Friday, February 17, 2006

Turner Horst Link mod

Last night I finished re-greasing my wheels and then decided to set up the Horst Link and modify it to match the other bushes. This teeny linkage out back is the only one that doesn't have any grooves for the grease to flow, helping lubricate the joint. It's also the joint that seems most reluctant to accept any grease. The Turner forum dreamt up this modification approx 1yr ago and no bad press has arisen from it and even mrTurner is considering making the grooved bushes standard for this link - so I thought it safe to give it a try. It is after all, an easy change to revert if it all goes Pete Tong.

In the pair of pictures above and below you can see the before and after shots which clearly illustrate the improvement and simple alteration.

I won't go through a blow by blow account as that's already been comprehensively covered here. I simply scored 3 small grooves into each bush, much less pronounced and 1 less than those you'll in the link. In theory, I've not compromised the integrity of the bush, maximized contact yet now allowed lubricant to flow around the joint and although it's probably only a minor improvement, at now matches the rest.

Update (Mar'06) : Turner have modified the standard rear bush to have machined spiral grooves which should now be available in their service kits. However, it appears that the small machined groove isn't quite as effective at purging the lube as those filed directly across - checkout this MTBR thread around post#54.

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