Powerflex trailing arm bushings

Red90

Well-known member
For the price, you could replace the stock ones 10 times. If you are having OEM ones fail in 3 years, you probably need bent trailing arms.
 

AdamSanta85

Well-known member
Used to sell a lot of Powerflex motor mount bushings for Lancer Evo's back in the day. They held up really well. SuperPro are another high quality poly bushing brand. Not all poly bushes are made equal.
 

Ren Ching

Active member
These have a cut out in them to allow them to flex more. They aren't just regular polys.



I do have bent arms. Do I have them set up properly? Of that I am not sure as they are the Rovertym ones that use spacers and I could have got the spacers wrong.



FWIW the truck was off the road for 18 months out of that time so yeah pretty poor performance.
 

jymmiejamz

Founding Member
Callsign: KN4JHI
If you are having OEM ones fail in 3 years, you probably need bent trailing arms.

From what I understand, the Genuine replacement bushings aren't holding up very well. I need to take a look at mine as they are probably two years old (installed with new bent Rockware arms) and I'm just starting to get a little thud in the rear.
 

NPT90

Well-known member
I installed a set of superpro 4 months ago with some bent trailing arms.

Inspected them the other day and they are right as rain.

They can be had for a little bit less than Powerflex

Moog Suspension

With the bent trailing arms the whole rear sits basically flat, one thing I did like about the superpro was the beveled washers that centered the bushing washers and prevented over-tightening. Basically the sleeve is the exact right length to prevent you from shredding the bush
 

NPT90

Well-known member
I will add, because it seems to be an ongoing conversation, the OEM bushings I looked at compared to the superpro stuff were garbage. I know a lot of people swear by genuine rubber bushings but they are probably coming from the same facility as britpart at this point.

Poly bushings have made a lot of progress since you tried them 15 years ago. As with everything in life, you get what you pay for. I could clearly see the engineering and R&D that went into the superpro products. After removing OEM bushings from the radius arms I can honestly say I wouldn't put a 'interference fit' bushing into anything I ever wanted to service.
 

Uncle Douglas

Well-known member
Callsign: delete
Ren Ching wheels his truck, pretty much only takes it to events (but he bails often). If you are driving to the mall and around town only your suspension feed back isnt really relavent to his question, off ramp articulation doesnt count.
When LR introduced the coil sprung Range Rover in the early 70's it wasnt know for its luxury as it has become to be known today, instead it was known for its "magic carpet ride" handling and ground holding abilities off road, and its v8 engine. The long coil springs, hydraulic shocks, and rubber bushings are where that ride and handling come from.

Cranked arms are meant to lessen the bind on the frame ear bushing under extreme articulation, not suburban use. The goal of having large amounts of articulation is to not loose contact with the ground when cross axled so that the truck can continue forward. Lifting a tire off road isnt a good thing, but you often see newbies clamor to take a picture when it happens.
We have polybush blue (UK co) under Trey's 110 with Rockware rear arms and yeah they are like new 8 years later but they deliver a significantly firmer/harder ride when compare to rubber off road. I installed them on his truck because he was a new driver @ the time and I was worried about him possibly rolling his lifted v8 110 ( because I rolled a 2a @ his age). Maybe its just me, but it takes less than an hour to replace both sides I'm going to err on the side slinky, soft ride.

I get exposed to lots of trucks and for me some of the most obnoxious riding/handling have had terrafirma spings and wannabe a shock's on them.
The trucks ride harshly, bounce on bumps due to the total absences of rebound dampening and inbound dampening that is too stiff/ not matched to the springs. TF suspension coupled with made in china hard polyuretahne bushings truly ruins what makes a Defender a unique driving experience.
Rant over.
 

Uncle Douglas

Well-known member
Callsign: delete
dagone typo's.

The bushings Dave linked are a cool design, wonder how well the poly on poly surfaces slide or if they would bind and start the "squish" that kills poly bushings.
A lot of what forms ea of our opinions is personal experience and that has everything to do with the quality of materials used.
Like JT said, you are supposed to get what you pay for. and as Jimmy pointed out, the rubber to metal bond on the rubber stuff isnt holding up
like it used to, even with the go to oem. JT's point on the difficulty of replacing pressed in busings vs the slide in of the poly ones is huge if you dont have access to a press.
 

The_Vermonster

Well-known member
I went with rubber bushings this time around. From what I have, Britpart, Bearmach, Allmakes, and LR Direct's "Original Equipment", all seem to be the same exact thing.

In regards to trailing arm bushings, there isn't an advantage to poly when it comes to installation. You have to remove the trailing arm from the chassis completely, and the rubber ones easily slip over the end. If/when the rubber bushings need replacing, I will definitely be using poly. Even with a press it took forever.
 

Uncle Douglas

Well-known member
Callsign: delete
all rubber
 

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NPT90

Well-known member
I certainly don't think the rubber ones are 'inferior' by any means, I would imagine they perform as designed.

But after removing them all over the truck and slipping in Superpro bushings I can't imagine servicing it any other way.

These Proline Trailing arms (zach is the guy to talk to), OME suspension (approximately 1.5"), basically leveled off my rear trailing arms. I used stock front radius arms since it was recommended as best I could tell.
 
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