Front Spring Rebound Rubbers

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The rebound rubber bumpers for my ’29 look pretty awful-like 2 turds.

Can anyone recommend a reasonable replacement? I sent them over to Steele Rubber hoping that they could revulcanize them, but Steele said they could not find a match.

When I looked at the Pierce parts book, the drawing showed a rubber bumper with a different profile. Can anyone suggest what I should do? Thanks.

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Hi Gregg, I”m pretty sure you can take a sharp file and fill off the bumps and lumps from the rebound rubbers. Then paint them flat black.

Sometimes a Dremel with the right tool will be useful. Or a bench-mounted grinding wheel will often work very well to shape a hard rubber piece. The grinding wheel method does make a pretty awful smell, much like burning rubber, so beware.

Is your rebound bumper vulcanized to the steel retainer base ?

On Series 80’s, the rubber rebound bumper looks just about the same, but the steel retaining base has a square hole stamped in it, leaving a tapered edge. A rubber piece is shaped to fit tight in the hole. The rubber block is put into the retainer plate from below, and the tapered edge retains the rectangular chunk of rubber. For these bumpers, a chunk of rubber can be obtained and using a band saw for rough shaping and a grinding wheel for rounding and smoothing, a new bumper can be made.

Greg Long

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Gregg,

Have you tried looking on one of the Ford Model A websites or on the other larger car websites (Buick) like Bobs Automobilia?

Greg Long’s comment about fashioning one from hard rubber stock makes sense and Gorilla Glue could hold everything together.

Peter

http://bobsautomobilia.com

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Gregg,

Apropos of Bob’s, take a look are these and others like them on that website.

Peter

http://bobsautomobilia.com/suspension-and-steering/front-axle-limiter-bumpers-1928-30-all-fa-254/

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Here is a product that is for coating and sealing dried, cracked tires. I have used it on dried cracked running board rubber surfaces as well as tires and top material. It dries to a nice flat or low gloss finish. It is as tough as the regular surface of rubber.

Greg Long

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Here is the contact info for the Tire and Rubber Paint or Coating.

Joe Malone gets credit for finding this product when searching for some form of top and rubber dressing to preserve his ’33 836’s tired surfaces.

Greg Long

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I’ve heard about blocks of rubber in the McMasters-Carr(SP) catalog

that can be shaped to your needs. I’m not sure how you would attach

it to the metal, but some awesome glues are available. The new

rubber would respond to its usage much better than that rock hard

fossil can take abuse.

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Tony,

You are correct about McMaster Carr and a bit of the super glues, particularly Marine glues would hold it in place until the end of time.

Peter

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Gregg,

You can try to soften them by spraying/brushing them with 3 parts xylene (I have seen isopropyl/rubbing alcohol used) and 1 part wintergreen oil. I soaked some parts in it and it is hard to control the softening.

To counter that spray or brush the part and put it in a ziplock bag for a day or two. Check progress and respray as needed. Repeat until desired softness.

Good luck finding a solution.

It will make your shop smell like a Wrigley’s gum plant, but that might be a good thing.

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