaks like an old door. I had assumed it was the springs, but ill check now. as you say, damm it will be a long job

les

Well, I stripped the rear down on both sides, shortened the poly bushes and lubricated them with silicon spray from 3 in 1. And guess what, they still squeak! Actually it's more of a lot of creaking now. Either way it's loud, too loud. So, did I use the wrong lubricant? If not any ideas on what I can do now to silence the noisy rear.

I had the same problem....The crush tubes were too short... I decided to bite the bullet and buy some proper poly bushes and also replace the spacing washers with some ally spacers turned down on one side. It makes one hell of a difference....the arms move really smoothly as they should. It did take a lot of time though...
Dave B

Dave,

Where did you get that lot from?

I'll dig out the info tonight....

Dave B

Hi

Surely the easiest option is to get a new set of crush tubes manufactured to the correct length, shouldn't be too expensive.

Regards Mick

Hi.... I bought a set of poly bushes form Super Flex... They were not cheap but they are proper polyurethane bushes rather than the nylon ones you get with the kit. I had them trimmed to the top hat depth I needed to suit the crush tubes then Mark (VaLviNx) made me up some ally spacers at a very reasonable price which meant when tightened up the spacer was tightening on the crush tube and not the side of the bush. I actually had one spacer and a washer to enure the wishbone didn't move. The movement is super smooth.. The bushes were £128 a set trimmed.... The part no is SPF2043P-90 then adjusted to suit my tubes...

thanks
Dave B

Steve did you nip up each crush tube/bush/arm assembly in a vice to test that the arm rotated round the crush tube?? I used Delphi rubber grease to lubricate all of my bushes which seems to have done the trick . It may be possible to slacken each wishbone bolt in turn to locate your noisy bushes?

Thanks Dave, £128 is a killer though.

Rusty, I did check every one in a vice and they all rotated on the crush tube without squeaking.