Difficulty fitting poly bushings

[invictusmaneo]

I purchased poly bushings and lift spacers from Titus on here. He and I have been in contact, and both are struggling to understand why we are having difficulties. My mechanic cannot get the arm bushings to slide into the axle and frame brackets once installed on the arm. The "lip" of polyurethane is much thicker than the stock bushings, and he has tried expanding the stock bracket to no avail. They still bind towards the top of the bracket, even with copious lube and lots of pressure. That and the brackets are much wider than they should be now and flared out.

The other issue is this snugness causes the caster correction angle to rotate as you fit them in. So either way the bushings are too thick. The stainless steel inserts are the appropriate width.

It's been suggested to belt sand away some of the polyurethane material but I wanted to see if anyone had any installation tips, tricks, or help? thanks!

 

[otiswesty]

What year and model is your G

 

[invictusmaneo]

Apologies-2002 US Spec 500.

 

[McBride]

Very strange. The ones I've purchased from Titus went right on. One was a 460 and the other was a 463.

Did your guy maybe microwave them? That will definitely deform them.... They do look significantly expanded in width - not how mine came. Does your guy gave GWagen experience and the proper tooling to do the job?

You should not have to bend the mounts - that wasn't a good idea.

Yikes. Sorry you're having this problem.

 

[v_man]

Although I'm a Toyota guy , I have sanded down bushings to get them to fit my application , no big deal as long as you don't heat them up to where they melt , and you don't sand too much down.

I'd also consider adding some gussets from your frame to those tabs now that they've been bent. That would be pretty easy to do if you have a welder... good luck

 

['round n' back again]

wrong bushings plainly. they are dimensionally incorrect
sanding is an option, cutting a better option. best option (in my opinion) is MB bushings.
poly bushings have never met or exceeded my expectations in any application i have tried to use them
i see you are learning that lesson too.

 

[burquedoka]

It looks to me like you have the wider rear bushings in the front?
On my 2000 G500, the front tab width is roughly 2" while the rears are closer to 2 3/8"

Why the caster correction? I have 35" tires and Titus's 50mm spacers and have no need for caster correction.

On second look, you do have the fronts where they are supposed to be ( I see the caster correction offset). Only thing I can think of is you'll need to narrow up those ears. You can see in my photos that they are supposed to be there.

 

[invictusmaneo]

We got them in; ears were brought back in and once bolted straight; only tried that on the one. Once we shaved, lubed, shaved some more it went in. The bushings had to be significantly shaved for the axle side bracket on each arm; the other ones went in fine as described above. It aligned well, and rides well right now. I don't anticipate long term issues but it was definitely frustrating.