Let's end the control arm bushing debate

[dude47]

Let me start off by saying yes, I know how to use the search function and yes I know that my OEM Toyota bushing lasted 20+years.

Most of the posts from guys posting using aftermarket bushings end with "I can't believe your such a stupid piece of $hit, even your whore mother knows to only use OEM bushings". Or "Of course they still look new it has only been 6 months you sorry excuse for a human being, your mother should have swallowed you"

Common sense says that $4 bushings found on ebay are probably not going to last. And I have a feeling that a lot of the guys that say their aftermarket bushings failed in a year are referring to those bushings.

But what I want to collect is data on how many of you have aftermarket bushings installed, what brand they are, and how long they have been in so we can compile a list based on evidence if anything out there is of OEM quality. And at the end if there is no good contenders as far as brands go then so be it. If you have had bushings fail on you brand and your typical driving conditions would be good useful data as well.

Please leave your keyboard warrior comments for the general forums when someone makes a comment about politics.

And if your only comment is "Just go OEM.." thanks for your opinion, I appreciate it, I really do. But I am looking for facts not opinions.

Thanks everyone.

 

[Heckraiser]

Maybe not too helpful because I don't know the actual mileage at which they were installed, but my truck did have Old Man Emu yellow bushings that were thoroughly trashed when I took them out. Their shock bushings were trashed too (same yellow Polyurethane material), but the shocks themselves were still good. It's like the polyurethane shrunk, leaving the sleeves loose. They were also just torn up. My OEM bushings were not particularly good at that stage either, but serviceable. That was about 300k miles mixed on/off road usage. I'll leave the comments about your whore mother to someone else

 

[NLXTACY]

I’ve worked on plenty of these trucks. OME yellows lasted as little as two years. Befest lasted four years.

OEM takes 20 years to let you know they might need to be replaced.

 

[AUGuy]

I can't believe your such a stupid piece of $hit, even your whore mother knows to only use OEM bushings.

Of course they still look new it has only been 6 months you sorry excuse for a human being, your mother should have swallowed you!

Sorry, I couldn't resist...

FWIW, i went out and checked the ones on my '95. They're OEM and original as far as I know (PO kept meticulous records, never mentions changing them), and they look really damn good. 101k miles on the truck.

 

[Cruiser804]

I had my OME in for over 10 years and recently removed them after they started clunking. Replaced with OEM in Delta arms.

 

[Jungle80farmer]

Let me start off by saying yes, I know how to use the search function and yes I know that my OEM Toyota bushing lasted 20+years.

Most of the posts from guys posting using aftermarket bushings end with "I can't believe your such a stupid piece of $hit, even your whore mother knows to only use OEM bushings". Or "Of course they still look new it has only been 6 months you sorry excuse for a human being, your mother should have swallowed you"

Common sense says that $4 bushings found on ebay are probably not going to last. And I have a feeling that a lot of the guys that say their aftermarket bushings failed in a year are referring to those bushings.

But what I want to collect is data on how many of you have aftermarket bushings installed, what brand they are, and how long they have been in so we can compile a list based on evidence if anything out there is of OEM quality. And at the end if there is no good contenders as far as brands go then so be it. If you have had bushings fail on you brand and your typical driving conditions would be good useful data as well.

Please leave your keyboard warrior comments for the general forums when someone makes a comment about politics.

And if your only comment is "Just go OEM.." thanks for your opinion, I appreciate it, I really do. But I am looking for facts not opinions.

Thanks everyone.

SHAKESPEARE!!! I wanna party with you. sadly I cannot help in your quest for brushing knowledge. I'm just a fan of fine wordsmiths like yourself. I say gooday sir

 

[BILT4ME]

Data point:
OEM bushings
288,000 miles
23 years
Installed new OEM bushings. Will advise when they wear out.

 

[FJsapper]

PO installed OME lift with caster bushings a year before I got it. I installed caster plates and went back to OEM bushings a year after I got it. The OME bushings were looking pretty bad already.

 

[Pin_Head]

I have installed hundreds of bushings, but I don’t think I have ever installed an OEM bushing unless it was an OEM manufacturer in a MOOG box. Then again, I have only kept one truck longer than 10 years and that was my 40. It is hard for me to believe that there is something magic about Toyota bushings that nobody else knows about.

 

[cybrstar]

my Rocars in the front look just as new as when I first installed them 2.5 years ago. My febest aren’t that bad either. Haven’t ripped out of the control arm yet or have a chicken fall from the sky. And I wheel my 80 HARD.
Here’s my thread.

Febest/rocar bushings

Some aftermarket stuff is the same as oem. Some is not and quality varies. I replaced my rear main on my 80 series with a aftermarket seal that was half the price of oem. Matched it up with old oem seal-exactly the same. El cheapo motor mounts I bought aftermarket from same online...

forum.ih8mud.com

 

[ChaseTruck]

Debates never end, no matter how much colorful language is being expended in failed attempts to obtain the upper hand in said debate.
Particularly not debates over items that are easily obsessed about, but actually are of little consequence in the grand scheme of things.

