Poly Bush or OEM Radius arm and trailing arm bushings ?

Rover Mac

Well-known member
Feb 7, 2006
634
1
Los Angeles
spaces.msn.com
P38 RR on 33" inch tyres.
Previously i have always replaced my Radius arm bushings and trailing arm bushings with LR OEM.
I have a set of Poly Bushings (soft) sitting in the garage.
What are the pros and cons of OEM-v-Poly ?
I'm replacing front tires and doing an alignment, but first will replace the bushings before Dusy Ershim trip in September.
Advice / opinions ?
 

az_max

1
Apr 22, 2005
7,463
2
In two vehicles I've had with Poly bushings I noticed they ride harsher and squeaked. When I re-bushed the Rover I went back with rubber. I figure if they (OEM) lasted 25 years, new ones should last at least 10. I'll probably not have the truck by then.
 

Jimmy

Well-known member
Apr 10, 2006
740
64
Aurora, CO
I run the Poly Bush "blue" bushings, which IIRC are the soft ones (or, what is close/similar to rubber bushings) in my D1 radius and trailing arms (axle ends only; still have rubber at frame end), and in the panhard rod.

You can tell the difference in the on-road feel of the ride. Not better or worse, just different.

I got tired of the aftermarket rubber bushing lasting a year at best. Mine is used just for offroading, and it was eating them. Got tired of that, and am running the polys. No issues yet, and it's been at least two years on most, and the trailing arm ones went in ~four years ago.
 

Blue

Well-known member
Mar 26, 2004
10,043
856
AZ
I've always wanted to try poly but my stock bushings won't die.
 

jymmiejamz

Well-known member
Dec 5, 2004
6,008
361
35
Los Angeles, Ca
Don't poly bushings usually fail catastrophically? I have very little experience with them, but I've seen them totally fall apart, where a factory bushing will just wear out.
 

Jimmy

Well-known member
Apr 10, 2006
740
64
Aurora, CO
Don't poly bushings usually fail catastrophically? I have very little experience with them, but I've seen them totally fall apart, where a factory bushing will just wear out.

Like anything, quality is a factor. The durometer range for polyurethane is pretty wide. I would suspect the high end of the range would be very firm and not hold up to the rigors of flexy suspensions.

I've ripped/tore the inner steel sleeves from the rubber in a couple sets of factory/original bushings (have swapped arms in this situation), as well as aftermarket (those don't last two years). I have a press, and when installing, ensured to press on the outer shell and not the inner sleeve... didn't make a difference. Even switching to a cranked/castor corrected arm didn't alleviate this problem. Blue Poly Bush ones went in two years ago, and I haven't had a problem yet.
 

K-rover

Well-known member
Jan 15, 2010
2,163
62
Raleigh, NC
Ive been running poly on my front D2 cranked radius arms for about 1.5yrs now.
Orange at the axle and blue at the frame.
So far they have held up great.
The rear is still stock rubber and are just now starting to tear at 195,000 miles.
My plan is to 4-link the rear, otherwise I would replace the rears with poly as well.