Eye bolt clearances

[philthehill]

Not all poly bushes for the eye bolt have the same thickness/depth of shoulder.
If the shoulder is thin it may lead to excessive fore and aft movement on the eye bolt pin.
The distance between the outer faces of the bushes is set by the shoulders on the eye bolt pin.
To overcome any excessive fore and aft movement a steel shim can be placed over the main body of the poly bush which then sits between the rim of the eye bolt and the shoulder of the poly bush. I have found that in the main a 1mm thickness of shim takes up any excessive fore and aft clearances.
These are the correct shims for taking up any clearance:-
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/224326415431 ... 3600066247

eye bolt shim.JPG (505.31 KiB) Viewed 329 times

eye bolt shim 2.JPG (594.9 KiB) Viewed 329 times

Placing the shim to the front of the eye or rear of the eye will have little if any effect on the steering geometry as all that is being done is putting the eye bolt bush in the correct position relative to the shoulder of the eye bolt pin.

[mowogg]

Phil

This is a really interesting observation- have you seen/driven a system where this is an issue? I have a knock on my front suspension, and am wondering if this could be the issue.

[philthehill]

The eye bolt poly bushes being currently fitted have excessive fore and aft clearance and I was faced with either sourcing additional bushes with thicker shoulders or packing out the poly bush. The shim solution is the way I overcame the excessive clearance.
I would suggest that the eye bolt bush clearance is not an serious issue but if like me you want it right then the shims are the way to go.
There should be very little clearance between the bush and the suspension arm. Just enough to allow the arm to fall due to its own weight.
If you still have the eye bolt rubber bushes and you have a knock then the rubber bushes may be worn out.
Check the eye bolt eye and pin for wear.
I would suggest that you replace the rubber bushes with poly bushes. Also fit a grease nipple to the eye so that you can lubricate the poly bushes at regular intervals.

Eye bolt poly bush.JPG (101.41 KiB) Viewed 239 times

[mowogg]

Shims arrived in the post today so I have experimented with a spare eye bolt and 2 different poly bushes I have used in the past (blueand green) in the workshop.

Comparing them to a nos BMC rubber bush I found both shoulders to be narrower. The blue one was the thinnest.

Using a shackle pin and front arm I was suprised to see how much movement there was with the thinner bushes(blue). There was still some movement on the green. Unfortunately I could only find one rubber bush so I could not repeat this on a standard set up.

I bought 0. 5 mm shims and with the blue bushes it looked like 3 was optimum.i think this is what is fitted to the car. I suspect 2 would be better on the green ones

I need to strip the car down now and see what I find.

Of note the green bushes were removed due to wear. I suspect this could be due to excessive movement.