Cheap & quick front axle outboard bushings...

[4speedfunk]

So I was working on CaseyS's front axle the other day, and I noticed the outboard mounting bushings were toast. This is very common on H3's and I've always suspected they play a part in the AAM-7's high failure rate. When these bushings go soft...the axle is free to flop about and pull itself apart, (especially when spinning tires suddenly get a bite). The dealer wants $102 for each side, and of course...nobody had them in stock. Casey had already come up with his own fix for the crossmember bushing but, the original outboard bushings had 230K miles on them! A couple of on-line places offer bushings but, either only as a set (including the crossmember bushing)...or as an "exchange" which takes time. I was in a jamb and needed to get something done pronto. As you can see...the bushings were junk, and I only had a day to find a fix...

I started by pressing out the old bushings. This leaves a thin metal sleeve in the "ring" of the mounting bracket. A quick burst with the sawzall and those come out easily. What you are left with is a totally bare bracket, ready to accept the bushing of your choice. I just happened to have some tube-bushing kits laying around and wouldn't you know it...they fit perfectly...

I had to cut them down in length, so the two bushings bottomed against each other when pressed into the ring. Then I cut the inner sleeve down about .010" shorter, so it would stop me from over-compressing the bushings when tightening. Next I grabbed some round bar stock and cut some thick washers for the top & bottom. Casey had shimmed his axle housing down to gain some much-needed oil pan clearance, so I made the upper washers extra thick for this reason...

Here's the finished product...poly-u bushings ready to go...

This is a very inexpensive mod, and I am making it "standard equipment" on all AAM-7 axles that roll through here. I'm looking for the bushing box (something for a Toyota I think). When I find it...I will post up the part number. I used a lathe to modify them but, it could also be done at home with a hack-saw and some fender washers. Total fab time was less than an hour.

 

[08H3]

Nice! You probably just p.o.'ed at least a couple sponsors, but nice fix! Couple that with Speedy's fix for the crossmember and you have the full set.

 

[alrock]

Perfect, glad you are addressing it. Easy fix, but more than most home mechanics like me could accomplish.

Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk

 

[4speedfunk]

Didn't mean to piss anybody off. I was in a jam and needed to find a fix immediately. I sort of stumbled into the cheap fix out of desperation. I found some bushings laying around, and I wasn't real sure they would even work. I pressed the old bushings out (and burned one out with a torch), before I knew for sure the new bushings would even fit. As it turned out...I got lucky.

If I had known ahead of time, that the stock bushings were bad...I would have simply bought the Outfitter Design units. I've installed several of those kits and they work great. The only downside is that you must buy the entire set. That's probably a deal-breaker for multitudes of Rancho guys and other guys that have already fixed their crossmember bushing. Nobody wants to pay money, only to leave a brand new part in the box, un-used. But, if you could somehow buy the outboard bushings separately (hint)...then this thread could probably be ignored.

(or disappear completely). Hmmmm....

:shifty:

 

[digglesworth]

I talked to OD about making a rancho crossmember bushing. they said theyve made a custom. one-off bushing for someone with a rancho kit. they told me the person had to modify their design to make it work (not sure why) but this caused them not to produce any more for the rancho kit. they offered to make me one for my rancho kit, since i already had their complete kit installed on the oem setup. the downside was they were needing me to send them my rancho crossmember to use as a template. i wasnt in a position to do that. if i lived closer to them, i would offer up my rig to them as a test vehicle to get one engineered. but i dont so i settled for a new rancho bushing and the OD outers. great fix CJ. is there anything you cant do in that lair of yours?

 

[Bigunit]

I have an unused, unmounted new Rancho crossmember in my lair and a source for the bushing. Hmmm....I smell a Rancho crossmember core exchange opportunity...