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 Post subject: More Bad Bushings
PostPosted: Sun Oct 23, 2011 9:18 pm 
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Just had a call from Nobby, in a nutshell his rear Lower Control Arm bushes are gone. I'll let him write up the story but for those looking for new ones please be careful where you buy them - it maybe that Jeep is the only reliable source (yet to be determined).

I checked with moparonlineparts.com (who I use for most of my original equipment parts purchases) and they have the bushes at very attractive prices compared to the local alternative:

Part # 52129094AA LCA to Axle $24.26 USD each plus shipping,
Part # 52128864AA LCA to Body $22.83 USD each plus shipping,
Part #52128866AA which is for the entire Lower Control Arm with bushings is $83.84 USD each but I am not sure if the right and left are different or have different part numbers.

So for replacement of the LCA bushings (axle and body end for both sides ) it would cost $48.52 USD plus $45.66 USD, or $94.18 USD plus shipping (which moparonlineparts usually charges me about $60 USD for shipping for these sort of items which can all be put in the same box). So about $154USD all up and it would take about two weeks to get them.

BTW, those part numbers are for the 2005-2007 models (as stated on the website) and I don't know the part numbers for the earlier models.

The lesson from Nobby's adventure seems to be to avoid the two well known aftermarket suppliers for this sort of thing - Morris or Rock Auto until he sorts out the solution.

Finally, I cannot be 100% sure that the ones that moparonlineparts is selling are OEM, but they are a Chrysler/Jeep dealership and service/parts supplier, but to be sure you would need to email or ring them to find out their sources. In the past they have told me that they on order from a Chrysler/Jeep warehouse so that sounds good.


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 Post subject: Re: More Bad Bushings
PostPosted: Wed Oct 26, 2011 4:29 pm 
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Location: Australia with the Kangaroos
So what was Nobby's outcome?????

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 Post subject: Re: More Bad Bushings
PostPosted: Thu Oct 27, 2011 11:54 pm 
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Location: Bundaberg
Here are some photo's of Nobby's lower rear control arms.

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

These bushes would be lucky to 5000klms old and had turned to crap well before. The rear bushes (diff housing) went first,
leaving the fronts no choice but to lunch themselves. The fronts are the solid bush and although they are intact, they have
cracked all the way through. The rear ones have a couple of slots in them and I think this is cause of them failing, the rubber
compond combined with these slots are not designed to handle Aussie road conditions. Maybe by using 2 sets of the front ones
it could combat the issue but I really don't know if it will. The front bushes on Nobby's lower rear control arms
would of had no choice but to give up the ghost in this situation and all things considered they did all right.
On a safety note, it was a little bit hard to diagnose while Nobby was out adventuring until in depth discussions when he arrived
at my place, so here is the benefit of his ordeal trying to get to here.
The KJ was experiencing a death wobble but not just in the steering like a solid axle 4WD but a whole vehicle wobble. As it came into
a corner it gave the feeling of slidding into the corner and wouldn't stop suspension rebound giving the death wobble feeling. It could have
all come unstuck and gone horribly wrong but the Blue KJ has lived through the experience. If you ever have an experience like this,
please pull over and check all of your rear bushes (remember that this not the first set of new bushes to fail). Visually check the location
of the bush in realation to the bolt (it should look close to centre). If all looks fine then it is time to put some pressure on them and look
for excessive movement (they will move a bit as they are rubber) I use a podge bar but a very large screw driver will do, you need to get
some leverage. Please if anyone else can add how they check bushes do so, I don't mind as long as we are all helping each other.
Hopefully Nobby's trip home today is less eventful.

Jas

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 Post subject: Re: More Bad Bushings
PostPosted: Fri Oct 28, 2011 7:57 am 
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Thanks Jason, I was wondering how it all turned out. I checked mine out this evening - using your advice and even post-Cape york they actually look pretty good looking up through the gaps with the torch. I can get the rears to move a little with the big screwdriver (probably just the slots allowing the deflection movement), and the fronts are very solid from what I can tell. I can see the rubber bonded to the sleeve with no separation.

I've ordered an Original Equipment set from my dealer source in the US just to have them on hand for the inevitable.

What was the source of those rotten ones: Morris or Rockauto, were there any identifiying marks on them?

I suppose the slots in the rears are to allow a little cushioned movement fore and aft - what's the theory on that? It looks like the fronts and rears are the same size, is this so?

BTW, how did you push them out and the new ones in?


