ANTI ROLL BAR LINK - Solved!! I think.

[Guest]

Can someone put up a picture of the 'lead modification'?

[Guest]

Hi all. My car is back off road now (other problems). The a/r bar links were fine but the sleeve worked out so not tight enough.

I was wondering whether a 2 piece poly bush with flanges would be better. Much easier to fit too!

Friend who looks also added poss put large washer either side of bush and tap thread onto end of rod to put a nut?

Powerflex do universal top hat poly bush with thick sleeve (redrill to size?)
Not looked at it properly but here is link to pdf with all sizes available.

http://www.powerflex.co.uk/i/product..._UNIVERSAL.pdf

[Jumturbo]

Yes, I was looking at that last night. The closest part is PF99-104. OD of this bush is 35mm ( so should be tight fit in VW bush) but hole is 16mm dia, so arb will be loose. The metal tube has an 8mm hole, but I can't see drilling a 15mm hole into this tube will be practical! or even possible. There are some poly bushes on ebay for mini engine steady bar mounts, but I've emailed the seller for some dims. I still think my idea of wrapping the arb ends in sheet lead will work. Say, code 3 or 4 lead. I'm not ready to try yet, but if nothing else comes up I will. As mentioned, the lead is pliable enough to bend a flange up the back of the drop-link to stop it slipping out.

[Guest]

Im afraid there are no poly bushes that fit out there, hence made my own poly bushes. I tried to cost up making as cheap as possible arb links, but they still came in at over £25 when hand made. so I decided to make them in the best materials possible and to appear as near as possible to the originals for show cars. The margin on them is very small as the cost to make them is high due to being turned and on the mill for each and every single one. The number of ops on each one is a lot and moulds were also made to match the originals as well. I can do a shore hardnes of 80 if desired.
I appriciate that the cost is thought to be high, however the items are very good value when the effort thats gone in them is considered, The quality is exceptionally good. An interesting point is non enthusiasts for these cars think the price is a regular price and are generally pleased with paying that.

I would of thought its nice that we still have a choice of fitting hand crafted UK made items to our cars. Sadly for some finance is tight and its good to see there doing what they can to keep there cars going.

[TLC]

I would have thought there was some company that can make a poly bush to fit existing metal arb ends.If the bush has a flange on the end if would be easy to push it in when one of the rolled ends is removed.If a bulk buy by the club it would work out cheaper.After all its a mot requirement and theres plenty of us that want them.

[Jumturbo]

Might be worth bringing some along to saloon day so that people can see them in the flesh. They may sell well on the day! In my case, thankfully, its not really to do with not having the finances, its more to do with justifying paying that amount for what is essentially a very small part. ( I thought the powerflex full set was expensive at £100 from Moto-build, but they were cheaper than RRP by some margin!). I can't understand why Powerflex make the full set but exclude the drop-links. To sum up, the equivalent VW parts are very similar, but are only £7.00 a pair and we are close to making them work for nothing!

[Austin-Rover]

I would have thought there was some company that can make a poly bush to fit existing metal arb ends.If the bush has a flange on the end if would be easy to push it in when one of the rolled ends is removed.If a bulk buy by the club it would work out cheaper.After all its a mot requirement and theres plenty of us that want them.

Be thankful that this (as yet) is the only thing we have to get remanufactured to keep our cars on the road. Many older classics have worse parts supply than ours and making your own is the only option. £50 is quite resonable considering they are hand made on a small scale...and considering that you won't be buying them very often. How much would Rover have charged you for one?

[TLC]

Yes one could say its reasonable if your employed.Lets face it there a lot that are not atm !!So if you want a lower ball joint from x-part you would pay the asking price of about £17 + vat and delivery. and not try and get the same rover one off ebay.If your not desperate for an itam you wait for it and get it cheaper.The same with this .Iam am like any sensible person looking at all possablitities.The fact it is made of stainless steel and marine grade at that is ott.Normal steel is perfectly adequate.Iam not doubting the quality of the itam .Just finding a alternative way of doing the same job cheaper.You pay £50 each .But iam not the only one who thinks its excessive.
What do the China use on the new estate ? They might have what we want?Just another possablity!!

[threelitre]

So a new question regarding these: My father's Montego - a late 1994 car - needed a new ARB-link. Fine, I have a used one in storage. But now my father tells me, that the bolt on top of them is of a different diameter. The one on the car has a 12mm bolt, the one I gave him (which I suspect to be from a 1984 MG) a 10mm bolt. Are there different parts or is the one I have not from a Maestro or Montego?

The ARB will be removed until a solution is found...

Regards,

Alexander

[E_T_V]

Early ones have a smaller bolt. These were replaced by the bigger bolts as the bolts tended to break.

[threelitre]

Ah, so my 'spare' link is only useful for my MG 1600 then, same for the stuff still on a potential donor car... Shame, as I thought to have been lucky enough to have some spares for our daily drivers.

Regards,

Alexander

[TLC]

Early ones have a smaller bolt. These were replaced by the bigger bolts as the bolts tended to break.

That is as you say as i had one go in 1992 .It was replaced with one that had the upgraded larger bolt.

[threelitre]

When was the change-over? Our 1986 MG never needed a new one despite having starship mileage. But the ones on our Diesel and my 1.3-litre Maestro (fitted with the ARB from another 1994 Diesel) did brake - the bolts simply shear off the housing.

Regards,

Alexander

Edit: Can the earlier one be fitted to a late car? Or would the bolt rattle in the suspension arm all the time? When upgrading an early car, would the bores in the lower arms need to enlarged?

[E_T_V]

To fit a larger bolt one to a smaller hole arm then yes the holes need to be enlarged with a drill. Nothing too difficult with that though as the steel is only thin. You could fit a small bolt to a large hole but to avoid it rattling round or potentially coming loose I'd cut a length of tube to use as a bush to make it a tight fit in the hole. It'd probably work without the bush but I'd do it just to make sure it was secure.

[Guest]

I have made an exact copy of the original in marine grade stainless steel hence never rot! in the process of making a batch of 20. They are stronger and in appearence look identical to the original bush fitted. cost though is £45 each due to the fact there hand made and the tube cost me over £100 as raw stock.
by the looks of it Id be best to sell the stock of stainless bolts, nuts and tube off and get some money back as im never going to get near that price.

just seen the date of the blog, is there any one there still???