Thoughts on King upper bushing wear?

Looking the truck over this evening I noticed the upper bushing on the passenger rear shock is super loose. Was not that way before my last trip, maybe 1500 miles ago. And I know the top nut has not backed off, I've always had the same 1-2 threads showing.

Thoughts on if I should just crank the nut down and call it a day, or is this abnormal? Should I get some new bushings in there? It looks kinda chewed up but Im assuming that was just small rocks getting in there after it was loose.

Im guessing there is about 20k miles on these, maybe a little more. Will have to go back through my records and check to know the exact number. Also, not that it really matters but these are 25001-144A from King meant for a Tundra

 

I would tighten that down and order some new bushings

 

i would tighten it down some to take up that slack and get some new ones if you want. It kinda looks like maybe they were not tightened properly when installed.

 

On my Icons, the rear shock warranty specifically states that the top nut should be flush with the bolt. If you have a shock issue and try to warranty it, they'll ask you to send pictures of the install. If too many threads are showing, then they'll denie your claim. This is Icon though.

I have ran my rear Icons for 60k miles with the top nut flush with the bolt, never had an issue with the shock or bushing. If you compress that top bushing too much, you're not letting the bushing do its job.

See what King recommends for the amount of thread to show on that top nut.

 

From the looks of it, it’s been that way for a while. The small surface rust under the bushing is the tell. Although as the suspension travels the shock may sit in a different position so it may not have been immediately obvious that there is wear. My best guess is that the lower bushing (under the mounting bucket) that you can’t see is the one that is actually worn. I’d strongly recommend pulling the shock to verify its condition rather than just cranking down the top nut. The upper bushing being chewed up like that tells me that the shock has been oscillating vertically in the mount so I’d also take a look at the top stem of the shock and check for wear as well as possible rounding out of the hole in the mount. Being in the northeast did you coat your frame with anything to prevent rust? Is it possible that something may have reacted chemically to break down the bushing? All possibilities but my first step would be to pull the shock and take a close look either way.

 

Yeah, I specifically remember King saying something similar when I installed these. Always seemed like they should be a bit tighter, but never been an issue till now. Oh and I checked last night. A bit over 21k miles on these.

Good point, might have there has been slop for a while but somehow it was under the mount so I couldnt see it. (I would think the shock would push itself up so the gap would always be on top, but maybe not). I do know that the bushing did not looked chewed up like this ~1500 miles ago before my drive down to Reading.

And yes, I do a full Fluid Film application every year with touch up in between. But it wears off with lots of dirt roads hence looking so dry in those pics.

At the very least I should have time to take the nut off and inspect from the top down this afternoon. Id think that would be enough to see anything badly worn without pulling the whole thing

 

Surprised I'm the only one asking this....but what does the lower bushing look like? If the lower has failed or compressed the shock will be allowed to push through the mount more than normal and create the gap that you see. The top bushing pictured doesn't seem to have been overly compressed and it doesn't look to be missing material either. I'd guess the bottom one is damaged or the assembly was never fully tightened down in the first place

 

That was my thought as well and why just tightening the nut is a bandaid fix. I would tighten it up and order new bushings. And also check the washer that's under the lower bushing for damage.

 

Looks like there's no bottom washer on these. So my guess is the lower bushing is just damaged.






This may be a bit of a stretch but I wonder if this paint chip and rust is from the shock coming up and making contact due to the degraded bushing.

 

Correct, no lower washer. Like I said, will try to dig into it this afternoon but doubt I will have enough time after work to take the whole thing out

Also, fucking eyes like a hawk.. Indeed does look like just a tiny bit of contact.

So I guess that settles it. Time to start hunting down the P/Ns for new bushing haha. Might add a few flat washers underneath in the meantime, just to make up the lost clearance

 

The mounting bucket is for sure egged out.. Not terrible, but not great either.




Now that Im seeing this I do agree, these were not tight enough from day one. Look at the wear on that flat washer.. But this is exactly what King recommends so that leads to the question: How tight would you guys go?

Right from the 25001-144A manual:

 

I generally tighten rear shocks so there are about 3/16"-1/4" threads above the nut. As far as the mount, if you have anyone that welds. They could weld a washer on top of the bucket but honestly I don't think that's necessary with the pics you've shared.

 

I'm still curious what the bottom bushing looks like...

And what is around the shaft below the threads in the last picture of your shock? That looks like the middle of a bushing got ripped out or something. Am I correct in thinking that should NOT be there?

 

King used a plastic tube inside the bushings. With the bushings loose it’s going to get beat up.

 

It's always been my understanding that you tighten that top nut until the rubber bushings bulge to the diamater of the big washer. I've been doing this for years on stock shocks and have never had a problem.
The hole the stem goes through is supposed to be a little bigger and there should be a step on the bushing that fits in there so there's no metal to metal contact.
I just snug it down until the bushing is bulged a little and keep an eye on it.

 

Most shocks are like this. Kings aren’t

 

Now that the weekend is over Im back. Think I got it figured out, kinda.

King uses a dual layer sleeve between the rubber bushings and the stud. Steel inner sleeve, with plastic pressed over that. With everything being loose that plastic is what you see all chewed up. Looks like an inner piece of the bushing but its actually the remnants of that outer sleeve. @ItalynStylion The bottom bushing arguably doesnt look any worse than the top one, though they do need replacing.

Now for the redneck f*ckery. Obviously couldnt find any suitable replacement plastic sleeves. Turns out a 1/2" copper pipe union is a perfect fit And Im hoping it might last a bit longer than plastic, but we'll see when I do a full rebuild next year. Anyway the top stud is 1/2" fine thread. So my idea was to grab some fender washers to take up the slack, tighten everything down, and call it good. But this is where it gets interesting. All the hardware is 1/2" I.D. as I said including King's aluminum top washer. So that steel sleeve limits how much you can tighten the bushings. No matter what. Pics in my 1st post is close to the max.

So in reality my washers didnt actually accomplish anything. At this point Im thinking about pulling it apart again to shave ~1/8" off those sleeves. I really dont want it to keep egging that hole out.

 

That looks off to me. Why is it sitting in the mount off center?

 

Where did you source those bushings from ?

 

Off center? You mean front to back? Thats just where the mounting hole is

What bushings? Those are the originals.

So far Filthy Motorsports have gotten back to me and said demand is so high right now they are only accepting parts orders if you originally bought through them. And even thats several weeks out.