Change the front bushings in your Dakars

I just ordered Dakars and the OME bushings (for the rear eye) and upon receiving one of the leaf springs, my front bushing looks like the one in your picture already... I'm still waiting on the arrival of the other one, we'll see what that one looks like. Wish you had noticed this before I bought the OME bushing kit, I would have just ordered the wheelers kit and replaced them all. I guess I'll just order 1 set to replace the original front ones.

 

That is what I did.. Waiting on install

 

That's 89 ft/lb, not 120. I run into the same issue reading torque values on these manuals.

 

So the torque value is the last number in the group? Good thing I never use actual torque values. Haha. Still good information though. Thank you for correcting me.

 

Look at the bottom left of the pic, foot pounds(force)
N*m(kgf*cm, ft*lbf)

 

No problem. Thanks for the bushing write up. I will be working on my dakars this weekend.

 

Thank you.

 

I'm planning on doing this this weekend. Would you happen to know the size of the pipe you used for your puller is?

 

Do you know if the wheelers bushings(energy suspension) are the same as stock leaf(es)?

 

Very nice write up!

 

I actually don't know off hand. I got it from the remnant pile at my local shop and used what I had left over for this. I know it's bigger than 1.75 od, because i tried that too and it would contact the rubber bushing and wouldn't work as a puller.

 

Wheeler's sources their own "house brand" bushings, not energy suspension.
Not sure if they are a standard size, but since Dan just showed up maybe we can ask him?

@YotaDan ?

 

Thanks Dan. I originally bought all my suspension from you way back when and should've done this at that time. Chalk it up to experience.

 

Depends on the bushing kit, but some are Energy and some are Daystar. Typically the bushings like the ones you got are the same for OEM springs as well, although there can be some variances in shoulder design/thickness depending on whose brand of springs they are going to be used with.

 

The reason I asked is because on Wheelers the grease pack says ES and I have 2 boxes of these sitting around because no one seems sells just the shackle to frame bushing. I'm also picking up a set of dakars this weekend.

 

Might work. When you get the Dakars, try them in the rear eye and report back. I honestly don't see why aftermarket manufacturers would make them so different that they would not fit in various models. But people do strange things.

 

I will add that one thing I found with the Wheelers bushings that I have not seen on a couple other manufacturers that I've dealt with is the bushings themselves have the grooves on the inner bushing hole. This is to accommodate adding a zerk fitting and allow grease to travel from the zerk to the inner sleeve and out to the bushing faces. Effectively allowing you to add grease everywhere you need it. If I cared more about it, I would've added a zerk fitting to the spring eye. Maybe next time I'm working on the truck, I'll look into this.
Without those grooves, the grease would have nowhere to go even if you added a zerk fitting and the bushings would start to bulge out if you were to overgrease. @Sandman614 , check to see if the ES bushings have these.

 

Yea those are a common thing for poly bushings. It's not necessarily for a grease fitting. You are supposed to grease the inside and it keeps the grease from all being pushed out when installing the inner sleeve. My ES bushings have them. P/N on the inner edge of my bushing is 02P02842

 

I've purchased some poly bushing kits from various manufacturers for fab projects and some have them, some don't. Just one thing I though was worth mentioning.

 

Yea, I'd say the better manufacturers have them.