Total Chaos Stock Length LCAs Half-Time Report - May interest the LT guys too.

So, I had this happen to me a couple of years ago:



So I installed these:



After talking with TC about the type of grease - they said to use graphite grease - so I made some home brew:



And it was back on the trails on 7/23/10:



This week I decided it was time to take the front end apart and see how things are going.

Well, these things are beef! Other than the openings for the shocks not being large enough for my fox shocks, and it would have been nice to have a cad plate on the uniball cup, I have no complaints at all!!

... until I took them apart.

I had hoped to stop by TC today to pick up some new bushings but they have that beautiful work policy of being closed on Fridays! Nice!

Anyway, now my only issue is with the front mounts. The diameter of the steel bushing inside the poly is not thick enough for it's application. The stock configuration probably gives about 3 sq inches of metal-to-metal mating surface. The, as designed TC poly bushing/steel bushing insert gives at best about 3/8 sq inches of mating surface. So, after two years of use, the steel insert and the LCA perches have ground into each other damaging the perch and the steel bushing. Not irreparable but damaged all the same.



Here you can see how the front poly/steel bushing wittled itself down.



Due to the fact that the eccentric hardware for the rear mount allows for a thicker steel bushing in the center of the poly the condition was hardly noticeable and I will not be changing anything there.

My contemplated cure of this condition...

From my destroyed OEM LCA, I stripped the rubber off of the bushing and cut it in half. The one in the picture is the rear and will not be used in my cure (see how much thicker it is compared to the steel bushing in the poly/steel bushing on the right).



My plan is to make two plugs that will fit in the ends of the poly (making sure that they are cut/trimmed to ensure a perfect 90° cut. Then cut (I would love to have access to a metal lathe) the metal center bushing so that the total compressed center metal bushing and the two new plugs will be precisely the same dimension as the OEM bushing configuration.



Next I will have have to either take off the thrust portion (the larger diameter of the poly bushing) and find a thin nylon or some material that I can use as thrust washers, or machine off enough material on both sides of the front bushing boss (I'd love to have access to a Bridgeport mill! ) to compensate for the thickness of the large diameter part of the new plugs.

With these new plugs I will be back to having PLENTY of steel-on-steel surface area to never have to worry about the metal bushings eating up the LCA mounting perches.

For any of you that have seen this same condition or currently have yours apart - I'd love to hear from you.

 

Not much but I came up with this solution:

I picked up new poly bushings and new spacers for the front bushings.

From there, Hassim Mendez from Engage helped me shortening the steel spacers by .110 (what goes in the center of the poly bushings). Then I used .055 thick stainless washers as thrust washers so that there is much more material interfacing the the perch. I then opened up the .500 diameter hole to .750 so the hardware that holds it all together will fit through the hole.



Then before assembling I used a medium flap wheel to carefully trim down (and polish) the poly bushing by ~.055 on each side so as not to preload the bushing beyond an acceptable amount. This picture makes it look like one was trimmed more than the other, but they were both the same. - I'm very happy with the results!



My next version will just put a notch in the spacer so that the spacer will step down from 1.000 OD to .875. Then I will open up the hole in the washer to .875-.880. That way when I install the lower I will not have to fiddle around with aligning the hole in the washer, the spacer and the slot in the perch.

Hope this helps at least one other person.

Happy wheeling! lol



Oh one last thing, I use a home brew on the bushing that have yet to squeak!

 

Do you have LT or std? The front is the one to be concerned with. The front spacer has a wall thickness of .125 - the rear one is .250 so you have 2x the material. Theoretically, I would want the same solution for the rear but the front is the weakest link.

 

I'm not understand what you are asking? If you mean what perch was being gouged - they both were.