Thread: Suspension bush life expectancy

IME, bubber bushes (even OE) are not what they used to be. The original bushes in my 110 lasted >200k km. The original a-frame bushes are still in there at >400k km, with no measurable deterioration last I checked.

I have swapped almost all bushes over to Super Pro, and expect them to last a longer than OEM rubber.

[as discussed via PM, the very poor handling when you drove my 110 were due to a VERY loose trailing arm nut!]

Thanks Ben, I have already had to do an A-Frame ball joint, and I suspect that it needed changing at 50k km's. I'll have to keep the bushes Genuine LR for now because of the warranty, but I'll look into the Super Pro ones for the future.

The 110 doesn't feel "sloppy" on the road, it just feels "nervous" over high speed highway bumps. Anyway the airbags are going in for the rear axle this weekend, but I don't want to mask another problem.

All the bushes and fixings appear ok, and I'd inspected everything quite throughly in the process of discovering the A-Frame ball joint had movement in it.

Cheers,

Tim

Originally Posted by TimNZ

Thanks Ben, I have already had to do an A-Frame ball joint, and I suspect that it needed changing at 50k km's. I'll have to keep the bushes Genuine LR for now because of the warranty, but I'll look into the Super Pro ones for the future.

The 110 doesn't feel "sloppy" on the road, it just feels "nervous" over high speed highway bumps. Anyway the airbags are going in for the rear axle this weekend, but I don't want to mask another problem.

All the bushes and fixings appear ok, and I'd inspected everything quite throughly in the process of discovering the A-Frame ball joint had movement in it.

Cheers,

Tim

What you are describing sounds more like that uncontrolled floating feeling which is usually caused by worn shockies rather than bushes. Have they been replaced or do they have 75k on them?

Originally Posted by the_preacher1973

What you are describing sounds more like that untrolled floating feeling which is usually caused by worn shockies rather than bushes. Have they been replaced or do they have 75k on them?

That's an interesting one. I'm in the process of changing all the bushes on my D1 to try tighten up the steering, but I'm also unsure how old my shockers are... I realise shocks aren't likely to be the cause, however front ones are potentially quite old. Rear ones are relatively new (15k), although they are LR brand and to be honest I don't have much confidence in their quality. Any comments as to the quality of LR shocks?

/end hijack

For standard Shocks they were pretty good being vastly superior to anything the Japanese supplied on their coil sprung vehicles.

Originally Posted by TimNZ

...




The 110 doesn't feel "sloppy" on the road, it just feels "nervous" over high speed highway bumps.


...

I would check swivels preload, then shocks and shock bushes.

When I went from 235s to 255s (or 285s for a while). Handling at high speed improved significantly.

I've just replaced the trailing arm chassis mounts on my 130 and the difference this made to 'driveability' was amazing.
New ones didn't just fix the throttle steer problems but made the Defy drive like a car. Seriously. I had always assumed the Defy had to be 'driven' because it was, well a Defender. Couldn't have been more wrong. Can now confidently steer one fingered and have a (loud) conversation at the same time. At $14 each the best 'bang for buck' money I've spent on the Defender.

I'd also have a look at your shocker rubbers, when they wear can give you a floating unstable sort of feeling.

Deano

Originally Posted by DeanoH

I've just replaced the trailing arm chassis mounts on my 130 and the difference this made to 'driveability' was amazing.
New ones didn't just fix the throttle steer problems but made the Defy drive like a car. Seriously. I had always assumed the Defy had to be 'driven' because it was, well a Defender. Couldn't have been more wrong. Can now confidently steer one fingered and have a (loud) conversation at the same time. At $14 each the best 'bang for buck' money I've spent on the Defender.

I'd also have a look at your shocker rubbers, when they wear can give you a floating unstable sort of feeling.

Deano

Throttle steer almost invariably means free play on at least one of the lower link (trailing arm) bushes. Last time I had it was the one on the axle, but I have had problems with the chassis ones, although not since replacing the previous owner's red ones with genuine rubber.

John