Posted: 4/19/2026 8:08:57 AM EDT
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I have a older John Deere Gator TS 4x2. It is just one of those small two seat, single cylinder small ones. Very handy though. Anyways, the front coilover shocks, the bushings are completely shot, causing it to clunk going over uneven ground. The bushings are not a part that is available separately. All JD offers is a complete coilover for big money. The bushings are very simple. Just a round bushing with a flange. One half slides in from each side. I measured all the dimensions and designed them in fusion 360. I printed a test one in PLA just to see if my measurements were correct and if it would fit and sure enough, it fit perfectly. So now I want to print some in TPU, I just do not know what one would be best to use. Naturally it needs to have a little give and movement, but if too stiff it might not move like it should. I have a P2S if that matters. The bambu store has TPU for AMS, TPU 95A HF, TPU 85A and TPU 90A. Those familiar with working with TPU, what would you suggest to use? I will need to print 8 of these bushings, and I also have a friend with a exact same model gator with the same issue, so I will be printing 8 for him too. They are not big, so they will not use tons of filament. Reading through the descriptions, it seems the 85a is the softest. Maybe not the best for this use? 90A and 95A both sound like that might work, and have similar descriptions. There is also the TPU for AMS, which I do have a AMS2. Just not sure what to use. |
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Double check on what softness your specific printer can work with on TPU. That might drive your choice, the only one I spotted within a few google type searches was type 85a ala ninja flex. There was only one hit returned on the search so I would not say that is a good choice. The harder the material the easier it is to print. And a slightly different search said try again with For 3D-printed shock bushings, use a 95A Shore hardness TPU (such as Polymaker TPU 95A or NinjaTek Armadillo) for optimal durability, wear resistance, and to handle intense suspension forces. 95A TPU is firm yet flexible enough to provide damping, similar to rubber, while resisting deformation under load. My poor logic says - rubber is a bit softer than polyurethane... so 95A rating might the right selection as it is considered like "hard rubber". This guide might help let you pick what will work best. https://www.stdpoly.com/knowledge-centre/tpu-hardness-guide/ |
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You could just do TPU. Dry the crap out of it first, give it 10ish perimeters, gyroid infill at maybe 25%, 15 solid top/bottom (almost solid, but not) and you should be GTG. You could also just print it solid, I haven't seen the part. There is a company doing custom off-road suspension (think Jeep, crawlers) bump stops of TPU. |
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Originally Posted By bradbn4: Double check on what softness your specific printer can work with on TPU. That might drive your choice, the only one I spotted within a few google type searches was type 85a ala ninja flex. There was only one hit returned on the search so I would not say that is a good choice. The harder the material the easier it is to print. And a slightly different search said try again with For 3D-printed shock bushings, use a 95A Shore hardness TPU (such as Polymaker TPU 95A or NinjaTek Armadillo) for optimal durability, wear resistance, and to handle intense suspension forces. 95A TPU is firm yet flexible enough to provide damping, similar to rubber, while resisting deformation under load. My poor logic says - rubber is a bit softer than polyurethane... so 95A rating might the right selection as it is considered like "hard rubber". This guide might help let you pick what will work best. https://www.stdpoly.com/knowledge-centre/tpu-hardness-guide/ "Intense suspension forces"...lol. I do not have to worry about that. This thing tops out at less that 15 mph, takes a while to get to that speed too. Think paw-paw type side by side. I have 9.5 acers of land and I use this to drive around do things like haul chainsaws weed eaters, brush, and haul the trash to the end of my driveway. So it does not do any pre running or rock crawling. It is just 2wd. Going by that site, I am thinking either 85 or 90. It needs to have a little softness and give, not be like rubber band softness, but not hard plastic. |
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Originally Posted By Rat_Patrol: You could just do TPU. Dry the crap out of it first, give it 10ish perimeters, gyroid infill at maybe 25%, 15 solid top/bottom (almost solid, but not) and you should be GTG. You could also just print it solid, I haven't seen the part. There is a company doing custom off-road suspension (think Jeep, crawlers) bump stops of TPU. They are small enough that I will do them 100% infill. |
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Originally Posted By Jeeps-And-Guns: They are small enough that I will do them 100% infill. Originally Posted By Jeeps-And-Guns: Originally Posted By Rat_Patrol: You could just do TPU. Dry the crap out of it first, give it 10ish perimeters, gyroid infill at maybe 25%, 15 solid top/bottom (almost solid, but not) and you should be GTG. You could also just print it solid, I haven't seen the part. There is a company doing custom off-road suspension (think Jeep, crawlers) bump stops of TPU. They are small enough that I will do them 100% infill. Do you have a picture of the part? Something to keep in mind with TPU, infill / number of walls will have a huge impact on the end part. Depending on the part, you could have a 95A print with lower infill come out more flexible than a 85A part with more or solid infill. Obviously a part that doesn't have much infill, is going to have less flexibility in the print settings. Since you're not sure exactly what the target is, I'd probably buy 90A (middle of the road), and use infill / walls to dial in how much flex the end part has. |
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Originally Posted By fox2008: Do you have a picture of the part? Something to keep in mind with TPU, infill / number of walls will have a huge impact on the end part. Depending on the part, you could have a 95A print with lower infill come out more flexible than a 85A part with more or solid infill. Obviously a part that doesn't have much infill, is going to have less flexibility in the print settings. Since you're not sure exactly what the target is, I'd probably buy 90A (middle of the road), and use infill / walls to dial in how much flex the end part has. I can take some pictures this afternoon when I get home from work. |
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I would do what the guy above someplace said. Build a master part and then make a mold of it and cast in polyurethane rubber. If the bushing is simple enough, you might even be able to make a master 2 part mold with the printer and cast directly into that. Reynolds casting supplies for the win. And old John Deers rule! |
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Here is the actual shock itself, then a picture of the old bushings next to the one I printed out of PLA to test fit. I put a 12ga shell in the picture for size reference. The OD of the flange is 1.29in, flange is .119 thick, center part is .311 tall, .430 total height, .625 ID.  
