Front End Bushing Kit - 62 Hawk?

[Champ51]

Never having rebuilt a Studebaker suspension, this thread begs the following questions:

Do 1953 and later cars with their rubber bushings ride substantially better than the '51-52 cars, or was the change in bushings done for ease of manufacturing / maintenance?
Do the later cars have a quieter ride than the early cars?

[bensherb]

Hi guys.
I have stated this before. Delrin is a lube free bearing material for rotating shafts. I would not use it in high impact situations. If you put it in a vise and hit it it fractures into bits.
It is hard and has little compliance.
The pic above is not typical of polyurethane installed properly. They probably used the Stude inner sleeve which is split length ways and not smooth enough. That would chew the crap out of the bush. The installation also requires the inner sleeve to rotate. The bush length is critical, if not right it will also destroy the bush.
There are varying duro (hardness) formulas usually colour coded. I have been using these bushings in my cars for nearly 40 Years. I used them in my 1984 Nissan Patrol and belted the crap out of the suspension driving around Australia with no problems. Almost all 4x4"s here use them and they get pounded on our gravel roads.
They have been in both my Studes for years.
The ones Joe has were supplied with new SS inners (polish finish) and a graphite lube which is essential.
Do it properly and it won't be a problem.

Allan

You are absolutely correct Allan. The crumbled bushings I showed in the pic were not removed from a Studebaker but were on a smooth shaft with room to rotate, but did have some time on them. I was actually surprised to find them in as bad a condition as they were. They were spring shackel bushings. This was not the first time I've encountered urethane bushings in this kind of condition. I replaced them with Delrin bushings which will most certainly outlive the car's owner. From my experience, the urethane bushings sold commercially here will last five to maybe ten years whether the vehicle is driven or not. They tend to dry out, harden and then wear quite quickly. Yes, a polished or smooth inner shaft and proper lubrication is essential for good performance of either a urethane or Delrin bushing.

Personally, I value a solid suspension over the very minor, if even perceptable, difference a rubber or urethane bushing might provide over a Delrin one, (but I wouldn't run aluminum bushings on the street). The main reason I replaced the good condition stock rear bushings on my Hawk was due to their poor design which allowed too much lateral rear axle movement. At some point, before I got the car, the shackels had been allowed to become a tiny bit loose and had rolled the ends of the bushing's inner tube, which in turn kept the shackels from being able to be properly tightened allowing far too much lateral movement. The thin ends of the stock type rear bushings inner tube, along with the thin shackel plates (I made new ones twice as thick) ; do not offer enough purchase to resist the lateral forces applied to them under anything but extremely light cornering, and consequentially will allow increasingly more lateral movement as time goes on. I've not noticed ANY difference in ride quality between the Delrin and stock bushings. And, it gets smoother the faster you go; that may be due to our crappy roads, or maybe not, I don't know. My GT rides very nice ,at 110 kph or more it rides smooth as glass, even on our crappy roads.

[alpayed]

You are absolutely correct Allan. The crumbled bushings I showed in the pic were not removed from a Studebaker but were on a smooth shaft with room to rotate, but did have some time on them. I was actually surprised to find them in as bad a condition as they were. They were spring shackel bushings.Hi Bensherb. The rear shackles take a pounding. Part of the problem is the pin diameter. My 60 Hawk has Ford ranger rear leafs in it and the shackles are huge by comparison.
Not much can be easily done with the ones in the chassis.
Allan