Hourglassed Bennett bushings

samhell · Hourglassed Bennett bushings

I'm constantly experiementing and trying different
bushing combinations.. One thing I've discovered
is that Bennett bushings, while way to high of a
duromenter in their normal state for a front bushing,
can be made into a great bushing..
I started hourlassing different bushings a while ago.
I discovered that using too soft of a bushing to hourglass,
left you with a floppy bushing. But.. If you start with a
harder bushing than normal, and then hourglass it, you
can end up with a bushing that is very turny with a lot
of rebound.. I started experiemnting with Bennett stock bushings
and I knew I was onto something...
Depending on how deeply and how you shape it,
you can vary the degree of rebound and turn..
I just use a 3/8" bolt affixed in my dripp in a drill press.
I have 2 small washers and a nut on both sides of the bushing
to hold it in place while spinning on the drill.
I use a small round file, and flat file and sand paper to lathe
and shape it.. The can make great top front bushings,
and can be a great bottom rear bushing with a Khiro red on top.
These work really well, definately try it out..

Gecko

Thanks for the tip,John!
I always just kept the stock Bennett bushings in case I sold the truck and wanted to keep my bushings.

abirtch

this is really interesting, might still have some use for some old stock bennetts lying around.

what is the duro on these stock bennetts?

looks like my bushings might be different then what you're showing here. maybe an older set? mine are an opaque kind of orange colour...

i assume it might be an older bushing since when i spoke to the guys at my local shop they said they'd never seen a set of bennett trucks cross the counter. They had always just been chillin' on the shelf.

LDPanda

I think what you have there is some actual rubber (rather than urethane) classic bennet bushings. From what i hear, theyre not great in terms of performance but might be worth keeping around for vintage nostalgia. The newer, clearer, urethane bushings rate at about 90a if im not mistaken.

abirtch

huh... interesting.

i wonder if turning the black or purple khiro's to a hourglass would make them more useful as well?

i hate to let anything go to waste.

rip · shape modding

Hi,

I also thought about tuning my bennett bushings to make them giving a softer feel.
What about other shape modifications like small holes around the centre of the bushing instead of the hourglass neck in the centre. or slots?

The only pity is: I am bad in physics and it's difficult for me to imagine where and in which formation it will be useful?
I am convinced that it will work - question is about the details Smile

Please drop a line what you are thinking about it?

Cheers and thanks,

rip

samhell

rip, I've never tried doing small holes or slots on bushings.
But.. Who knows? It may be amazing, thanks for the idea,
I'll definately be trying those ideas out and seeing what can be done.
I'm lathing a bunch of bushings this week, from Bennetts,
to Reflex, Trackers, Khiros..
I'm really digging the Reflex cones, I'm lathing the top edge
ont he biggest end of the bushing and rounding off the shoulder
so that it eliminates the "pop" you can get from the square edges
of the bushing in the bushing seats, it really makes a huge difference
int he way it feels and responds.
I definately think that taking something like a Bennett bushing,
which is way to hard for a front bushing and making it flexible
via lathing/hourglassing/rounding etc... Can be great.. Right now,
I don't use them in the front, but they can be an amazing rear bottom
bushing on RTS's...
I'll be taking a lot of photos this week and posting them.

Hourglassed Bennett bushings

shape modding