Leaf spring bushing destroyed. What would cause this?

[Giant Rock]

I have a 4 inch Off Road Design lift with their custom ez ride leaf springs. The bushing on the rear end of the front left leaf spring is destroyed, while the ones on the right side leaf spring are in perfect condition. Check out the picture to see what I mean.

Questions are:
1. What would cause this?
2. How to prevent it from happening again?
3. Are there replacement bushings that I can buy at a local auto parts store today so I can use my truck this weekend or do I have to buy the ORD Kit for aftermarket shackles? I think it uses a bigger bolt than stock.
4. Or can I just cut out the rest of the broken material on the sides, and use 2 Polyurethane spacers?

Thanks for any help!

 

[Grit dog]

Idk, but I want those springs!!
Only thing I can think of and this is speculation, but if the spring eye bolt was tightened too much maybe it squished and twisted the rubber causing it to split?
Wasn’t this the truck that had a super sketchy suspension install?
How’d that ever work out ?

 

[SquareRoot]

Interesting. I have those same HD ORD shackles on mine. I'm pretty sure those bushings are polyurethane. I don't know if lack of grease would cause them to bind and break apart or not? Mine still look new after a few years.

 

[Zelph]

According to ORD website it’s is a Kevlar/poly mixture of bushing and appears to be sized larger than the stock bushings. I would send the pic to ORD and see what they have to say. Maybe it’s an issue they are aware of?

 

[bucket]

According to ORD website it’s is a Kevlar/poly mixture of bushing and appears to be sized larger than the stock bushings. I would send the pic to ORD and see what they have to say. Maybe it’s an issue they are aware of?

The Kevlar bushings are their new design.

How old are the bushings? Poly bushings tend to crumble after several years, sometimes. I don't have an explanation as to why one sometimes will crumble, but it does happen.

 

[Frankenchevy]

I didn’t think the front bushings had that much shoulder… I’ll have to look at mine. Maybe the wrong width bushings were sent causing the shackle to pinch the bushing at an odd angle. They sent the wrong bushings for my fronts, but it had to do with shape vs width. I have ORD customs front and rear.

 

[Radiohead]

Final tightened the through bolt before putting the truck on the ground?

 

[PrairieDrifter]

That looks really dry. They need lubed during installation and then I grease mine every other oil change.

 

[Zelph]

I’m not being a smartass. How do you lube them? Does the actual zerk fitted bolt work? I always kind of thought that was a gimmick but I don’t have any firsthand experience with them. Do you use regular chassis lube? Something like Lucas thick and tacky?

thanks.

 

[bucket]

I’m not being a smartass. How do you lube them? Does the actual zerk fitted bolt work? I always kind of thought that was a gimmick but I don’t have any firsthand experience with them. Do you use regular chassis lube? Something like Lucas thick and tacky?

thanks.

The bolt has holes that feed the sleeve and bushing that are grooved. The grease helps them move freely without binding, which could help with bushing life. My guess is that the grease also impregnates the bushing to some degree, but I don't have facts to back it up.

The Lucas Thick n Tacky would probably be a good choice. That stuff can creep well.

 

[PrairieDrifter]

I use Lucas red and tacky on them, if not I use Schaefer's.

Yes they work. They're not a gimmick lol. When you replace the bushings, grease them initially by hand, then with a gun.

Then grease the zirk every or every other oil change. I had to rotate a couple of the bolts after assembly so the grease wouldn't just splooge out the ends(path of least resistance) so they get lubed properly.

 

[PrairieDrifter]

My first go around I didn't grease them initially and the truck rode a little extra rough. After getting the bushings greased and spinning nicely in the spring eye the truck rode better. I would imagine that's why mine still look like new, since they've been greased.

 

[RanchWelder]

Your picture shows a slight difference in spacing at your U-Bolts, one side has a gap and the other does not... at the spring perch on your axle tube.
Your spring pack looks like it's under load and slipping sideways...

Notice how the bottom leaves are sliding off to the left?

You stack might be experiencing side load or torsion is occurring from something having slipped?

Check your set up and make certain your still in alignment. That your axle has not moved or mis aligned...
Tire wear could show axle alignment is off? How does it track going down the road?

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I can't draw it correct here... Your wheels would not be off, but the axle would be more at an angle... with the wheels parallel.
This happened to a truck on the ranch, when the inner 2 front axle U-Bolt nots, mysteriously loosened up on the front passenger side and the axle slid forward 1/2"...


If you bent the frame with a heavy tongue load, you could have changed the geometry of the perches in relation to the spring pack, too.
How high can you jump your truck? If you know that answer... well....

The eye is definitely being force to the right by something and your bolt, (has some how), been beating diagonally against the eye socket, under load.

You might verify the other side and see if your u_bolts have loosened over there too. Check everything. Have it aligned correctly...
If your steering box is sloppy you may not be able to feel what the truck is doing when driving, just sayin'...
My exhaust and cam and spark arrestors make it so I couldn't hear my valves needed a slight adjustment...

Other thing could be is the spring rate or length is slightly different... Make certain your drive line is not hitting your case and the drive shaft is lubed up at the output splines too. If there's dirt inside your axle sleeve, then the dive shaft could be bottoming on dirt and slamming the rear axle when you bottom out and flatten the springs under load.
1/4" too little slip movement and the bushings would be getting compacted... Your shackles are supposed to prevent that from happening.
You could try to change the shackle angle so when the spring straightens out, there's still room for the shackle to move rearward, without hitting the frame.
O__________________O
O____---____--__--__O < not enough room to allow zero camber? I guess this would effect the front bushing too?

There are pictures on this forum recently of brand new set, same spring mnfg, same model number, from two different purchase orders, with significant difference in length and camber.

We always need more pictures for these
What's wrong with my Truck?" Treads...

 

[Grit dog]

@RanchWelder, you’re new here, but the OP posted last year, with this truck, and a slew of issues caused by extremely sketchy, unsafe work done by a shop, installing his suspension.
Iirc, we never saw the resolution to all the issues and guessing this is at least one that wasn’t addressed.

And based on his posts, he wheels this rig pretty hard, so minor issues become apparent much quicker than a garage queen or pavement pounder.

 

[Juggernaut]

My first go around I didn't grease them initially and the truck rode a little extra rough. After getting the bushings greased and spinning nicely in the spring eye the truck rode better. I would imagine that's why mine still look like new, since they've been greased.

I was told not to lube bushings with petroleum grease, but that was with rubber bushings. The petroleum grease softens rubber causing them to split and turn to mush, but I didn't know if it would do that to poly.