Thoughts on King upper bushing wear?

Honestly, I'd call King and ask for replacement hardware and offer to pay shipping. Tell them about the sleeve being long to the point you feel like it didn't allow the bushings to get proper compression and show them the picture of how it not being tight caused the failure. I think you have enough pictures to support the fact that you installed everything right. I highly doubt they are going to sweat sending you a set of bushings and some sleeves.
Pro tip? Do the other side too. Might as well.

 

Yeah Ive got an email out to them. All the independent shops I've talked too havent been much help identifying the individual part #s I need to order, so Ill just go straight through King.

But do you agree, I should shave those sleeve down a bit? Maybe 1/8"

 

polyperformance can get them for you. $25 a side. He told me today its a 3-4 week wait.
KRS-25053-401
King stem top mounting kit. Fits 05+ Tacoma Rear, 07+ Tundra Rear, 96-02 4Run Rear, 14+ RAM 2500/3500 Front, 14+ RAM 2500 Rear, 05+ FSD Front, 07-18 JK Front, 97-06 TJ Front, 84-00 XJ Front, 00-10 GM HD Front

 

Awesome thanks for that. How confident are you in that number matching up with the 25001-144 shocks? Not doubting you, but I did email Polyperformance a few days ago. Guy I talked to just sent me directly to King saying he wasnt sure

 

Dude....just call King. They have a phone number on their site. I'm sure they have a stockpile of all these parts ready to ship. Probably could have been at your door by now.
KING SHOCKS
12472 Edison Way
Garden Grove, CA. 92841
Phone: 714-530-8701

 

Thanks but I have called already... And emailed. No response yet

 

Via google, 25053-401 definitely comes back as rubber mount kit for kings. PP got that fitment info emailed to them from King, but I wasnt involved in that back channel convo so I am not 100%. But I just ordered them for my kings on my Tundra and can get any measurements you want when/if they show up.

 

Here is what he sent after King got back to him, 2 days later.

 

Ahh sweet. I should have reached out to Kurt directly, worked with him before on something else.

Thank you for that info sir!

 

Got my new bushings in the mail today. Thanks again for that PN info man.

Judging by the feedback here Ill probably turn ~1/8" off the sleeves before I install. Get the new set mounted that much tighter compared to the way they are now

 

Lol, I literally just opened a box from PP with my bushings as well. Even thought of this thread and was planning on seeing if you got yours as well. They must have shipped yours first as I only live about 5 hours from their shop.

 

Figured Id come back and update this thread with a few things after installing the new bushings recently. And yes, its taken me almost a full year to get around to doing this job...

First, drown everything in anti-seize. Should have known better last year when I put the old ones back on 'temporarily'. Had to cut with a Dremel and chisel them off.

Second, the 1/2" copper union seems to have held up much better than the shitty poly sleeves. Pictured below was my temporary solution from last fall before I had to cut it off. Approx. 8400 mixed on/off road miles on these. A bit over 20,000 miles on the original and totally disintegrated poly shown on page 1.

Its a perfect fit after deburring the inside of the copper. I cut two new copper sleeves this time and did not use the poly. I think the only downside is the soft copper might 'compress' on the inner sleeve over time. Shouldn't be an issue if the inner is properly anti-seized.

Third, I did shorten the new sleeves in the lathe a little bit, maybe 1/16 or 1/8" if memory serves. That let me crank down on the top nut a bit more and preload the new bushings a little as shown in the last pic. Im hoping that helps avoid this issue altogether in the future.


During the course of this work I found the lower bushing on one is totally shot. That will have to be this winters project.

My takeaways from this:
-Tighten the top nut more than King tells you to
-Consider a copper sleeve instead of the poly
-Offroad shocks are built to perform, not to last

 

A few pics of the drivers side. F*&k road salt.






Minimal wear on the used copper sleeves