Rock Krawler control arm bushing

desertrunner

desertrunner

Active Member
wayoflife said:
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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yeah I was just reading that on their site... also turns out the Krawler joints (which im pretty sure is what the axle side has) needs "putting in a few drops of 3 and 1 oil and then replacing the service screw everytime you perform an oil change." and I haven't ever replaced the service screw or put oil in it so...... :grayno: replacing a screw on a control arm every oil change seems like a bit much but I obviously didn't know jack squat when it comes to suspension maintenance
 
piginajeep

piginajeep

The Original Smartass
wayoflife said:
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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That's the axle side I believe..
 
wayoflife

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
desertrunner said:
I think the axle side is the "Krawler joint" and the frame side is the "Flex Joint" either way sounds like service is the same a few drops of 3-1 oil and that's it
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Looking at the pic they have on their website, the Flex Joint has a shank and zerk.
 
desertrunner

desertrunner

Active Member
just got off the phone with RK and here is the scoop. Part # for the new polyurethane bushings are RK00882 they are $5 per half (there are 2 halves that pop in from either side then the metal sleeve slides in the middle. He said when i put the new ones in just later them up with grease press one side in then put some more grease in the middle that will coat the metal sleeve after you pop in the second side and your good to go. He said that failures like the one i hard are not common at all and is most likely due to a misalignment (possible long list of other factors) and that for maintenance on the polyurethane bushing if i want to i could pop them out once a year and re grease but even that is probably not needed. so $10 total for the new bushing gonna grease that baby up double and triple check all my arm lengths and move on to the rest of my worn out parts.
 
jeffj

jeffj

Caught the Bug
desertrunner said:
just got off the phone with RK and here is the scoop. Part # for the new polyurethane bushings are RK00882 they are $5 per half (there are 2 halves that pop in from either side then the metal sleeve slides in the middle. He said when i put the new ones in just later them up with grease press one side in then put some more grease in the middle that will coat the metal sleeve after you pop in the second side and your good to go. He said that failures like the one i hard are not common at all and is most likely due to a misalignment (possible long list of other factors) and that for maintenance on the polyurethane bushing if i want to i could pop them out once a year and re grease but even that is probably not needed. so $10 total for the new bushing gonna grease that baby up double and triple check all my arm lengths and move on to the rest of my worn out parts.
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I just replaced all of my lower control arm bushing in my RK arms front and rear after 45,000 miles. The bushings looked toast just like yours, but frame side holes didn't look like yours. It was a piece of cake to change them. I would order the shanks too, if you live in high salt area like I do. My shanks were really rusted up. My krawler joints in the rear also needed rebuilt, but the fronts were ok. I did all that for under 80$. Hope this helps.
 
desertrunner

desertrunner

Active Member
jeffj said:
I just replaced all of my lower control arm bushing in my RK arms front and rear after 45,000 miles. The bushings looked toast just like yours, but frame side holes didn't look like yours. It was a piece of cake to change them. I would order the shanks too, if you live in high salt area like I do. My shanks were really rusted up. My krawler joints in the rear also needed rebuilt, but the fronts were ok. I did all that for under 80$. Hope this helps.
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My shanks didn't look that bad actually I figured I could clean them up and just reuse them. Yeah here in the next few days I am going to go through all my joints and see what I am working with. How did you know your krawler joints needed rebuilt? just a lot of play in them?
 
jeffj

jeffj

Caught the Bug
desertrunner said:
My shanks didn't look that bad actually I figured I could clean them up and just reuse them. Yeah here in the next few days I am going to go through all my joints and see what I am working with. How did you know your krawler joints needed rebuilt? just a lot of play in them?
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Yes you'll be able to tell,they will feel loose. There was a big difference from my back to the front. I guess the back gets a lot more salt and stuff.
 
desertrunner

desertrunner

Active Member
jeffj said:
Yes you'll be able to tell,they will feel loose. There was a big difference from my back to the front. I guess the back gets a lot more salt and stuff.
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awesome thanks for the info im gonna be checking them all out this weekend. I have the polyurethane bushings already ordered so they should be here next week. Lets hope this all helps in my endless battle to get my jeep to not rattle apart :bleh:
 
jnabird333

jnabird333

-
Gonna be honest... I don't read the thread very well. :naw: (MAJOR SKIMMING)

I installed a RK lift with all 8 arms this time last year for a friend. She wheeled it fairly often but not everyday. The Jeep is also a semi-DD so it got some road miles. (~8k)

...anyway, She told me it started handling odd, and another buddy did a look-over. They found one bushing completely disintegrated and another in bad shape. She called RK and they basically said sorry about your luck and sold her replacement bushings. I told her she was crazy for buying them again.

I'm not sold on the RK joints at all. These were also the most difficult arms to adjust and keep straight when installing I've ever worked with :crazyeyes:
 
desertrunner

desertrunner

Active Member
jnabird333 said:
Gonna be honest... I don't read the thread very well. :naw: (MAJOR SKIMMING)

I installed a RK lift with all 8 arms this time last year for a friend. She wheeled it fairly often but not everyday. The Jeep is also a semi-DD so it got some road miles. (~8k)

...anyway, She told me it started handling odd, and another buddy did a look-over. They found one bushing completely disintegrated and another in bad shape. She called RK and they basically said sorry about your luck and sold her replacement bushings. I told her she was crazy for buying them again.

I'm not sold on the RK joints at all. These were also the most difficult arms to adjust and keep straight when installing I've ever worked with :crazyeyes:
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other than the fact that it gave me 3.5" of lift to run 37s and flexes nice on the rocks I hate the RK kit too. Of course hind sight is 20/20 and you learn a lot by running a kit for 2 years but I wouldn't ever buy this lift again, and I totally agree with you the all 8 adjustable with 2 double adjustable track bar BS just means a huge PITA to get adjusted right and mine still has never been right. Im sure someone with more experience than me could have done a better job but I have had multiple ppl with way more experience than me (for what that's worth HAHA) mess with my rig and its still not right. Unfortunately I don't have the funding to buy anything new right now I cant afford to get new arms with JJs or change out anything else in my suspension so a $10 bushing for some sort term fix is the best I can do right now. And its my DD so I cant just leave in torn apart in the garage for a few days when I fix things.

I would be willing to bet that if a shop had just built my jeep I would have had less problems but at the end of the day I can still be proud looking back knowing I did it all and fixing my mistakes is always an opportunity to learn. Before I saw that bushing go to crap I couldn't have told you the difference between a polyurethane bushing and a JJ but now that I am having to replace worn out things its forcing me to search and learn and decide what the best product is vs what the best for me right now is and I love it. I just bought one of the first things I saw out there and because of I high price tag I thought that made it good haha but hey sometimes learning lessons the hard way makes it stick better
 
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