LCA bushings shot <10k miles

S

swimmerdude1127

New member
Have had a slight popping sound recently in the front passenger side wheel well and FINALLY discovered the source after much research, tinkering, checking torque of bolts, and headache. My front (both sides) LCA bushings are shot.

How are they shot, you say? If you're looking at the truck from the outside and the driver turns the wheel slightly and comes to full idle speed, then applies the brake, the LCA moves noticeably in the horizontal plane, shifting forward/backward and a little side to side. I may be able to take a video when I get time.

I plan on going to the dealer tomorrow. I just recently had my Icon lift installed. I foresee issues with having the dealer warranty this. Any suggestions/thoughts on that?

If the dealer refuses, there's a good chance I'll upgrade to the Total Chaos LCAs while I'm at it. What a disappointment for a truck with less than 10k miles.
 
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I got a popping sound that I am trying g to diagnose now and you just provided me with something to take a look at.

If you are able to get a video please post it up.

I now at 63000 miles on my truck. I also am thinking my Light Racing UCAs might need new bushings too.
 
Sorry about the LCA problems. Stock? If so I think you are the first with problems. How long since suspension mod?
 
swimmerdude1127 said:
Have had a slight popping sound recently in the front passenger side wheel well and FINALLY discovered the source after much research, tinkering, checking torque of bolts, and headache. My front (both sides) LCA bushings are shot.

How are they shot, you say? If you're looking at the truck from the outside and the driver turns the wheel slightly and comes to full idle speed, then applies the brake, the LCA moves noticeably in the horizontal plane, shifting forward/backward and a little side to side. I may be able to take a video when I get time.

I plan on going to the dealer tomorrow. I just recently had my Icon lift installed. I foresee issues with having the dealer warranty this. Any suggestions/thoughts on that?

If the dealer refuses, there's a good chance I'll upgrade to the Total Chaos LCAs while I'm at it. What a disappointment for a truck with less than 10k miles.
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I bet the bolts are just loose- I think they call for 130lb ft (?)- from the alignment after the lift. Mine made the same noise and that was the problem.

No way they can be shot in 10K miles unless they were loose, or still are IMO.
 
Antman said:
I bet the bolts are just loose- I think they call for 130lb ft (?)- from the alignment after the lift. Mine made the same noise and that was the problem.

No way they can be shot in 10K miles unless they were loose, or still are IMO.
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I thought the exact same thing which is why I returned to have the torque checked. It is indeed 129 ft-lb of torque on those bolts, but after seeing the movement/play they were getting horizontally in those bushings, it's pretty obvious. It looks the same as in the video but not totally blown out... yet.
 
1engineer said:
Sorry about the LCA problems. Stock? If so I think you are the first with problems. How long since suspension mod?
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The LCAs and bushings are stock. Everything else on the front suspension is Icon ET coilovers w/ 700# springs, remote resi's, CDC, with Icon tubular UCAs.

It's been about 1500 miles since the suspension mod. Unbelievable.
 
mikey's2010SR5 said:
I got a popping sound that I am trying g to diagnose now and you just provided me with something to take a look at.

If you are able to get a video please post it up.

I now at 63000 miles on my truck. I also am thinking my Light Racing UCAs might need new bushings too.
Click to expand...

Check out the video in my second post here. Not my video but that's what it will look like. The movement will be in the horizontal plane. There shouldn't be any movement...
 
Forgive me for my ignorance, since I've never stuck my head under and looked at the bushings...but can't you just see if the bonded rubber between the inner and outer sleeve is torn?

Showing us a video if it clamped in a vice and wiggling really does no good since I don't know if many of us have a clue how much a good bushing is suppose to wiggle side to side like that, lol.

Also, whomever installed your lift, did they torque down those bolts with the vehicle resting on it's own weight; or did they torque it down while the wheels are in the air?

If you torque it down while it's in the air you might've preloaded those bushings wayyyyyy tooo much causing them to tear. That's the problem with bonded rubber bushings, since they don't rotate you have to make sure to perform the final torquing of the bolts at the proper preload; otherwise you can and will eventually tear the bushing in no time.
 
swimmerdude1127 said:
The LCAs and bushings are stock. Everything else on the front suspension is Icon ET coilovers w/ 700# springs, remote resi's, CDC, with Icon tubular UCAs.

It's been about 1500 miles since the suspension mod. Unbelievable.
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I gotta tell you, I can CONFIDENTLY say that if those bushings are indeed shot, it's a direct result of user error when installing the lift or when aligning the front suspension.

