Rock Krawler control arm bushing

desertrunner · Mar 3, 2015

so the list of things wrong with my jeep just keeps growing the more i look around. Here is another one i found tonight :doh:

i noticed while poking around that my driver side lower control arm nut was loose. i pulled the bolt out just because i was curious and this is what i found inside.

i am pretty sure that metal sleeve should fit in the rubber bushing pretty tight??? :thinking: Also sure doesnt look like the frame mount hole is a circle anymore :grayno:
anyone have any thoughts on what i should do about this? I wish i could ask what the cause was with with the slue of problems i have right now not too sure how good it would be (ball joints are shot, drag link knuckle end is shot, tires are worn all sorts of funky, had some play in my front track bar for a while.... i could go on and on)

I had some problems when i first did my lift with getting the control arm lengths right but a long time ago i had a shop "fix" my alignment problems. Maybe the lowers weren't the same length and this happened??

Tanner505 · Mar 3, 2015

desertrunner said:
so the list of things wrong with my jeep just keeps growing the more i look around. Here is another one i found tonight :doh:

i noticed while poking around that my driver side lower control arm nut was loose. i pulled the bolt out just because i was curious and this is what i found inside.

View attachment 128178

i am pretty sure that metal sleeve should fit in the rubber bushing pretty tight??? :thinking: Also sure doesnt look like the frame mount hole is a circle anymore :grayno:
anyone have any thoughts on what i should do about this? I wish i could ask what the cause was with with the slue of problems i have right now not too sure how good it would be (ball joints are shot, drag link knuckle end is shot, tires are worn all sorts of funky, had some play in my front track bar for a while.... i could go on and on)

I had some problems when i first did my lift with getting the control arm lengths right but a long time ago i had a shop "fix" my alignment problems. Maybe the lowers weren't the same length and this happened??

Call rock krawler, they had a bad batch of bushing a while back and they will take care of you

OverlanderJK · Mar 3, 2015

Sounds like you need to do some more routine maintenance on your jeep. The hole would still be circular of the bolt was torqued. How many miles on the lift?

desertrunner · Mar 3, 2015

Tanner505 said:
Call rock krawler, they had a bad batch of bushing a while back and they will take care of you

yeah i was gonna try that tomorrow see if they could help me out

OverlanderJK said:
Sounds like you need to do some more routine maintenance on your jeep. The hole would still be circular of the bolt was torqued. How many miles on the lift?

yeah i know hind sight is 20/20 im kicking myself for not keeping an eye on things better could have saved me a bit of heart ache now. got about 25K miles on the lift

toxicwaste29 · Mar 3, 2015

To fix the hole just weld a washer to the mount to make it a circle again. The good news is that you'll have a new front when your done replacing the worn parts and your not the first to go through all this (I went through nearly the same thing) . The bad is that can be costly.

desertrunner · Mar 3, 2015

toxicwaste29 said:
To fix the hole just weld a washer to the mount to make it a circle again. The good news is that you'll have a new front when your done replacing the worn parts and your not the first to go through all this (I went through nearly the same thing) . The bad is that can be costly.

had that done with my front track bar mount and now its standing in my way of a drag link flip kit so im trying to stay away from getting weld happy but yeah that would definitely work to get a circle again im still wanting to resolve all the causes before i slap dual steering stabilizers on to fix death wobble

. but at this point its like what came first the chicken or the egg. at least i am identifying everything that needs to be fixed and a tax return on the way :rock:

desertrunner · Mar 3, 2015

OverlanderJK said:
Sounds like you need to do some more routine maintenance on your jeep. The hole would still be circular of the bolt was torqued. How many miles on the lift?

just to cover my bases a bit since I have actually had a garage to work on my rig in now, what kind of "routine maintenance" should I actually be doing? I understand the importance of re torqueing but is that it? or I read something about the RK polyurethane bushings needing greased (not sure how to do that). Maybe greasing up some zerk fittings but the only one I saw was on my front track bar? (RK 3.5" X-Factor)
Just wanna get my rig fixed up and keep this stuff from happening again or at least catch worn out parts sooner so it doesn't all add up at once. Thanks in advance for the help

wayoflife · Mar 3, 2015

Well, the bushing is toast and should be replaced. It happens and is why I prefer Johnny Joints or even Clevite bushings over old school polyurethane. Maintenance may have helped this from lasting longer but not necessarily. If this were a bad batch issue, the bushing would be crumbling. The mount hole is fine and you don't need to "fix" it. If the diameter of the mounting hole were what's most important, there wouldn't be a need for torque specs. Just replace the bushing and make sure to tighten your bolt to 125 ft. lbs. of torque and check it on a regular basis as a part of routine maintenance.