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 Post subject: Re: More Bad Bushings
PostPosted: Fri Oct 28, 2011 4:35 pm 
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Location: Bundaberg
The bushes came from rockauto but the brand I am unaware of, no marks on them to tell.
We drove down to Jeeppart recyclers and got second hand pair of rear control arms (only an hour and a half from my place)
they also have slots in the rear, one of which had a crack in the slotted bush, which they changed for another for us.
The slots in the rear would only be there to reduce vibration and absorbing shock loads (to make it a more comfortable ride)
possibly also to stop binding.I can't see an difference between front and back, but Beavis me forgot to measure them.
Glend looks like you got a good set mate, which makes think that this could all be a little hit and miss.

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 Post subject: Re: More Bad Bushings
PostPosted: Sat Oct 29, 2011 10:39 pm 
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I only have a good set because the ones' in there are still the original equipment ones, but I have ordered another set to be ready.

Re Rockauto, I see on their website that they list their bushings as made by:

OMIX-ADA Part # 1828312
Body To Rear Arm; Rear Lower

and

OMIX-ADA Part # 1828313
Arm To Rear Axle; Rear Lower

The seem to have a three year warranty.

Is anyone actually running the Rockauto ones now, I sort of thought that maybe Ross had bought some stuff off of them.


Last edited by Glend on Sun Oct 30, 2011 1:54 am, edited 1 time in total.

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 Post subject: Re: More Bad Bushings
PostPosted: Sun Oct 30, 2011 12:16 am 
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:arrow: Just a Notice of information Correction here guys....... Nobby's rear upper control bushings and rear lower control arms came from Morris 4x4 in a combined order with mine..NOT Rock Auto.

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 Post subject: Re: More Bad Bushings
PostPosted: Sun Oct 30, 2011 1:51 am 
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Ok Greg, thanks for that info, I have gone back and fixed up that last post. So Rockauto ones maybe ok. However, it is another black mark for Morris 4x4. Do you remember the boxes they came in? Did they say Crown on them


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 Post subject: Re: More Bad Bushings
PostPosted: Wed Nov 02, 2011 6:15 pm 
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I have written to the Morris4x4 mangement to try and get some action on these poor quality suspension bushings. Here is a copy of what was sent to them today:

Hello Morris 4x4 Mgt Team,

I wanted to pass on some feedback from a number of folks who have bought suspension bushings for their Jeep Libertys, KJ Series (aka as the Jeep Cherokee here in Australia and Europe).

Basically some (if not all) of the bushing that you are selling for the Liberty are absolutely worthless and some people have had to be replace them in just a few weeks of use. The bushings that are failing us most often are: the front lower control arm (aka the Clevis) bushing, and the rear lower control arm bushings (both). These are the bushings that take the most punishment as they bear the weight of the vehicle (in the case of the front lowr control arm (clevis) bushing, and control the rear axle (in the case of the rear lower control arm bushings).

I am sending you a link to the LOST forum where one Australian member shares his story of his KJ developing a death wobble thanks to disintegrating bushings bought from Morris 4x4 (it includes photos of the destroyed bushes):

viewtopic.php?f=93&t=63326

I am a moderator of the AusJeep Forum and we have had a number of cases like this. People are at the point of recommending that no one buy bushings from Morris 4x4 because they are very poor quality and have to be replaced again with original equipment bushings or ones from Rockauto in very short order.

The basic issue seems to me to be that, while these bushes may not fail in KJs in the USA (which spend most of their lives on the paved roads); here in Australia people use their Jeeps on some of the toughest tracks and outback roads in the world. The case written up on LOST (as linked above) shows what those bushings looked like after just a few weeks of outback touring. I have original equipment bushings on my KJ and have had no problem with them, even after completing a tought Simpson Desert crossing last year and the iconic Cape York trip this year.

You need to look seriously at the quality of these bushings as it will cost you business here and people will be writing these problems up on the LOST and Ausjeep forums, and this then spreads. Perhaps you should consider offering two types of bushing (the budget on road ones for the US and the higher quality ones for people who need them to survive harsher conditions (which we really don't see as that bad). The Rockauto bushings seem to hold up much better, and the original equipment ones are also good. I hope that this feedback does not fall on death ears. I have recommended Morris 4x4 in the past but that has stopped now, until we get a resolution to this product quality problem.

Glen Davis
KJ Forum Moderator
Ausjeep (Australian Online Jeep Community);

http://www.ausjeepoffroad.com/forum/vbindex.php



Anone wishing to add their voice to this issue can contact Morris 4x4 on:

customerservice@morris4x4center.com

For some reason their published management email address is bouncing back so use the customer service one above.


