Ever since the Centralia meet the washers and bushings on my front set of Rancho RSX shocks were fairly destroyed. I guess it's from over-extension. As shown in the pics, the washers were bent in over the nut, and the bushing under the washer on the passenger side was totally destroyed. The driver's side is still ok. I replaced the bushings and put 2 washers on each side instead on just the 1. I went to AdvanceAuto and I told the guy there my problem, he found some "extra" parts or something, i don't know what he said, but he gave me a set of bushings and washers from a generic set of shocks for FREE!

Destroyed bushing:



Destroyed washers, should be pretty much flat, but the bushing make it bend up around the nut in the center which split the one bushing in the pic.

 

Mine are doing that also, Joe. Time for new bushings!

The ones with the RSX are a different material -- they're not poly, but a silicone rubber of some sort, if I recall. Supposed to reduce "harshness" -- but looks like they don't last.

 

The RSX ones are Silica. They looked liked they'd be pretty decent but as we have found out they aren't.
I was going to just leave the bushings as they were because it didn't seem to pose a problem, but just recently it started "clicking" I suppose as the shock would compress and the washer at the top would contact the shock mount or something. I didn't want it to wear anything out or such.
Are the shocks the limit of the wheel travel?

 

Yes, they are. I put spacers in and extended my wheel travel as an experiment and then the upper a-arm hitting the frame was the limit -- seemed like a bad idea so I went back to the shocks being it.

Ha ha! When I've been editing the movie, I hear Luke getting out of your truck saying, "John, you need to take lessons from the Master", lol! Whether you are the master or not, you drive a lot like me sometimes -- real fast on rough roads. I suspect we are our own worst enemies on this stuff.

I don't always drive like that when leading a group, but I went pretty fast up that trail to the scenic overlook above Centralia, as you can see from how the puddles "part" in the movie, lol.

 

I hope to be back to Centralia again for some meets. I'm in college right now for mechanical and plastics engineering at the same school with Luke, as you probably know. But this summer I hope and plan on adding some parts on my truck to be more trail and baja ready. I'm going to try making some underbody skid plates, rock sliders, get a prerunner bumper, and maybe a rear bumper and do the add on to the leaf springs.

 

I am just going to throw and idea out there i *might* be wrong but with a t-bar crank and if you wheel HARD you might want to look into a longer shock. because if i remeber with a t-bar crank you are increasing your downard movement and decreasing your upper. so less compression of the shock and more travel.

as in like stock is up/down like this 3"/3" now after its 1"/5" so 1" of upward movement and now 5" of downard travel. just a thought i am thowing out there

 

I know exactly what you're saying, I thought about it. But look at what John had mentioned, he put a spacer on his shock to do what you mentioned, and the upper a-arm hit the frame. So a longer shock will just allow the a-arm to hit the frame and cause a load of problems from there. I figure the t-bar crank to have caused it a little. Limit straps could help.

 

Yes, exactly. More down travel is a great idea but will require more engineering than simply longer shocks.

 

More travel for a 4x4 costs about 10,000$, i have figured, with the Dixon Bros. lift, other needed parts like steering parts, then glass fenders will be needed. And with spending that much on just the front suspension, you better be using the truck for something pretty special. haha

 

4x2 is a little cheaper -- but I'm going SAS anyway so I'm not spending any more money on this front end, lol.

 

Okay, I helped Winks (John) put on his RSX shocks over the weekend. Nice new red bushings and properly dished washers are on his truck.

I showed him my washers and what was happening (just like Joe's, they have "inverted") and he still opted for the new Rancho bushings. Let's hope they've improved them!

I asked him for his stock bushings/washers/nuts and he gave them to me and I real quick swapped them out on my truck.

Quite a difference I must say, and it's a good news/bad news scenario.

The good news is the "thumpy-kind-of-rattle" I had is gone. It only occured on light bumps, but it was like a rattle only deep in tone. That appears to be the play in the destroyed upper bushings. Also, I had a little bit of "bump steer" (or so it felt) and that appears to be gone -- but I also recently changed that upper arm/ball joint and it helped it too. Handling seems a little better -- but that may be my "expectations and imaginations", lol.

The bad news is that road noise is slightly higher, and the ride a little harsher -- though it's not real noticeable. Still, I'm quite sure it's different and I can even hear the front tires "rumble" from the large tread at slow speeds more.

The factory bushings are a quite hard rubber compound, so this is to be expected. However, they are really strong, so I don't think I'll have any more problems.

The Rancho bushings just don't seem to hold up well in our front ends. I think that silica is just too soft. It makes a nice ride, but at the cost of strength.

 

We'll have to see if winks/John's bushings and washers do the same.

And yeah, now that I put the new bushings and doubled-up washers on it rides a little more stiff maybe, and better handling. I also put my sway bar back on, I took it off for about a month just to see how it worked around town, the ride is amazing soft and smooth but too much body roll for the highway and such. But when I put it back on I tightened up the bolts real well and it really helped out with the stiff ride.

 

Cool! Yeah, well, I tried running with the sway bar disconnected and it was just too much for me. I drive back country roads to/from work with a lot of twists in them and the body roll was frightening, lol, and I never got used to it -- especially with a lifted truck it feels like a lot more.

 

I think my bushings may actually be harder than the stock ones were. Right now my truck seems to ride more like a truck than it did even when it was new. I hope this means that they've solved the problem.

 

Ha ha! No, your shocks are harder than the stock ones were, lol. The bushings are definitely softer.

The RSX, like most performance shocks, ride stiffer than stock -- however, they are not as stiff over really nasty stuff as some of them, due to the 2 stage valving. Sounds like they're normal to me.

Where you're going to like them is in handling, and offroad performance. Take a few speed bumps too fast and you'll see what I mean.

But they still may have solved the problem. Our trucks with the RSX by no means rode soft -- it's just that with bushings that had gone to mush they had gotten softer than we had been used to.

 

Yeah, I figured it could just be the shocks, but I was just trying to be really idealistic!

 

If you have a problem, I'll get some replacements and you can have your stockers back, lol!

It should be awhile before you see any problems though, if ever. I don't know if everyone has had this problem. Maybe Joe and I are just "special"...

 

Well John, you definitely are special in your own way Haven't met Joe yet, so I can't speak for him.

I won't be asking for the stockers back, they're yours buddy.

 

Well, thank you. I WAS in special education, and apparently, it "took"...