piginajeep · Mar 3, 2015

Holy shit is that thing dry...

desertrunner · Mar 3, 2015

wayoflife said:
Well, the bushing is toast and should be replaced. It happens and is why I prefer Johnny Joints or even Clevite bushings over old school polyurethane. Maintenance may have helped this from lasting longer but not necessarily. If this were a bad batch issue, the bushing would be crumbling. The mount hole is fine and you don't need to "fix" it. If the diameter of the mounting hole were what's most important, there wouldn't be a need for torque specs. Just replace the bushing and make sure to tighten your bolt to 125 ft. lbs. of torque and check it on a regular basis as a part of routine maintenance.

good deal, ill call up RK this afternoon and see what I can get for a new bushing. as far as maintenance to make them last longer and checking them are you talking about just checking torque or are you taking about greasing them as well? because I don't really see a way to grease the frame side bushing

piginajeep said:
Holy shit is that thing dry...

right! makes me scared to check the rest :doh:

wayoflife · Mar 3, 2015

desertrunner said:
good deal, ill call up RK this afternoon and see what I can get for a new bushing. as far as maintenance to make them last longer and checking them are you talking about just checking torque or are you taking about greasing them as well? because I don't really see a way to grease the frame side bushing

Just checking the torque. If your joints aren't easy to grease, the manufacturer probably thinks you don't need to grease them. If they start squeaking a lot as polyurethane can and will, you'll need to pull the arm (or at least at the mount) to do this.

piginajeep · Mar 3, 2015

You really need to grease the poly often. When it drys out like yours they make noise and are damn near impossible to grease without taking the arms off and dis assembling them. It will also cause them to wear faster.

desertrunner · Mar 3, 2015

wayoflife said:
Just checking the torque. If your joints aren't easy to grease, the manufacturer probably thinks you don't need to grease them. If they start squeaking a lot as polyurethane can and will, you'll need to pull the arm (or at least at the mount) to do this.

Thanks :thumb:

desertrunner · Mar 3, 2015

piginajeep said:
You really need to grease the poly often. When it drys out like yours they make noise and are damn near impossible to grease without taking the arms off and dis assembling them. It will also cause them to wear faster.

now when you say grease what do you mean because there isn't a zerk fitting on that bushing so.... pull the bushing and rub a dub dub or?

wayoflife · Mar 3, 2015

piginajeep said:
You really need to grease the poly often. When it drys out like yours they make noise and are damn near impossible to grease without taking the arms off and dis assembling them. It will also cause them to wear faster.

You mean bushings that squeak like a banshee isn't part of the premium cost? :idontknow: :crazyeyes: :cheesy:

Sure would be nice if they at least included a zerk to help make this job easier.

wayoflife · Mar 3, 2015

desertrunner said:
now when you say grease what do you mean because there isn't a zerk fitting on that bushing so.... pull the bushing and rub a dub dub or?

Yeah, without a zerk fitting, you'd have to pull the bushings apart and rub a dub dub.

desertrunner · Mar 3, 2015

wayoflife said:
Yeah, without a zerk fitting, you'd have to pull the bushings apart and rub a dub dub.

sounds like a run Friday night :beer:

piginajeep · Mar 3, 2015

desertrunner said:
now when you say grease what do you mean because there isn't a zerk fitting on that bushing so.... pull the bushing and rub a dub dub or?

If there's not a zerk then yes, pull and grease. I do believe the rock Krawler poly is impregnated with silicone or something like that.

desertrunner · Mar 3, 2015

piginajeep said:
If there's not a zerk then yes, pull and grease. I do believe the rock Krawler poly is impregnated with silicone or something like that.

is that a good thing or a bad thing?

wayoflife · Mar 3, 2015

piginajeep said:
If there's not a zerk then yes, pull and grease. I do believe the rock Krawler poly is impregnated with silicone or something like that.

I just did a quick Google search and this is what they say...

"The Rock Krawler Flex Joints are unique when it comes to service. We do not use or recommend grease! Grease attracts more dirt and debris then it is worth while doing more harm to the joint itself. We simply recommend removing the service screw, putting in a few drops of 3 and 1 oil and then replacing the service screw everytime you perform an oil change."

Guess they DON'T want you greasing it.

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