I burned out my bushings from my rear suspension linkage... There's some melted rubber left over inside the housings though. Is there something I can soak them in that will eat away the rubber without damaging the metal? If not, what's the easiest way to clean up the rest of the rubber? Sanding is a pain in the ***, I don't feel like sitting over it with my dremel for 5 hours, and sandblasting didn't do **** to it.

 

I haven't done this yet ... but when you burned them did the stuff left turn rock hard? Hence you could just take like a screw driver or something to crack them?

 

It didn't really turn rock hard, but the thing is, I want it as clean as absolutely possible before I install all the new bushings. I tried using paint stripper to eat away the factory coating, that didn't do ****, either... So, I'm just using my good ol' electric sander for that. I'm taking everything down to bare metal, then repainting it all... I figure if I've got it off, I might as well get it as perfect as I possibly can.

I guess I'll have to try the muriatic acid next. The only other thing I can think of is to heat it back up with my propane torch and try to scrub it out with a wire brush, but that will get filthy, fast... So, I'd be going through a shitload of brushes.

 

wire wheel to a power drill. Mine usually last a long time... though I never had to do the exact thing you need to.

 

You should be able to remove the remaining rubber by burning it out with a propane torch. The final cleanup with a wire brush should not take too long.

 

Wire wheel, steel, not brass works best. Skip the chemicals, you will take away the metal before it eats the rubber.

If the rubber is very thick, then burn it down first. You also can lock the arm in a vise and try a round file, not the kind used for chainsaws, the wood rasp type. It needs to be sharp, not worn down.

 

torch it ----> wire wheel.

 

I had some bushing material left on my tension rod supports (the ones that the sway bar goes through). I dropped them into the muriatic acid last night to get them ready for painting (50% solution) and they came out this afternoon. Nothing but brand new looking bare metal. Might be worth a shot, especially with all of the cleaning/painting that you have been doing lately.

I don't think that the acid is very effective on rubber, but rather it cleaned up the metal that it was sticking to. Not sure if it would work well in your situation or not, but like I said for $5.00 a gallon it might be worth a shot.