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I have an old full suss mtb frame that has had a bit of 'play' for a while. I've narrowed it down to coming from top shock bolt and a bit of google says that the bushings in the shocks often need replacing and this is the most likely culprit.
However, i really don't understand what I need to buy to fix it, everything i search for is a bit confusing. Is it specific to my frame or the shock or both? and which bit is actually the bushing. I'm not even sure I really know what a bushing is.
I'm pretty good at maintenance and can service forks, breaks, gears etc but linkage and frame bearings i never seem to get properly.
Cheers!
Give these guys a ring with your bike details and shock . They'll sort you out no probs
Specific to the brand of shock... they're basically a hollow cylinder of soft plastic or metal that lresses onto the shock eye, they wear away so that your shock or shock bolts don't.
Some (like more recent Fox plastic ones) are easily removed by hand, others need a socket or other tool to press them in and out.
The Bushing goes into the eyelet at each end of the shock and will be frame/shock specific, pretty sure TF Tuned make and sell their own, just tell them the make, model/year and shock and they should be able to sort the job
Give these guys a ring with your bike details and shock . They’ll sort you out no probs
https://www.tftuned.com
/blockquote>As above ^^^^^^
I think tft do a bushing press tool as well which saves faff with sockets. When you take the shock off you'll find the bolts go through some sort of top hat mounting hardware and you need to take them off to get to the shock eyelet and bushing. In theory you can pull them off by hand but they sometimes need a bit of careful pursuading with a thin flat blade - once they're off the rest is a doddle.
Shock bushings vary, you could have a full length bushing that runs right through the shock eyelet with spacers either side that pull off or two separate stepped pieces press fitted in from either side, those pieces slide into a DU or poly bush, that is the first part thats pressed into the shock eyelet shaped like a short tube. You'll need a tool to install and remove these bushes, I bought one off ebay for a tenner. Your frame manual should tell you your shock bushing sizes or it should be easy to look up or measure yourself.
Its a softer wearing material, sandwich between the shock eye, and a piece of hardware on the frame.
You need to get the right size for the shock, but i think it comes down to imperial shock or metric shock? The TF shock bush tool is great.
Depending on the frame the shock mount will be nice or crap. I replaced the cheap aluminium tophats on my giants with nice turned steel sleeves, but the Orange came with nice steel sleeve out of the factory.
TF do low friction bushes which admittedly wear out faster than a "proper" DU bush, but they take seconds to change with the right tool, and iirc they are £3 each.
on the vast majority of frames, you will find one end of the shock rotates more than the other, so they last differing amounts of time. dont feel you need to do both ends together
On my Orange i change the swing arm end maybe 3 times before the frame end needs doing.
It's an old boardman who basically don't do customer support so they were no help. Cheers for the tftuned recommendation I may look into that.
Thanks everyone for typing those out, it seems i'm not being stupid it does seem a little c complicated and can vary alot.
I've attached an image. the metal bits basically just fell out, so these would be the 'top hats' which aren't a wear part but its the thin bit of cylindrical metal inside the hole that needs replaced?
Those top hats can wear, they're soft alu. The bushing is the metal ring in the shock eye, just visible in your pic.
The top hats might be OK, but if it was me, I'd replace the lot. TF will be the best place to start.
Aye, so the DU bushings you've got left in the shock are obvs worn. You can buy a wee press to remove these. DU Bushing Press This is used to press to old bushings out & press the new ones in. As pointed out the aluminium Tophats that fell out may well be worn too. All of these parts are considered consumables & once worn are simply replaced.
Your options are either replace all the worn parts like for like or install heavy duty bushings which last for a lot longer. The bottom bush is more prone to wearing out but personally I'd replace both with HD bushes from the likes of TF Tuned shock mounting hardware
Ok, thanks very much for the help
TF Tuned have a good page showing the different types, how to measure etc
https://www.tftuned.com/tech-help/71-mount-kits-and-bushings-for-rear-shocks
Minimum you need to do is fit a new eyelet bush, however the reducers may well be worn, in which case I would get new shock mount hardware, and go for a more modern pin style.
Yup, your top hats will be trashed and need replacement, that design always wears/corrodes and needs replaced at the same time as the bushing itself. More durable hardware (often sold as "heavy duty" is generally good for the life of a bike.
This is a good example:
https://www.tftuned.com/tf-tuned-mount-kit-127mm-m8/p2937
You can see in this one it's basically a steel axle that the bushings (the two top-hat things) run directly on, rather than in yours where there's a bushing THEN a set of tophats then either a bolt or steel axle through that. It doesn't matter than much ime what sort of bushing it uses.
You'll need to press the old one out- you can do this with sockets and a vice if you have the right sized sockets but this is one job that's worth getting the right tool for. Incidentally the "escapecomponents" tool on ebay is made and sold by STW member and general bike-scene top bloke and sarcastic bastard MC, if you want to keep it in the family- it's very good.
Your new bushings may or may not need to be pressed in- the ones that come with the tool do (they cost buttons, you're basically paying for the tool and getting them free btw)
Pop the old ones in and measure the width with digital calipers if you have some, measure the frame mount too, looks like 8 x 22ish, personally I'd get the straight through version instead of 2 top hats version you've got and I prefer the poly bushes, they're easier to deal with, when I get a new frame I change out the DU bushes, but its personal preference.
The top hats might be OK, but if it was me, I’d replace the lot. TF will be the best place to start.
Yup do that it's not worth ****ing about putting it back together to find you still have some play!
As you have an industry standard 15mm eyelet shock. You could replace the tops hats with a solid dowel (3 piece hardware), top hats and ceramic bushing/s (harder wearing alternative of what you've got) or roller bearings if high rotation. All you need to know is the width (should be in your bikes spec) and the bolt size, most commonly 6 or 8mm.
Make sure the new eyelet bushing and hardware is properly centred and don't forget to blue loctite the bolts (just the threads!) or they will keep working loose and damage the bolts, shock and/or your frame!
Thanks everyone! I feel like I have a firm grasp of it now. will need to double check some measurements and I'm sorted. I appreciate all the help I was getting nowhere with google.
It's just one of those tiny maintenance jobs that I had no idea existed. I've had a few quite recently and they really add up in cost!
bushing or bush?