Bad TC UCA bushing

anyone know a local place to buy a new bushing?


this one on the right is bulging and squeaky

 

looks just like mine..when was the last time you greased em?

 

Mine looks about the same and that are about the same, unless there is something I don't see in the picture. I would try and grease them.

 

I grease them every oil change, 2-3 squirts
the last few times it really hasn't taken the grease and none builds up between the washers, like the others.

About a year ago I loosened up the bolt and greased em, saw grease come out.

But it came back, it's like the grease isnt getting through those small channels in the bushing.

 

It's not a bad bushing. You need to take them apart and make sure you have the washers on there correctly. On one side of each of the washers there are three small scores placed there to alow the grease to distribute. The budged bushings are the result of the washers facing the wrong way. The scored side of the washer faces the bushing.

If you are certain they are this way already, you have the bolt too tight.

 

The bulging bushing is from OVER greasing. I know first hand. I had it happen to mine. The grease is pushing on the end of the bushing, forcing it out of the UCA. My fix was to take the UCA completely off and remove the bushings. Clean everything, re-install, re-grease, but with less this time. They really don't need a lot of grease, and if they are squeaking it is probably because there is too much grease, distorting the bushing.

 

When I regrease my uppers I back off the nut for the screw, grease, then retighten

 

That's where my rambling was headed. Too much grease. And, I found my washers facing the wrong way when I took thing apart to do as Nate described.

 

squeaking is probably from the uniball itself

 

Just jacked it up, loosened, regreased, tightened back to 70lbs instead of 85
We'll see

And put tri flow in the uniball

 

This ^^^

 

IF you greased them, did you back off the shaft bolt? If you did not then the bulge is from the grease trapped and under pressure. You can take a small pointed device and push in the ball on the zerk, while squeezing the bushing to free some of the pressure.

Typically you loosen the shaft bolt to allow the grease to squeeze around the bushing and on the points in need of grease.

 

the bulge is back my previous attempt did not work.

ok so this time I took off the UCA re-fitted the bushing and sleeve, applied grease when installing.

gave it a pump of grease when it was all back together but not tight.
It oozed out a lttle.

got it snug, lowered the truck and tightened.. at around 50 ftlbs it started to bulge again. It all seem to be seating properly IDK!!!!

I guess I'll just replace the bushing like I originally wanted too.

Anyone know a shop that has them or should I just order online?

 

Go to kartekoffroad in corona they are only like 45 bucks for a set of four

 

Did you look at the orientation of the washers as stated above?

 

Yes, forgot to mention.
They looked the same , smooth on both sides
I flipped it fwiw.

 

Did you take the grease out of the busings? The same thing happened to me when i installed mine, I had to dissasembled one of the uca. After that, it was fine.

 

went on vacation the last few days.

Still bad after 800 miles, I plan to take it apart this week.

 

The best answer for this that I ever heard came from Total Chaos themselves:

"You want race truck parts? You get race truck sounds."

FWIW that bushing isn't terribly bulgy and is probably fine for many many more miles. I'd just ignore it.

 

well, I had some time and I took off the UCA

made a drive to Kartek, bought a whole set because they probably need to be changed soon

now I'm putting them back on.

You can really see how the bushing is bowed when it's off.