Let's end the control arm bushing debate

[baldilocks]

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.

Yes! I recently replaced ALL my fuel hoses including vapor recovery and coolant bypass hoses as part of a trail dependability campaign and I feel like I may have wasted my money and time. 27 years and 301k and these hoses were in better shape than some hoses on my 2005 Dodge pickup.

How can someone not notice the superiority of these oem rubber products?

 

[cybrstar]

Yes! I recently replaced ALL my fuel hoses including vapor recovery and coolant bypass hoses as part of a trail dependability campaign and I feel like I may have wasted my money and time. 27 years and 301k and these hoses were in better shape than some hoses on my 2005 Dodge pickup.

How can someone not notice the superiority of these oem rubber products?

what do you know about OEM rubber? They don’t even come prebent anymore. Just some normal 6mm Straight hoses. $10 a foot now and days OEM, for fuel/evap. Must be made of kryptonite. Common, you replace yours Bushings already?

 

[fjbj40]

what do you know about OEM rubber? They don’t even come prebent anymore. Just some normal 6mm Straight hoses. $10 a foot now and days OEM, for fuel/evap. Must be made of kryptonite. Common, you replace yours Bushings already?

Every hose that I have replaced that was pre-bent came pre-bent when I ordered the OEM replacement. Which ones are you referring to?

No it’s not made of Kryptonite, everybody knows that is not black in color

Sorry to break it to you but the OEM rubber is superior to the majority of stuff you can buy at the local part stores, in fit and quality. I have seen enough of it over the past 35 years to make the observation.

My neighbor bought a Dodge Caravan the same time I got my 4Runner. I have replaced 2 wheel bearings as they were noisy. He has had cooling hoses fail multiple times, rubber and plastic. Multiple wheel bearings, starter, alternator. Less mileage, same year as my Toyota.

 

[Marco Lau]

mine were completely shot after 3 yrs of hard rock crawling. I replaced them with factory OEM bushings when i did my suspension upgrade,

 

[Tedward]

and so ends the control arm bushing debate. RIP

 

[baldilocks]

what do you know about OEM rubber? They don’t even come prebent anymore. Just some normal 6mm Straight hoses. $10 a foot now and days OEM, for fuel/evap. Must be made of kryptonite. Common, you replace yours Bushings already?

I don’t need to be a scientist to see that the old hoses were still in “good” condition after 27 years under the hood. My hoses have all come pre-bent. This includes trans fluid cooler hoses, fuel pressure hose, coolant hoses, crank case vent hoses, gas tank filler hose. Buy from China and get garbage and maybe a case of some strange virus.

My suspension bushings were replaced when new links and arms went in a while back.

 

[Box Rocket]

My last 80 had OME caster bushings installed when I bought it. They were less than a year old and were already separating. I think OME or other poly bushings have their place and can work long term in a vehicle that is mainly being driven on paved roads or graded gravel roads. If the vehicle is used for anything more aggressive where the suspension is put into high flex positions regularly, they just aren't going to hold up for long.

After the failure of the OME bushings that were in my last truck the arms were swapped for some with OEM Rubber original bushings that I got for free. That was 20 years ago. I replaced my radius arms last year after bending one and the rubber bushings were showing some signs of wear (truck had 220K miles). Swapped the arms again for some straight ones with original OEM rubber bushings that came off a truck with ~200k miles. I've driven another 30K miles since then with lots of offroad stuff. Was actually under the truck last night looking at all the bushings etc and they all look great.

From my experience, the OEM rubber bushings not only last longer but the ride is smoother than with aftermarket bushings and they flex more.

I have seen a fairly new design on the poly bushing side of things recently. Superpro sells a high flex poly bushing that is supposed to last much longer. I haven't personally used them nor have I heard from anyone who has but I know they are available. Don't know how they compare to OEM long term but I'm fairly confident that they will still fall short of OEM. I can see them being a good improvement over other aftermarket offerings, but for me, OEM is still the way to go.

