Metal Tech link bushing (1 Viewer)

[Kofoed]

I have been running the Metaltech upper and lower links for at least 5 years. They have the greaseable bushings/johnny joints. They have been good, but you need to hit them with grease regularly. The grease tends to wash out if you drive in the rain for any distance. It got to the point on long road trips I would bring a grease gun. Anyway I went to grease them and found one bush let go. Luckily I found right before a trip to Death Valley area (think washboard). The bush had grease in it, but maybe somewhere along the line it dried out (long roady over New Years driving through 600 miles of rain and wet roads). Interestingly, it the one right by the exhaust. I used a come along to allow removal of the link.

 

[OwnerCS]

I guess the good news is MetalTech sells replacement bushings.

 

[Kofoed]

I guess the good news is MetalTech sells replacement bushings.

They might be a standard size that I am too lazy to find. But for now I just put the old factory link back on. I never throw stuff like that away, you never know.....I'll likely get the wits end die to press out the old factory bushes and replace them. At some point I'll have to pull the other three Metaltechs off to service.

 

[abuck99]

How many miles on your MT upper & lower link arms?

I'm starting to notice some noise from mine: not bushing squeaks but some slop-clunking ( maybe the JJ's showing some age) when I get some side to side motion- approx 35k miles/4yrs. I grease mine about every 5k. I have no idea what the service life of the JJ's last before needing rebuild.

 

[DTCsk8er]

These should be somewhat standard bushings I believe; just with 9/16 bolt diameter tube for the 100 series. If you have your old arms, just pop them off and measure the inner diameter of the tube he used.

I am building my own arms right now, and have avoided using that style of bushings on either end as these are not really that great for a control arm in a flexy vehicle. They limit articulation and causing binding (a big downgrade from the stock rubber bushings IMO). Instead I am using synergy suspension dual durometer bushings on both ends of the arms.. the good behavior of a rubber bushing, no greasing required, 30 degree misalignment, replaceable.. my goal is to throw these in, and relatively forget about them.

Synergy Dual Durometer Bushing (DDB) Series | POLY PERFORMANCE

Synergy Dual Durometer Bushing (DDB) Series

www.polyperformance.com

 

[abuck99]

With a JJ on one end, that allows for a fair amount of additional articulation- no binding to speak of.

 

[Kofoed]

How many miles on your MT upper & lower link arms?

I'm starting to notice some noise from mine: not bushing squeaks but some slop-clunking ( maybe the JJ's showing some age) when I get some side to side motion- approx 35k miles/4yrs. I grease mine about every 5k. I have no idea what the service life of the JJ's last before needing rebuild.

I have about 25k miles and 4 or 5 years. I do not daily drive it. It is for trips and sees a fair amount of abuse. Your pahard bar bushes may be worn a bit, too. I guess my plan is to order up some bushes from MT (14 bucks for four ends) and inspect the JJ's which I think may need wear items replaced. I grease them before almost every trip, starting about 3 years ago lol, and I grease the driveshaft at the same time. The service interval for slip joint is 3,000 miles......

 

[Kofoed]

These should be somewhat standard bushings I believe; just with 9/16 bolt diameter tube for the 100 series. If you have your old arms, just pop them off and measure the inner diameter of the tube he used.

I am building my own arms right now, and have avoided using that style of bushings on either end as these are not really that great for a control arm in a flexy vehicle. They limit articulation and causing binding (a big downgrade from the stock rubber bushings IMO). Instead I am using synergy suspension dual durometer bushings on both ends of the arms.. the good behavior of a rubber bushing, no greasing required, 30 degree misalignment, replaceable.. my goal is to throw these in, and relatively forget about them.

Synergy Dual Durometer Bushing (DDB) Series | POLY PERFORMANCE

Synergy Dual Durometer Bushing (DDB) Series

www.polyperformance.com

Knowing what I know now, if there was an after market option with this (adjustable length and thick tubing) I would go this route

 

[OwnerCS]

I have about 25k miles and 4 or 5 years. I do not daily drive it. It is for trips and sees a fair amount of abuse. Your pahard bar bushes may be worn a bit, too. I guess my plan is to order up some bushes from MT (14 bucks for four ends) and inspect the JJ's which I think may need wear items replaced. I grease them before almost every trip, starting about 3 years ago lol, and I grease the driveshaft at the same time. The service interval for slip joint is 3,000 miles......

For curiosity's sake, what type of grease are you using in the J-joints?

 

[abuck99]

I have about 25k miles and 4 or 5 years. I do not daily drive it. It is for trips and sees a fair amount of abuse. Your pahard bar bushes may be worn a bit, too. I guess my plan is to order up some bushes from MT (14 bucks for four ends) and inspect the JJ's which I think may need wear items replaced. I grease them before almost every trip, starting about 3 years ago lol, and I grease the driveshaft at the same time. The service interval for slip joint is 3,000 miles......

Thanks- we’re on roughly the same duty cycle, time and mileage. My panhard is the adjustable type- bushes are good, but after tracking down the source of the noise, I found that I left the adjusting nut loose after I installed new springs the other day and that turned out to be the cause of my side to side clunk- my fault

For curiosity's sake, what type of grease are you using in the J-joints?

I use Valvoline SynPower full synthetic moly fortified grease for JJ's, greasable bushes, UCA BJ's and driveshaft yokes. Holds up well, doesn't wash out easily. No squeaking bushes yet in 35k miles

 

[Kofoed]

For curiosity's sake, what type of grease are you using in the J-joints?

Sticky, green, marine grease, per Metal tech

 

[OwnerCS]

Sticky, green, marine grease, per Metal tech

There is some sticky waterproof synthetic polymer grease that I've been using on joints and bushings that have a history of a short lifespan for many years with success. For me, it works in difficult applications that are often submerged in water. If you get it on your clothes, it doesn't wash out. I don't talk about it much though.

 

[DTCsk8er]

Knowing what I know now, if there was an after market option with this (adjustable length and thick tubing) I would go this route

I hope to build mine in the next few weeks. The bottom will be non adjustable, and the upper will be adjustable.. 1/4" wall DOM tube.

If it works out well, I might be open to building a few sets for people. But I will want to daily drive mine for a while before I OK the design.

 

[hotdiggitydamn]

These should be somewhat standard bushings I believe; just with 9/16 bolt diameter tube for the 100 series. If you have your old arms, just pop them off and measure the inner diameter of the tube he used.

I am building my own arms right now, and have avoided using that style of bushings on either end as these are not really that great for a control arm in a flexy vehicle. They limit articulation and causing binding (a big downgrade from the stock rubber bushings IMO). Instead I am using synergy suspension dual durometer bushings on both ends of the arms.. the good behavior of a rubber bushing, no greasing required, 30 degree misalignment, replaceable.. my goal is to throw these in, and relatively forget about them.

Synergy Dual Durometer Bushing (DDB) Series | POLY PERFORMANCE

Synergy Dual Durometer Bushing (DDB) Series

www.polyperformance.com

Start a thread somewhere if ya would. I would love to watch the process. I’m about to replace my suspension and got these welders just laying around begging for an easy project.