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Originally Posted By Jeeps-And-Guns: Here is the actual shock itself, then a picture of the old bushings next to the one I printed out of PLA to test fit. I put a 12ga shell in the picture for size reference. The OD of the flange is 1.29in, flange is .119 thick, center part is .311 tall, .430 total height, .625 ID. https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55220712209_cc755802f9_b.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/55220459831_2d87a58050_b.jpg Not the type of bushings I had in mind….I’ll change my previous answer from 90A to 95A. It looks like toughness is going to be more important than flexibility in that part. It might even be worth watching a video on TPU for AMS. It seems like a slightly flexible PLA that is extremely tough and durable…and much easier to print since it works in the AMS. |
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Not the type bushings I was thinking of either. Simple, shock eye grommets/bushings. Print in whatever common tpu you can get. Pyroflex was my go to, but haven't been ordering much from there in the last year or so. I decided to give Overture TPU a try from amazon. Maybe not quite as good as I'm used to, but a pretty good substitute. For solid items, I like 1 or 2 walls and designate like 1000 bottom layers or whatever it takes to build up the part. The couple walls give it the shape and the bottom layers alternate directions to tie everything together well. Maybe that's old school thinking, but my printers have been turning out good parts for years that way. So I ain't messing with it. |
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Been dragging my feet a little on this. Been distracted with other projects and life. But I finally just placed a order for some TPU. I ended up picking overture TPU 95A from amazon. Hopefully it is not a bad choice. It seems to have good reviews and was cheaper than the bambu version. |
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I printed out a spool holder for the top of my P2S that just sets in place of the glass top. Disconnected the feed tube and fed it directly into the head as shown on the website. Printed out the bushings and they look great. They seemed to print fine. They were extremely difficult to remove from the build plate. I almost bent the scraper blade, and did gouge the plate just a little in one spot before I could get a edge pried up enough t peel them off. This was my first time printing TPU. I hope to have time to install them this weekend. I did print them at 100% fill. They are thin enough I do not want them to be too soft. |
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Originally Posted By Jeeps-And-Guns: I printed out a spool holder for the top of my P2S that just sets in place of the glass top. Disconnected the feed tube and fed it directly into the head as shown on the website. Printed out the bushings and they look great. They seemed to print fine. They were extremely difficult to remove from the build plate. I almost bent the scraper blade, and did gouge the plate just a little in one spot before I could get a edge pried up enough t peel them off. This was my first time printing TPU. I hope to have time to install them this weekend. I did print them at 100% fill. They are thin enough I do not want them to be too soft. Never much concern with TPU sticking to the plate.  I typically print TPU on the smooth engineering plate, it still sticks a little too much but I've never had an issue with it peeling off ok. With TPU Air I'll typically put down a layer of glue that helps as a release agent....this material almost prints like a foam, so on thinner parts I've had it tear while removing it from the plate. |
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I do have some of the bambu liquid glue I bought when I picked up some spare parts. So I applied some to the plate and then printed out a buttpad for stock and it was much easier to remove. It still took a little effort, but was much more manageable to get off. I will do this from now on when I need to print tpu. |
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Originally Posted By Jeeps-And-Guns: I do have some of the bambu liquid glue I bought when I picked up some spare parts. So I applied some to the plate and then printed out a buttpad for stock and it was much easier to remove. It still took a little effort, but was much more manageable to get off. I will do this from now on when I need to print tpu. |
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Originally Posted By Rat_Patrol: Yeah, TPU always sticks. One of the few times to use glue stick |
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I installed the bushings over the weekend and they fit perfectly. The old ones had pretty much disintegrated as there was nothing left. Just metal on metal. I installed the new ones and then realized I had a brain fart. I only printed out 4, when I need 8 (4 per shock). So I had to go back inside and print the other 4. It rides much better now. No more clunking going over bumps and seems to ride much smoother. Time will tell how they hold up. But even if they do not last, I can always print more. I still have almost the whole spool of the TPU, and these do not take much of it. And they are easy to swap out. |