That said, we got the '93 8 years and about 40k miles ago; it came with yellow bushings. Didn't realize that at first because they were pitch black on the outside, the yellow was revealed after poking around with a screwdriver. It was a DD for the most part; more trail riding in the last 2 years since the truck got moved from LA to AZ. Low lift = 315's rub in the fender well = limited articulation = extended control arm bushing life.

The '97 came with stock bushings, we have it since '13. There's talk from it's main user that caster correction is needed, perhaps via yellow bushings because those work fine in the '93. My solution to that is to drive the '85 K5 on leaf springs and 37s every other 'wheeling trip, and suddenly both the '93 and the '97 appear as if they were surgical precision instruments. YRMV.

 

[Pascoscout]

I just replaced all of my bushings. I went with OEM in the pan hard rods because that's all I could find that weren't the super cheeps and OEM in the front radius arms because that's what came in the DELTA arms. I went with MOOG everywhere else. Side by side the MOOGs look just like the OEM. They also fit in perfectly in every location. I've run MOOG stuff in my previous vehicles and have never been disappointed.

I know this doesn't help with your longevity questions now but my truck should provide a nice test bed with aftermarket and OEM installed at the same time.

 

[Berzerker76]

I'm assuming we are talking about caster correcting bushings and not stock geometry poly bushings. While some poly bushings secret sauce may last longer than others, I believe the main reason they fail much earlier than OEM is that the center core is no longer centered, in order to achieve the desired caster correction, thus one section of the poly material is thinner and so it fails quicker. Poly vs. rubber is another factor but probably not as significant. Rubber seems to yield whereas poly tends to crack and crumble. This is why caster plates exist.

 

[GW Nugget]

I don't know, but there is something about anything rubber from japan, belts, hoses etc. Maybe their rubber trees are better over there???

I did install Whiteline blue poly rear upper control arm bushing 2 years ago... reason was to firm up the rear. So far they are still in good shape.

Thanks for watching... Happy Trails...

 

[-Spike-]

I have installed, or been around when they were installed (i.e at Kevin's shop) around 10-15 sets of control arm bushings in various 80's and at various locations (front, rear upper, lower, etc), many of which were aftermarket 'trials' ("OEM are expensive, let's try XYZ brand now"). All these trucks were wheeled moderately to hard, and most of the front arms were modified (narrowed) to increase articulation. Every one of them that I can remember that weren't OEM were eventually replaced again with OEM after they failed, usually within months, not years. Been there, done that, won't try any more.

That being said, I haven't to my knowledge tried MOOG bushings in an 80, a brand that I used to be pretty comfortable with for other suspension and steering stuff and still go to for other (mostly street) vehicles. They might work great. Problem is, they might not, and I don't want to waste the time to find out. OEM bushings are made by feeding rubber trees to unicorns for all I know. What I do know is they are superior to every aftermarket bushing I've ever seen. Granted, all of the trials were done with cheap bushings, because OEM works if you want expensive, why bother trying out some other expensive bushing. Sorry I didn't keep track of brands, so I can't attest to any comparisons to XYZ brand. I'm sure @richardlillard1 remembers some of them.

 

[fjbj40]

I don't know, but there is something about anything rubber from japan, belts, hoses etc. Maybe their rubber trees are better over there???

I did install Whiteline blue poly rear upper control arm bushing 2 years ago... reason was to firm up the rear. So far they are still in good shape.

Thanks for watching... Happy Trails...

I agree with you here! I have found anything rubber OEM Japanese lasts longer than NA and European rubber items. From hoses to wiring grommets they just seem to last longer

The rubber vacuum and fuel hoses seem to last forever, well not forever but a heck of a lot longer than anything aftermarket.

 

[LC4LIFE]

And....here is another topic I'm surprised is even being discussed again.

 

[cybrstar]

And....here is another topic I'm surprised is even being discussed again.

JUST LIKE TURBO’s!!!
L

 

[leitev8]

I'm running Dobinsons rubber caster correction bushings
10k miles
1.5 years
Moderate wheeling with daily driving duty before pandemic, still in good shape

 

[mudgudgeon]

I can't believe your such a stupid piece of $hit, even your whore mother knows to only use OEM bushings.

Of course they still look new it has only been 6 months you sorry excuse for a human being, your mother should have swallowed you!

This ^^^^

I've tried a couple of different aftermarket rubber bushes and had one set fail in 6-12 months. Mostly road driven, but the occasional moderate wheeling trip.
Another set about 2 years.

Can't remember brands, but they were known brands here in Oz, so I was willing to give them a go.
The savings vs the effort of swapping then over isn't worth it.

On one hand, it's a job that takes a few hours each end so not ( a huge deal.
On the other, I always have a list of things to do with my vehicles, adding another task to the list is never desirable.

Currently driving a '93 with 250k/km and original bushes that are ready for a change.
It'll be getting OEM because I don't want to revisit them again for a long time to come.