 

[cybrstar]

When I have the time I’ll take off my control arms and SHOW you first hand that my ROCARS are going strong after 3 plus years of Rubicon, overlanding, 30+thousand miles. I wheel my rig at least once a month. Through snow, mud, rocks, dirt, daily driven......there are no rips tears and look like they are still brand new.

 

[MontyFJ80]

I installed the OME caster correction bushings, then took the arms off after about 8 months and 8000 miles. they were mainly alright nothing too impressive, just some pinched looking poly near the inner sleeve. Thats with 35's and plenty of off road driving.

 

[baldilocks]

When I have the time I’ll take off my control arms and SHOW you first hand that my ROCARS are going strong after 3 plus years of Rubicon, overlanding, 30+thousand miles. I wheel my rig at least once a month. Through snow, mud, rocks, dirt, daily driven......there are no rips tears and look like they are still brand new.

Ok

 

[Maozebong]

not sure why nobody mentioned it, but no bushings will ever last in an 80 series. they went 20 years without changing because the people who first bought these didn’t wheel them, left sway bars connected and didn’t install lift kits. for most people who bought 80s, this was a luxury SUV and not a trail rig.

point blank, if you’ve lifted your truck, you’re going to wear bushings prematurely. any time you articulate the suspension, you’re putting immense torsional pressure on the bushings that are trying to twist the axle housing. radius arms are meant for road cars. spending 10x more on OEM bushings doesn’t change this and our forum “gurus” like to act like it won’t happen if you do. (hint: just because they buy more overland junk and have brand relationships doesn’t make them an expert)

stop wasting time arguing over which rubber is rubber. cut the radius arms off and go 3 link. you won’t need a press to change the bushing, bushings won’t tear due to binding, set the caster angle to anything you want and on top of that, you correct the vehicle roll center that gets thrown way out of wack when lifted. lifted 80s handle like s*** until you address the elephant in the room.

 

[baldilocks]

not sure why nobody mentioned it, but no bushings will ever last in an 80 series. they went 20 years without changing because the people who first bought these didn’t wheel them, left sway bars connected and didn’t install lift kits. for most people who bought 80s, this was a luxury SUV and not a trail rig.

point blank, if you’ve lifted your truck, you’re going to wear bushings prematurely. any time you articulate the suspension, you’re putting immense torsional pressure on the bushings that are trying to twist the axle housing. radius arms are meant for road cars. spending 10x more on OEM bushings doesn’t change this and our forum “gurus” like to act like it won’t happen if you do. (hint: just because they buy more overland junk and have brand relationships doesn’t make them an expert)

stop wasting time arguing over which rubber is rubber. cut the radius arms off and go 3 link. you won’t need a press to change the bushing, bushings won’t tear due to binding, set the caster angle to anything you want and on top of that, you correct the vehicle roll center that gets thrown way out of wack when lifted. lifted 80s handle like s*** until you address the elephant in the room.

Ok

 

[alia176]

Those of you who are "looking" at the bushings and thinking they're looking "great", may need to re-think this approach. Bushings look great sitting inside your arms while you lay on the ground staring up at them. The best way to actually check them is to remove the arms from the vehicle, step on them while on the ground, then stick a long rod/tube inside the center and torque them. That's when "minor surface cracks" turn into major cravasses!

I'm running Slee blue bushings, from many years ago everywhere except at the frame where the front radius arms attach; I went with OEM bushings at that spot. I'll swap them out next year probably.

 

[Maozebong]

Ok

did you not get enough of a pat on the back for your first response? acting like the guy who says a bad joke and nobody laughs so they say it again/louder.

i wasn’t wrong, either. doesn’t matter what bushing you pick. keep throwing parts at a problem and insisting it’s the brand that’s the issue.

