Calling machinists and fabricators! Need help!

[lil_Blue_Ford]

So I haven’t found a solution yet, other than one that costs a lot so I’m hoping to reach out to some fabricators/machinists and see if someone can help me out. Tried one of the few people I know that could do it only to find his lathe is down with an unknown repair eta. I kinda need this ASAP so I can get the truck on the road. Hoping maybe someone on here can either help or knows someone that can help. The short of it is that I need two bushings (I’m thinking mild steel would be adequate but open to other options). The bushings need to be 1-7/8” OD, 1-3/4” ID and 2-1/2” long. Need at least two of them for now.

The story is, I’m trying to use Explorer leafs from a 98 Explorer in my green Ranger. I wanted to replace the bushings in the springs with poly, and as you may know, nobody makes a kit for the 95-01 Explorers. The work-around is to use a kit for 91-94 Explorers and buy a bushing set for a Chevy truck for the front. When you remove the front bushings from the springs, you leave the outer metal shell behind which gives you the 1-3/4” hole needed for the Chevy bushings. Well, that’s easy enough, right? Usually you have to chisel that out for replacement bushings. Well, that shell was nothing but rust in my leafs. So now I have a 1-7/8” hole and 1-3/4” poly bushings. I need to make up the difference or I need to try to find a stock rubber bushing and forget the poly. I’d rather do poly.

 

[dvdswan]

Can you grab a piece of 1/16" steel plate from Lowe's or HD and make your own sleeve? If you have a 1-3/4" pipe you could tack the sides to the pipe, bend the plate around it, tack it together and slide it off.

 

[Uncle Gump]

I would just buy rubber bushings and be done with it. If/when they fail... burn the rubber out and install your poly bushings.

You could be past this situation in hours... not weeks.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Can you grab a piece of 1/16" steel plate from Lowe's or HD and make your own sleeve? If you have a 1-3/4" pipe you could tack the sides to the pipe, bend the plate around it, tack it together and slide it off.

I thought about trying to fabricate my own, either hammering a flat piece around a pipe or seeing if maybe I could get a 2” EMT conduit and slit it and shrink it. I’d have to check wall thickness on that though. The EMT might be better than hammering a flat stock for consistency, but both are time hogs. Just kinda looking to see if there’s an option that isn’t overly expensive or time consuming (for me).

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

I would just buy rubber bushings and be done with it. If/when they fail... burn the rubber out and install your poly bushings.

You could be past this situation in hours... not weeks.

If I hadn’t already spent the money on the poly bushings, I might be more inclined to go this route. Almost wish I would have just left it alone, but the front bushings were so rusted it was actually at the point where it was spreading the eyes wider and in danger of breaking the eyes. When I removed the rust from the inside along where the end of the spring is wrapped around, it snapped back to a tight fit instead of being gapped by about 1/4” so it was probably good that I removed the bushings.

I may still go this route, it’s just not my preferred route. It’s holding me up for getting the springs in, but there’s a lot left to this project that it’s not stopping progress completely yet.

 

[don4331]

Speedy Metals 1-7/8" OD x 1.745" ID x .065" Wall Other Steel Round Tube

Buy Other Steel Round Tube from Speedy Metals, America's favorite online metal store with unsurpassed service, highest quality and best selection.

www.speedymetals.com

Just order 1' of the DOM above & cut to length - not exactly cheap, but almost exactly what you want.

 

[sgtsandman]

You could check with Metals Supermarket on the above. They have a store in Cranberry. It might be cheaper than paying for shipping, maybe.

 

[pjtoledo]

hit the local parts store and check out the exhaust pipe adapter section

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Speedy Metals 1-7/8" OD x 1.745" ID x .065" Wall Other Steel Round Tube

Buy Other Steel Round Tube from Speedy Metals, America's favorite online metal store with unsurpassed service, highest quality and best selection.

www.speedymetals.com

Just order 1' of the DOM above & cut to length - not exactly cheap, but almost exactly what you want.

Not exactly cheap indeed

You could check with Metals Supermarket on the above. They have a store in Cranberry. It might be cheaper than paying for shipping, maybe.

Didn’t think of that, definitely an option

hit the local parts store and check out the exhaust pipe adapter section

Hmm… might be worth a shot

 

[Blmpkn]

What do the dimensions of the actual poly bushing/s need to be? 1- 7/8 OD... but what does the ID of the bushing for the bolt sleeve need to be? And what's the width of the spring?

There's gotta be something in stock somewhere that you can make work without needing to jack around and try make your own sleeve for the bushings you have now.

 

[Eddo Rogue]

You could fish around the remnants/scrap section of metal shop (most have em), or otherwise just look for pieces that the desired OD and ID and can be sleeved into each other. Turn a few pieces into one. Maybe even weld and grind the ends to make it one piece.

 

[holyford86]

I'd roll with the stock rubber bushings, or if you must have poly, just buy the cheapest stock replacement bushing you can find then burn the rubber out, it'll be way cheaper than trying to fabricate something once you factor in time spent. FWIW I replaced the bushings in my chevy leaves when I installed them over a decade ago, when I yanked the now worn out springs to replace them last fall, the bushings in the old springs were just fine

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

What do the dimensions of the actual poly bushing/s need to be? 1- 7/8 OD... but what does the ID of the bushing for the bolt sleeve need to be? And what's the width of the spring?

There's gotta be something in stock somewhere that you can make work without needing to jack around and try make your own sleeve for the bushings you have now.

I have the poly bushings listed in the tech archives for this, they are 1-3/4” OD. To the best of my knowledge there are no poly 1-7/8” OD bushings. The 95-01 Explorer leafs have a 1-7/8” ID on the front eye only. The “stock” rubber bushings have an outer metal shell that is 1/16” thick so if you burn out or cut out the rubber, you magically have a 1-3/4” ID spring eye.