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Rear trailing arm bushing failure

9K views 23 replies 10 participants last post by  KevinNY 
#1 ·
Has anyone experienced bushing failure in the front bushing of their rear trailing arms?
I was finishing up a weekend of wheeling in Moab when the truck started to ride funny, I realized the bushing had completely failed. The bushings were less than a month old with about 2000 miles on them and about 6 days of off-roading. I had to drive 500 miles to Vegas on them in order to get a replacement, scariest drive of my life. I can honestly say, I thought there was a good chance I was going to die. I spoke to Keith at Rover Tracks today to ask if he had heard of this happening before. He told me that LRNA is using non LR parts in the US and that he has seen this happen to others with stock trailing arms. He recommended I order new bushings from Rover's North, as they get their parts from the UK.
My bushings looked as if they were cored out, they separated at top, where the top meets the side.
Anyone else have this problem? I heard David Lucas has, can you fill me in on what you did about it, has it happened again?

Thanks
 
#3 ·
YEP! Last year at the Rally in Moab on the second day.

I replaced the tailing arm bushings at the same time I replaced my trailing arms about a month before the Rally.

The bushings were brand new directly from Land Rover Flatirons.

I believe we ran hells revenge, Kane’s Creek and then poison spider. Everything seemed fine until I started back on the road after Poison Spider and let off the gas for the first time (about 40 MPH). The disco swerved violently to the side of the road and scared the heck out of me.

After looking at the bushing it appeared that the bushing disintegrated almost as if it were made of sand. When I compared the bushing to others it just did not look the same, I am still not sure what the deal was and have been running a used set someone loaned me at the rally without issue.

I do not envy you having to drive that far
 
#4 ·
I think my failed bushings came from the same dealer. Thanks for the info, much appreciated. Once I get the new ones from RN and run them on some trails, I'll report back.
 
#6 ·
David S,

I just witnessed another trailing arm bushing failure last week…

Brand new bushings purchased from dealer in OEM box
Driver side failed in the exact same manner as mine
2nd trail and both were pretty mild trails
94 D90

The kicker is I gave the person a set of bushings so he could get home safe, he called Rovers North and had a new set sent to me. When I opened the box the bushings were the smooth and in a different box compared to the last set I got from RN :(

Did you end up getting some from RN? What kind of box did they come in and were they smooth? Part #?

I wonder what is going on?
 
#7 ·
Mine came in a brown box, not the usual white LR box. The part number on them was the genuine part number, it was in raised numbers on the bushing, as if it were part of the mold. Inside the box was a LR info sheet, but it was a photocopy and very bad one at that. The bushings were not shiny smooth, but they didn't have any real texture either. I haven't put them on yet. I've been carrying in the truck just in case.
My question to you is, who made the trailing arms on this guys truck?
 
#9 ·
Rover Tracks, I was hoping you weren't going to say RT on the new one. I was getting concerned that it may have been the arm. I knew you had RT, that's one of the reasons I asked specifically about your issue back when I started the thread.
 
#12 ·
My wife's 90 , which is stock, just had the bushing changed. She had complained of a clunk and the 90 not driving straight. Upon inspection the rubber bushing have completely split in half and was replaced .The 90 is driving once again very tight and true. I've had the 90 since it was at 5k miles, now it has aprox 61k but has hardly ever been off pavement.
 
#13 ·
She should be okay with the bushings since it isn't taken off road; however, I was told by Keith that LRNA does not use genuine LR bushings. RN gets them from the UK and that's the way to go.

Keith I wasn't blaming your arms, I just was collecting statistics ;)
 
#14 ·
I think it's more to do with the amount of suspension movement, my 90 eats those bushes for breakfast. Its got around 28" of diagonal corner to corner movement and is used off road and the 110 stock suspension and rarely off road.... can't remember having changed them in 100,000 miles :)

Follow-up Post:

The trailing arms on the 90 are cranked to alow better droop but that puts a much greater load on the bushes under compression :rolleyes
 
#16 ·
No worries David.
No offense taken...

I still think that there is a huge difference in bushings. I can't nail it completely but the ones I have seen fail have come from the dealer, no others.. I got my Disco with the original factory bushings, I subsequentually drilled them out for 1" pins (which also frees up the big washers on the ends of the bushings) and have been using them ever since... The car can easily use all the travel allowed by the 14" rear shocks mounted at a 45, should be about 14-15" down travel with the 6 or so inches of up travel. I've been using it so much of recent the flange on the bushings has bent along with the frame mounting. But the bushings? They're fine..

Seems that when I used to make a lot of the 1" pin trailing arms and would drill the steel insert of the bushing out, the washer that is "staked" to the sleeve within the bushing, would release from the rubber part of the bushing easily on good bushings, on the ones that would fail the washer would not release from the rubber.. This leads me to believe that the "bad" bushing's are well vulcanized to the steel parts with a different compond of rubber. Th erubber may "stick" better but it's porous nature allows it to tear easily with the load of suspension travel..

I would be curious to know how many "smooth" surfaced bushings have failed vs. how many "alligator skin" bushings have failed... The bushings that come from RN have a surface finish that looks like the mold they came out of is 1000 years old and never cleaned. All the bushings I have seen that failed had a smooth almost sandblasted finish to them..

Keith

Keith
 
#17 · (Edited)
To revive an old thread, my drivers side bushing is disintegrating after only 800 miles on my Series Coiler. Have there been any new developements in the "Mysterious genuine parts bushing failure" issue? They are smooth and marked NTC9027 on the rubber.
 

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#18 ·
KevinNY said:
To revive an old thread, my drivers side bushing is disintegrating after only 800 miles on my Series Coiler. Have there been any new developements in the "Mysterious genuine parts bushing failure" issue?
Did you put the corrected trailing arms in the coil 88??
The suspension set up puts undue stress on the trailing arm bushings and will cause them to fail early. A trailing arm like the SG stage II/III or RT type unit will relax the "just sitting there stress" on the bushing and even help with pinion angle a little.
 
#20 ·
Years ago we saw a few of the STC618 (I think that is the #) come through that mistakenly did not have the center metal collar in them. Then we saw some where the collar was too long so that no matter how tight the trailing arm nut the bushing would never "tighten up", but that was some time ago and the problem was corrected quickly. However, if the bushings are coming from a clearing house source some of those old incorrect bushings might get back out on the market.
 
#22 · (Edited)
Swapped them out this evening, the inside of the one side turned to a grainy mess that spills out if you poke it. Ugly for only about 800 miles and 2 months.
Has anyone ever done a "kicker" or angled washer to help with rear bushing bind?
 

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#23 ·
sorry to hear about your bushing issue, sound like exactly what had happened to me. I have a spare set from when this happened to me; however, they came in a non LR box and I'm afraid they too will quickly die. A friend had just ordered a set, they came in a LR box, so I'm hoping getting OEM ones now won't be an issue.

What a mess... nothing like spending a few days wheeling to find you can't safely drive home because your bushings are shot.
 
#24 · (Edited)
Good news is I'm getting quick at changing them since the parts don't have time to rust and seize. In an hour and 20 minutes I had both sides swapped with a break in the middle to peel a pound of shrimp and make up my tequila cane marinade.:grin
 
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