 

[-Spike-]

did you not get enough of a pat on the back for your first response? acting like the guy who says a bad joke and nobody laughs so they say it again/louder.

i wasn’t wrong, either. doesn’t matter what bushing you pick. keep throwing parts at a problem and insisting it’s the brand that’s the issue.

I think it was more like 'OK, you are wrong but obviously you aren't open to listening to any other viewpoint so there's no point in continuing this conversation'.

I have to agree. But just for kicks, my experience, as noted earlier, is that new OEM bushings last many times longer than new cheap aftermarket bushings. This is actual experience of using several aftermarket bushings and trashing them in months, then replacing with OEM and having them last years. Years of wheeling several times every week. Not once a month, or a couple of times every six months, like most people are limited to. Say what you want about rubber being rubber, but it doesn't hold true.

 

[Tachycardic]

Personally, I'm not impressed with the OEM bushings. My original bushings are starting to go after 26 years and only 282k miles. The hell? These things can't even make it to 300k.

 

[ppc]

Personally, I'm not impressed with the OEM bushings. My original bushings are starting to go after 26 years and only 282k miles. The hell? These things can't even make it to 300k.

Your bushings obviously made it to 300K miles it's just your odometer that is just F'ed Up.

 

[Tachycardic]

not sure why nobody mentioned it, but no bushings will ever last in an 80 series. they went 20 years without changing because the people who first bought these didn’t wheel them, left sway bars connected and didn’t install lift kits. for most people who bought 80s, this was a luxury SUV and not a trail rig.

point blank, if you’ve lifted your truck, you’re going to wear bushings prematurely. any time you articulate the suspension, you’re putting immense torsional pressure on the bushings that are trying to twist the axle housing. radius arms are meant for road cars. spending 10x more on OEM bushings doesn’t change this and our forum “gurus” like to act like it won’t happen if you do. (hint: just because they buy more overland junk and have brand relationships doesn’t make them an expert)

stop wasting time arguing over which rubber is rubber. cut the radius arms off and go 3 link. you won’t need a press to change the bushing, bushings won’t tear due to binding, set the caster angle to anything you want and on top of that, you correct the vehicle roll center that gets thrown way out of wack when lifted. lifted 80s handle like s*** until you address the elephant in the room.

I feel like that most of what you say is true. Makes sense--more off-roading and articulation equals quicker wear. I would also agree that that the first owners probably didn't go off-roading much, or at all, but how many 1 owner 80s are out there? I'm the 4th owner of my vehicle and I know that the PO took it car camping in the desert and area national parks regularly. No lifts or extreme 4-wheeling I admit, but 25 years is still a long time for a vehicle suspension part to last.

Other 80s have to endure significant temperature and humidity changes year in and year out, and salts, sands, and urea in the winter. Crawling to the mall isn't as benign some would have you think.

I think it is fascinating how some people still don't fully trust OEM bushings. They convince themselves that there has to be something better out there. And maybe there is! But aside from the small amount of folks here that have used aftermarket bushings, it seems that the majority of us either replaced their worn bushings with OEM, or are people like me who have not changed them (yet) after over a quarter of a century and over a quarter of a million miles. Yes, OEM is boring, but they are reliable. For many of us, we are just getting to a point where we will try out aftermarket bushings and then it'll take a few more years/decades to figure out what else is as good as OEM.

 

[ticoman]

Living in Costa Rica, my rig gets put through the wringer just driving to the grocery store. There is no pavement to speak of. Just pot holes big enough to have there own ecosystems. That being said, I have gone through Control arm bushings by the handful. Mostly aftermarket because of the price. How ever lately I have replaced all the underside rubber with whiteline 2 piece bushings to see how they stand up. Not having to press bushings in and out will be a welcome change.

 

[baldilocks]

did you not get enough of a pat on the back for your first response? acting like the guy who says a bad joke and nobody laughs so they say it again/louder.

i wasn’t wrong, either. doesn’t matter what bushing you pick. keep throwing parts at a problem and insisting it’s the brand that’s the issue.

Keep reading.