Well is seems that the turd fairy has struck again! On the last trip I noticed a clunk coming from the right side front end when turning a corner. Thought it might be a shock or bracket but what I found was interesting and of course harder work.



The spring bushing has failed and the spring moved to the side striking the spring perch. The bushing has move out of the spring eyelet and it is shoeing the outer shell of the bushing has split.

The spring eyelet is OK and no evidence of a crack. Bushing part number from Spartan wrong!NOTICE this is for the heaver suspension using the Westport axle and Eaton 15040S rear end.

Correct aftermarket part number is RB-135, Just google it and you will find many sources.

Not sure if this is the same for those 30' Breakaway that use the Dana axles and lighter duty springs.

Failure or just plain worn out? Ed, Is your coach mileage close to a quarter million miles? Have you replaced the sprig shackles before? Thanks a bunch part numbers. Great for our archives.

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All of your tech posts are an asset to our archives.

I replaced all 8 of mine years ago. I also ordered a pair for the panhard rod, which is when I discovered it has greaseable sleeve bushings.

I replaced all 8 on mine 7-8 years ago as well. I would have expected the rubber portion to fail before the steel sleeve cracking was a real surprise. I will have to replace the rears after I get back from Arkansas as those are showing rubber degradation.

Oh well more work!

quote:

I replaced all 8 on mine 7-8 years ago as well.

Ed, do you recall how many miles you have driven since the repair 7-8 years ago?

When you remove the old ones measure the diameters, lengths, od and id etc and call Energy Suspension Inc. Or use that Spartan No. and they will make you a set using polyurethane material and your failures will cease.

The polyurethane bushing work great, but gives a harsher ride. Did this on our bus back in the early 90s and finally took them out and went back to rubber.

I used polyurethane bushings on many BMWs and other vehicle I set up for track use over the years. Never had good luck with them particularly where side loads were exerted on the bushings. (thrust arms, trailing arms) Polyurethane does not bond as well as rubber and will work loose. Also as Gary mentioned NVH was greatly increased.

Edit: I changed the bushings 10.5 years and 181K miles ago. I have removal and inserting tools from last change so it will not be to bad.

One of my rear bushings failed this spring. I am replacing all of them tomorrow with Spartan parts. The guy had a hard time finding the part numbers because I drive an antique.

The part number I listed should be the same as your suspension is same as mine even though yours is longer.

Todd at Spartan is very good looking up "antique" parts

quote:

Originally posted by MWrench:
I replaced all 8 on mine 7-8 years ago as well. I would have expected the rubber portion to fail before the steel sleeve cracking was a real surprise. I will have to replace the rears after I get back from Arkansas as those are showing rubber degradation.

Oh well more work!

Hey Ed, just tried to replace my rear bushings and Spartan sent me the bushings that don't fit. The parts guy said that he sent the ones the computer called for but they don't fit and I'm on the hook for over three hours of labor. You can't trust Spartan.

I just corrected the bushing part number, The ones I got from Spartan were also wrong. Outer diameter and outer shell length were correct but the inner sleeve was too short, almost 4/10 inch.

Spartan must have made change in their system as the batch I bought 7-8 years ago were same part number I ordered this time but certainly these are different and will not work.

Dayton RB-135 is the correct bushing number.

Thanks Richard for your information, we need and have to use the same part number for this