My upper control arm bushings (axle side) are pretty worn and I will be changing them out soon I was wondering what are the recommend/ best brands to go with for these bushings or will the generic part store brands work just as well, I want to get the most life out of them as possible
thanks for the help

 

If you're looking to get the most life out of them, have you considered polyurethane? If not, yes any bushing from an auto parts store should suffice

 

What kind of use does the Jeep get?

IMHO I like the stock rubber since I'm mostly doing DD type driving with little or no off road use. I want as soft a ride as I can get. In general urethane bushings transmit a lot of vibration.

 

Clevite makes the OE replacement. I believe you can get them from Autozone.

 

thanks for the responses, I use the jeep DD around town and during weekends do moderate trail riding with occasional extreme trip few times a year. I've read they are a pain to replace so therefore want to get the most life out of it.

I know polyurethane is stronger than rubber but when used in UCA application does it limit articulation and cause more vibrations. Anyone running poly on lifted XJ on the front axle side of the UCA, be able to give me their opinion on it.

I have a RC 6.5 in lift on my XJ now

 

Just go with OE replacement. To get them out is pretty easy if you have access to an air hammer.

 

If you run stock UCAs or LCAs the arms will flex instead so urethane will be fine. I have a 4 inch lift with RC CAD brackets on stock arms.

 

Thanks for the responses, any other tips on removing the old ones

 

The dirty smelly way to get them out is burn out the rubber with a torch, then cut the leftover ring with a sawzall, then you can easily knock out the ring with a hammer and punch.

 

What kind of arms are you running with the 6.5 inch lift? Are they fixed arms or are they adjustables with Johhny Joint style ends?

The different types of material used for any bushings vary.

Rubber- Get the best ride and more flex than any poly bushing. Constant flexing will wipe them out unless accompanied by some type of flex joint on the other end.

Poly- Rides hard, vibrations felt, but will resist weathering well. The flex will suffer because they are so hard and could potentially cause damage to whatever they are mounted in because they don't "give"

If you're running stock arms (which you shouldn't be with a 6.5 inch lift) I would look in to getting different arms. The stock arms are flimsy and bend easily. I don't see how putting urethane bushings and having the arms twist are a good thing. That's a new one to me.

As far as removal, Byro has it pretty much dead on. If no torch is available, sometimes you can actually drill holes into the rubber and brake it apart to get to the outer casing of the bushing. Lots of people actually pull the axle because it's easier to replace the bushings. There's not a lot of room to get tools in there when the axle is in. I've done it using both approaches though.

 

I eneded up just getting rubber since I still wanted to keep my flex

I have UCAs that came with the RC 6.5 lift, thinking about doing the long arm upgrade here soon so we will see, how the $$$ looks lol.

thanks again guys for all the input.