Suspension poly bushing is bulging when torqued

[samatulich]

Been addressing some suspension maintenance and mods on my '76 FJ40 w/ OME 2.5" lift, when I'm torquing the spring eye bushing they begin to bulge well before I reach the 60# torque spec. These are OME springs and bushing on the spring hanger side. They have split washers and I'm inclined to torque until I see bulging and stop. Will that suffice?

 

[Gotta40]

stock shackles or aftermarket? I would tighten them til the bulge and quit. stock shackles can only go so far, aftermarket don't usually have the internal stop.

 

[pbgbottle]

Do not tighten them that much it will make for a stiffer ride.
I tighten mine just past finger tight plus a couple rotations. Nylock nut. It. Might sound crazy but mine are just snugged up. I just check them once a month. But that me. lol that torque spec would be for the factory OEM Toyota pin that is shoulder and using the rubber bushing. Most aftermarket do not have a shoulder to prevent over tightening most use just a regular old bolt. Which lead to over tightened bushings.

 

[samatulich]

I have the OME spring kit with their shackles. I'll back the nuts off a turn or two to help with the ride quality and keep the bushings from bulging.

 

[cruiserkev]

I used to run mine tight. Through trial and error I found out a better way, now I set mine at 25 foot pounds and it works great. Overtight just wears out bushings quicker and can lead to a stiff ride or bent shackles.

 

[jim land]

Something is not right , if you use the right bushing and shackle with shoulder ,the torque settiing is not suppose to compress the bushing , mayby the spring hanger is bent , post some pics

 

[65swb45]

I ran across this situation with a customer’s rig about 25 years ago, when there was a lot more variation in specs/inconsistencies in batches from the spring manufacturers.

First thing…before anything else…

Measure the exact width of the spring near the center pin, and then measure it at the eye. There is a chance that the metal rolled out wider when the eye was formed. If that is the case, the appropriate solution is to grind a little bit off of the spring eye until the hanger can reach the shoulder of the eye bolt without deforming the bushing.

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Marks Off Road Home Page - https://marksoffroad.net/index2.html

 

[samatulich]

@65swb45 , next time I drop a leaf pack I will take those measurements.
I should note that I installed this lift in '21. Didnt pay attention at the time to the bushings, I just torque things down according to the OME guidelines.
I started, year or two ago, to hear a clunk, pop, creek from the rear while backing up. Began looking at the suspension and thats when I saw the bushings were squeezed pretty good.
The past 2 weeks:
I decided to drop all 4 leaf packs. Took them apart. Drilled out the center pin to accommodate the 3/8 pins I had. Greased the leaves as I assembled them.
I did remove the 3rd leave from the military wrap to soften the ride in the rear. Replaced the bushings that were deformed. Installed the spring packs, and 4plus ubolt flip kit.
This morning I torqued all the spring bolts (shackles and hangers) to 10 foot lbs. The split washer is compressed. The bushings bulge a bit, squeezing out between the hanger bracket, but even with the bolts loose they didn't relax. So I'll give this a try.
A few pics of the work:

 

[pbgbottle]

next time I drop a leaf pack I will take those measurements.
I should note that I installed this lift in '21. Didnt pay attention at the time to the bushings, I just torque things down according to the OME guidelines.
I started, year or two ago, to hear a clunk, pop, creek from the rear while backing up. Began looking at the suspension and thats when I saw the bushings were squeezed pretty good.
The past 2 weeks:
I decided to drop all 4 leaf packs. Took them apart. Drilled out the center pin to accommodate the 3/8 pins I had. Greased the leaves as I assembled them.
I did remove the 3rd leave from the military wrap to soften the ride in the rear. Replaced the bushings that were deformed. Installed the spring packs, and 4plus ubolt flip kit.
This morning I torqued all the spring bolts (shackles and hangers) to 10 foot lbs. The split washer is compressed. The bushings bulge a bit, squeezing out between the hanger bracket, but even with the bolts loose they didn't relax. So I'll give this a try.
A few pics of the work:
View attachment 4043819

I

I would open this solid shackle mount up a bit are the springs narrower than OEM or skinnier And put a big round washer over the end of that squished bushing to try to stop it from deforming looks like springs for the later year chassis. 1979 plus. with larger bushings ,I only use Toyota springs never look at aftermarket as I prefer SOA. Hmm.

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