Headlight linkage bushings
 

I've never been able to find replacements for the headlight linkage bushings and its pretty pricey to buy each arm so I'm thinking about making new ones myself. I found some good ones in my stash so I was going to make molds and cast new ones but I'm not sure what to use. My first thought was Delrin but that has to be injection molded or machined so I need a new idea. It has to be somewhat flexible but though enough to hold up to years of use. Anyone have any ideas?

guys have been using greased rubber grommets for some time now. there's a thread with the details.

Or you could ask divindriver, he made a set for himself and has been running them for 2 years. He might be able to help you.

I had pretty good luck pour-casting with urethane. You could injection-mold with it using disposable syringes, I suppose - - haven't tried that yet as I don't have a supply of them.

The hard part is getting air out of the tiny corners, tends to make for some ragged-looking tips on the 'teeth.' Doesn't interfere with function, though.

I did a little more searching myself and Urethane seemed like a good choice to. I think I read something a while back about you wanting to make these yourself but I couldn't find the thread. Do you have any pics of the finished product? If you still have the molds and materials would you be willing to make a few?

You can also get the whole new rod with bushings. http://www.blackdragonauto.com/icata....aspx?Page=132 I got some back when it was Victoria British and they still work.

Pix, yes; if I ever find time to pour some, I'll let you know. Couple other folks have asked first, so I'll have to check how many I need to make.

Thinking about making new molds to cast the large rod bushings right onto the rods, but time's been a problem for me for quite a while.

Pix:

Attachment 716332
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Bit more complex project I did at the same time:
Attachment 716335

What's that?

Those look pretty good Divin. Whats that last piece? I think I might give this a try when I get some extra cash. It looks kind of interesting. Do you have a good source for supplies?

i have something similar to that last pic with 2 joy stick style controls for power mirrors. looks great.

Replica I made of the LS-specific bracket for the power mirror controls - - very hard-to-find part. Stu Aull was gracious enough to loan me one he has, and I made a casting and duplicate of it, as I was retrofitting my 80 with power mirrors.

Current version was then re-carved to accommodate an FB mirror switch and my foglight switch; I've since been able to get a real true SA mirror control, and will make a new bracket to hold it from my original mold.

Trade secret... :egrin:

DivinDriver, have you tried doing the same thing for the windshield wiper bushings?

lol. I understand. :) I guess I'll have to do some more research on my own.

The windshield wiper arm bushings appeared to me (when I rebuilt my wiper assembly a year or so ago) to be the same dimensions as the small headlight arm bushing.

They have a much higher wear factor, of course... higher cycle speed, heavier dynamic and shock load, continuous run for hours sometimes. I haven't tested the urethanes in that use for the simple reason that my original wiper bushings are still good, and I don't have spare arms to experiment with.

If I decide not to pursue it further, I'll let you in on my source. You'll probably find the same one anyway.

I would be interested. Mine are in about the same shape, but going through the painful effort of replacing all the 26 year old stuff on my car lol.

I found a couple sources that were pretty decently priced. Just gotta get some spare cash. I can also stop by Tap Plastics since they have one near my dads. I havent checked their prices yet though.

Steer clear of the fast-setting stuff; you've barely got time to mix it before it starts to set!

Go with something that has a 10-20 minute working time.

Yeah. Thats what I was thinking. Gives the bubbles some more time to escape to I would think.

Very cool! What hardness urethane did you make those out of?

With all this renewed interest, I broke out my supplies and tried pouring a few sets tonight. Seems like my urethane is still good (it does have a shelf life), though it is taking a bit longer to harden than it used to - might just be cause it's wintertime and 10 deg cooler in the house.

Takes me about 45 mins to make four bushings (2 large, 2 small) including casting time and trimming/sanding. Smaller bushings you can bolt on with 4-40 hardware & a drop of loctite as I did, or I supose you could rivet them like he originals if you wanted. Large bushings are single-sided, and are meant to be epoxied onto the rods. Easy enough to chip it back off later if additional replacements are needed.

Jonathan, I'm using Shore 70D hardness urethane at this point. They have a bit more flex than the originals, which I hope will reduce cracking. If the set I made for myself, I've had one of the little 'fingers' crack so far, but it doesn't hamper operation at all.

I'm making up a set for DorkScyd, since he's local and I can hand them to him, and he asked me a long time ago. If he decides he likes them Ok, I'll make arrangements to do more.

What do you guys think is a fair deal for a set of 2large/2small? Materials cost isn't horrible if making a lot of them. It's mostly time.

I'm not really sure on a price. Let us know if you come up with one though. I'll probably buy a couple sets so I can have all new ones and keep a couple extras around.

DD, I'd be interested in a couple sets if you go into production. I have a couple spare long arms W/O bushings (zinc'd gold) to use as bartering material.

If the price is right, I am down for atleast one set, but possibly more.

Just thinking out loud, here:

Between silicone mold materials and urethane, it cost me about $80 to tool up using the smallest quantity of each I could buy. That amount of materials will make several sets, but that was the out-of-pocket to be able to make the first one. Other stuff like screws, waxed paper, measuring & mixing containers, etc. means about $100 outlay to prep to do it.

Not out to make mad bank out of it, but recouping costs would be great.

I'm thinking somewhere around $10 to $12 for a set of four (one "side" as it were; 2 small, 2 large, with proper 4-40 screws for installing the small ones) plus mailing cost, would be a fair cover for costs and time involved, between casting, trimming, sanding and packing. Maybe a couple bucks' discount for single orders for two sets (enough to do the whole car).