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 Post subject: Re: More Bad Bushings
PostPosted: Wed Nov 02, 2011 11:39 pm 
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I have just recently replaced the front clevis bushing which come from Morris 4x4, there was no markings on it except for a (what looked like) small pentastar, too early to say anything about them yet as it would not have done 1000ks yet, also changed the front half shafts and the CV on the rear of the front prop shaft, now the L/H axle seal is leaking :banghead:.
On the subject of "Crown" products, when I did up the J10 I bought all new gauges for it (CROWN) and not one of them worked straight out of box, the speedo jumped all over the place within about a 20k zone, the odo was in miles or something way out there, the volt meter didn't move when wired up som I took it appart and it would not have moved if I put 1000v into it because of very poor moulding of the needle, temp gauge couldn't get any sense out of it, wouldn't mate up to any sender available, oil pressure gauge I didn't even bother hooking up as it went in the bin with the rest of the rubbish. Went and got a set of VDO's and problem solved.

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 Post subject: Re: More Bad Bushings
PostPosted: Fri Nov 04, 2011 3:27 pm 
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I have received a reply from my email to Morris 4x4 re the bad bushings, and I have pasted it in verbatim just below:

Hi Glenn

Thanks for letting us know about this. I try to monitor the forums but I guess I missed this one. I am going to spend today trying to figure out a solution for this. I really like your idea about offering the OE ones for severe use and the Crown for street use. I will email you back we come up with a solution. Once again we at Morris 4x4 appreciate all the support from you folks down under.

Michael Bernard

Morris Motor Company

Direct 954.334.0470

Fax 954.943.0346

Email mbernard@morris4x4center.com

Web http://www.jeep4x4center.com



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 Post subject: Re: More Bad Bushings
PostPosted: Sat Nov 05, 2011 2:00 am 
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Hi Glend,
At least Morris management is taking you seriously, has replied and is going to look into the problem.
Thats a good start.
Cheers Greg

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 Post subject: Re: More Bad Bushings
PostPosted: Mon Nov 07, 2011 7:30 pm 
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Hello everyone

This is Michael From Morris 4x4. I went ahead and took care of this on the website today. We are going to list the OEM for HD and severe and the Crown for street use. We will also be looking into carrying another aftermarket line once I do my research and make sure it is a viable option. Once again I can't thank you enough for pointing this out to us.

To help the poor folks that purchased the crown bushings from us in Australia, shoot me an email and I will either replace them free of charge with Mopar ones or let you have a store credit for the amount of the Crown bushings. I hope this helps.

Also I will be on the forum from time to time, so if you all need anything please feel free to ask. Even if you just want to shoot the bull.

Best Regard, Michael


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 Post subject: Re: More Bad Bushings
PostPosted: Tue Nov 08, 2011 5:50 pm 
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Thank you Michael for your quick attention to this problem. I have checked the webpage:

http://www.jeep4x4center.com/jeep-steer ... rty-kj.htm

and the OEM MOPAR bushings look to be shown now as the third choice on Items 26 and 27.

I think we would appreciate you having a look at Item #11 as well. That is the Clevis bolt bushing (aka front lower control arm strut bushing) which still shows just the one option. The Crown bushings placed in that spot are lasting a matter of weeks for some folks before they have to be replaced. When it crushes people are losing lift height and obviously they start to bang abit over the bumps.

Thanks
glend


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 Post subject: Re: More Bad Bushings
PostPosted: Wed Nov 09, 2011 10:07 am 
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Hi Glend

Yeah we are still working on it. We are looking at all the parts on that page and checking warranty and return history to see if there is any other potential problems. Hopefully within 2 weeks we will have it all tidy and user friendly. Thanks for the heads up on the Clevis bolt bushing.

Best regards, Michael


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 Post subject: Re: More Bad Bushings
PostPosted: Wed Nov 16, 2011 4:13 pm 
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I see that Jeep'ers (or maybe it was someone else) over on AJOR has received his replacement bushings from Morris 4x4. Thanks Michael for sorting that out. I see that Morris 4x4 now has the HD Mopar Clevis bushings up on the website (Item #11 the HD version on the Suspension diagram and listing, @ $16.99 each):

http://www.jeep4x4center.com/jeep-steer ... rty-kj.htm

Greg and Nobby, maybe you should consider getting in touch with Michael.


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 Post subject: Re: More Bad Bushings
PostPosted: Tue Nov 29, 2011 6:11 pm 
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I had a call from Nobby a couple of days ago and he to has received a set of replacement bushings from Morris 4x4 and is pretty pleased with their quick response to his (and others) problems with these bushings.

As a result of Michael's actions to insure supply of Mopar suspension bushings through his company website, I have decided to go ahead and order in a new set of (pre-bushed) rear lower control arms and the front clevis bushes. I wanted to have a set of the rear lower arms on hand to swap in when I need them (which is really now) and then I can re-bush the originals as spares.

Obviously companies like Morris 4x4, who are prepared to jump straight onto sorting out any problems that we have with their products, deserve our continuing support. I might add that I have received no 'consideration' from Morris 4x4 for that endorsement; just happy to have a supplier who is listening and being proactive.


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