Who checked the torque on those bolts? Unless it was YOU, I would have a hard time swallowing that they were tightened properly to begin with. It may be hard to prove, but these bushings don't just go bad at 10K- that's just unheard of. They should go at least 100K!

Just my .02!
 
Antman said:
I gotta tell you, I can CONFIDENTLY say that if those bushings are indeed shot, it's a direct result of user error when installing the lift or when aligning the front suspension.

Who checked the torque on those bolts? Unless it was YOU, I would have a hard time swallowing that they were tightened properly to begin with. It may be hard to prove, but these bushings don't just go bad at 10K- that's just unheard of. They should go at least 100K!

Just my .02!
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The guys who initially installed the lift that completely blew it out their A$$... awesome.

I'm talking with Scott right now and I'm going to get everything fixed. I'm so over this BS it's not even funny. I'm going to make time to get up to High Tech hopefully next weekend and have Total Chaos LCAs installed and have him look over everything.

Production Off Road here in Virginia Beach, botched my lift install beyond comprehension.
 
swimmerdude1127 said:
The guys who initially installed the lift that completely blew it out their A$$... awesome.

I'm talking with Scott right now and I'm going to get everything fixed. I'm so over this BS it's not even funny. I'm going to make time to get up to High Tech hopefully next weekend and have Total Chaos LCAs installed and have him look over everything.

Production Off Road here in Virginia Beach, botched my lift install beyond comprehension.
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By the way I appreciate you chiming in [MENTION=65614]Antman[/MENTION]
 
swimmerdude1127 said:
The guys who initially installed the lift that completely blew it out their A$$... awesome.

I'm talking with Scott right now and I'm going to get everything fixed. I'm so over this BS it's not even funny. I'm going to make time to get up to High Tech hopefully next weekend and have Total Chaos LCAs installed and have him look over everything.

Production Off Road here in Virginia Beach, botched my lift install beyond comprehension.
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That sucks, but I've had to learn my lesson(s) like that before! The money spent getting it done right will be the cheapest insurance you can buy, better luck soon!

David
 
Just took a gander at the bushings on the front of my truck and looks like my culprit is a bad bushing in the LR UCA on the passenger side. So I am going to order their replacement bushings and start there.
 
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swimmerdude1127 said:
The guys who initially installed the lift that completely blew it out their A$$... awesome.

I'm talking with Scott right now and I'm going to get everything fixed. I'm so over this BS it's not even funny. I'm going to make time to get up to High Tech hopefully next weekend and have Total Chaos LCAs installed and have him look over everything.

Production Off Road here in Virginia Beach, botched my lift install beyond comprehension.
Click to expand...

I gotta be honest here. While I was reading the beginning of your post, my heart stopped. I knew you were possibly going to make the trip to High Tech. I finished reading through the rest of it and felt relieved.

I'm glad it wasn't my boys at HT. but I'm also sorry you're going through this.
 
Ducmonsta said:
I gotta be honest here. While I was reading the beginning of your post, my heart stopped. I knew you were possibly going to make the trip to High Tech. I finished reading through the rest of it and felt relieved.

I'm glad it wasn't my boys at HT. but I'm also sorry you're going through this.
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Sorry to scare you! I'm ordering the TC LCAs today and gonna try to make it up there next week or the one after. I've had a tough go from the beginning with this brand new suspension. I feel I can only blame myself because I didn't listen to some of the more experienced guys here... regarding where I went to get everything installed.
 
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Just an FYI, the rear busing on the front LCA does "move" a lot. Go and watch a brand new truck roll forward and hit the brakes, It will deflect just like in your video. I would post a video so we can see it. But ive seen a good deall of movement out of the LCAs without them being worn out and making noise.

compare it to the other side just to make sure.
 
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UCA's

Luckily I read this thread. I am going to have an OME lift installed with a Light Racing UCA over at Metal Tech. They said that the bushing issue has been addressed with the new UCA's and the company has a retro fit for the older ones.

The guys at Metal Tech have been very knowledgable and I trust that they would not put bad products on any client's rig. I'll keep updating.
 
Orlyg1521 said:
Luckily I read this thread. I am going to have an OME lift installed with a Light Racing UCA over at Metal Tech. They said that the bushing issue has been addressed with the new UCA's and the company has a retro fit for the older ones.

The guys at Metal Tech have been very knowledgable and I trust that they would not put bad products on any client's rig. I'll keep updating.
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We're talking about the LCAs (lower control arms).
 
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