Thread: Premature wear on spring bushes

G'day Herman and welcome to AULRO. Could be a few things, old stock bushes, dodgy aftermarket quality etc and also the fact that they are a heavy motor. Try some new genuine ones and see how they last. Post up a pic of your wheels when you get a chance.

With the rubber in steel bushes, which I presume is the ones you refer to as standard, the usual reasons for premature failure are either incorrect installation procedure or poor quality bushes, either aged, improperly stored (too hot) or just plain poor quality rubber. Having said that, parabolic springs will usually have larger deflection on bumps, especially if not fitted with special dampers, as there is essentially no frictional damping, leading to earlier failure of bushes if everything else is equal.

When installing the bushes, it essential that the final tightening of the shackle bolts be done after the springs are loaded and in normal static height, so that movement is equally up and down. It is also essential that the inner tube be tightly clamped by the shackle plates or spring anchorage. The usual reason for this not to happen is that the shackle plates have grooves worn in them from operation with loose bushes. The plates can be reversed, replaced or built up with weld and ground flat. The anchorage on the chassis needs to be built up and ground.

John

Thank you Brian. Will try genuine ones next. The front ones went first and now tright rear. All bushes replaced at same time. Never had this experience on other Series Landrovers before ('68 SII a SWB , '83 SIII LWB truck cab (2.25 D & LD28)).

Thank you John. Did all as above by you apart from welding up schackle plates. Took off about 2 -3 mm when grinding smooth where previously worn. Will check plates before installing new genuine bushes .