Life and death of an OME bushing

[Skniper]

My kid drives the 62 now so I'm not as aware of its daily creaks and groans, until I moved it out of the driveway a few days ago. Horrendous clunking/rattling with every move of the wheel.

Long story short, several of the front OME Spring bushings were shot...one set completely GONE! The front driver's side fixed pin bushings were nonexistent, just a metal pin in a hole. I knew they wore worn, but damn, shame on me! Call to Cruiser Outfitters and a couple sets of OME bushings and spring pins arrived in short order.
While cleaning up and replacing things, the bushing sleeves on both front springs(fixed ends) pulled out by hand. A "known" problem on some OME spring packs. Pretty sure I installed this full OME setup back in 2008...can't believe it's been that long. Install was straightforward but always suspected my front springs were never aligned just right. That and loose spring sleeves didn't help things.

I replaced the driver side spring pin because it was metal on metal. Actually didn't look too bad but, why not. One of the front shackle pins was rubbing metal too, it's not too bad either but there is a little roughness in one spot. Really don't want to replace the shackle....is a little wear on the greaseable pin a big deal?? (pic attached)

Pics:
- spring sleeve sliding out
- d side spring hanger, top right is notched from front spring eye rubbing on it
- crumbly brittle 9 y.o. OME bushing
- shackle pin wear (not bad, should clean up)

 

[Skniper]

Hmm, not sure why the photos loaded like that. (?)

So, anyway, immediate plan is to clean it up, regrease and throw in new bushings as is just to get it back on the road.

Ordered 4+ ubolt flip kit last night and will order more extra bushings. I'll break it all down again soon and get the springs sleeves welded in, check all bushings again, and really spend some time checking spring pack alignment with the ubolt flip kit.

 

[Landpimp]

All my OME suspensions(pre dakar) are 10-15 years old and not noticed any issues with the bushings. Wonder why yours went bad so fast

 

[Skniper]

All my OME suspensions(pre dakar) are 10-15 years old and not noticed any issues with the bushings. Wonder why yours went bad so fast

Not sure why. Not really sure what OME bushing life expectancy is supposed to be. Obviously depends on how much off road abuse they get, etc... Mine have not lived too hard of a life. As mentioned, I suspect loose spring sleeves and probably some spring misalignment way back when installed or when I did AAL.

 

[Godwin]

I had the same experience with OME bushings as have others. I replaced with Energy Suspension bushings.

 

[klinetime574]

I think the OME bushings fall victim to the springs flailing around and ruining the ears. This happened on my rear springs. And I will fix the front. Some day...