I'll see if the small bushings are in fact the right size for the headlight rods. If they are, I'm not sure how well they'd hold up in that application, so I might want to find someone willing to 'beta-test' them in return for a couple. Mine are still in near-new shape & don't need changing yet.

I dropped off a set for delivery to Dorkcyd3 last night; maybe he'll look em over and provide some input on what they seem to be worth.

That seems pretty fair. If you do decide to make these go ahead and put me down for 3 sets. Then I can do the whole car plus have a couple extras just in case. I would test them as wiper bushings but mine are in good shape since I got the whole wiper assembly off of a California car with under 100,000 on it. Not much use of the wipers there. Lol.

At that price I would be down for two sets as well :)

I don't want to accidentally run afoul of the vendor rules on the site, here, so this is probably a good time to ask folks to PM me if interested. I'll go make sure there's room in my in-box.

I really appreciate this thread . this seems to be a common problem but let me tellyou what I did recently. Such a cheap easy fix ( so far) It is really simple....I took a zip tie, put it on very tight and I greased it....I know, I know....what the ???? but it works...so far...it did not come off and it seens to work just fine......and it cost $0....I mean, what does a zip tie really cost... I used a thick one, not a thin zip tie..

anyway....don't you guys laugh too hard...

chris

Anything that works, works, Chris. No laughing on my part; I know too many tricks involving duct tape and zip-ties. It's a good thing Costco sells zip-ties by the pound.

To better illustrate how the 'large' bushings are installed (via epoxy), I popped one of my test rods off the car and shot a couple pix. This one's been installed for about a year.

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Essentially, the rod gets a thin layer of epoxy for about 1/4" surrounding the back side of the hole, and the new bushing snaps through the hole & is held by the epoxy. A little lithium grease on the inner surface & then they just snap over the pivot balls.

You can see where I had trouble with the first ones with trapped air making the corners look like something had taken bites out of them. Solved that by using a toothpick on each pouring to 'tickle' the bubbles out & up to the surface; ones I'm making now have much cleaner corners.

I ran off a half-dozen sets last weekend; mold is still holding up OK, and I still have my original 'master' bushings so I can make a new mold if need be. The silicone molds do wear out over time & use. I'm trimming and sanding that last batch this week, & they'll start going to folks probably by this weekend.

The wife says it looks like I'm making candy, heh. It's a good thing I'm not trying to make a business out of this, as the amount of hand-work involved would probably make them cost too much to sell at a profit. I'd need a much more time efficient process to make it pay. As it is, I'm happy to be filling a need for the first-gen community & covering costs pretty well.

Thanks a lot Glenn. I tried the epoxy and I guess I didn't let it harden enough and it came off. So i guess I will try again when I get more epoxy. The quality is high on the pieces and I almost feel bad putting them on.

No problem, sir; Glad I could help.

Make sure the rods and the parts are well clean before applying the epoxy; there might be a little mold release agent still on the bushings, could make them slippery.

Let's talk, you and I! :nod:

Just got mine in the mail and installed. Very nice craftsmanship DivinDriver. They look like they are going to work perfectly. Thank you so much :)

DD, I PM'd you. did you make a couple extra's? I have some extra sets of rods.

Ooh, shiny.

Got your PM, but was tied up all weekend (tax time, yay) & haven't answered just yet. Will contact ya tonight most likely.

I finally got to my dads and opened all my packages and these linkage bushings are excellent. :) Thanks DD. I cant wait to get these put in.

I've nearly got all the currently-requested sets poured, should finish with that tonight, then trimming/sanding/packing.

I can tell the molds are starting to wear a bit at this point; still working OK but a little more cleaning up will be required by hand. Not surprising; I'll have done something like 24, 25 sets out of one mold casting!

Looking forward to trying these out. Thanks DD.

I was looking at just making my own linkage rods with spherical bearings or rod ends (as I did many years ago). For the wipers that might be a better alternative. It would be less expensive than a stock replacement, and much stronger.

RE: Sphericals
 

I'm also pondering the spherical linkages to replace the stock flat bar with urethane bushings, but would GLADLY purchase a set of the headlight bushings and try to wear them out for you. It's too hot around KS right now, but we do keep getting some rain and the wipers would be so nice to have back before the snow starts to fall, since the '83 GSL is my DD.

hi DD, are you still selling this?

Not currently, no - - I've sold or used all of the ones I'd made previously.

I will let you know if I have a chance to brew up another set, but unless I'm doing other casting work at the time, they are pretty time-consumptive to set up for and make. Never was a money-making proposition; just a chance to sell off extras at the time I was making the ones I needed, & recoup some project costs.

I wonder if a 3D printer can make these?

If you did make some more, I'd be up for some as well.

Seems likely, if someone could do a 3D render of them. Not sure if thermoplastic would be durable enough, but there's a good way to find out!

Buy 3M Window-Weld Super Fast Urethane, Black, 10.5 fl oz Cartridge 08609 at Advance Auto Parts

can I coat the two pieces with a releasing agent (Pam, vegetable oil spray), dip them into the urethane, put them in proper position, wait for the urethane to cure, force the two pieces to move.....and bingo, I solved my window wiper bushing linkage problem??

i think a 3d printer would work awesome you just need a rendering. you can print with abs plastic. some bearings have plastic cages made out of abs that the balls ride in.

I don't think this will work. It's made for glass and I believe this stuff is stays flexiable.

i can draw it up in solidworks, however i need measurements...

I'd be in for a complete set. One thing to solve the bubbles would be to put the mold in a vacuum once you fill it. That will make all the bubbles surface and pop.

Yes, but I lack a large-enough vacuum canister. I'll have to throw one together sometime. Cure time on the urethane is so short that I'd have to pump like hell to get decent vacuum, but it's worth a shot.