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Acceptable TB Bushing movement

1399 Views 14 Replies 6 Participants Last post by  bob1340
What would any of you say is acceptable movement of the TB?

I checked mine the other day I was rotating my tires. I put the weight back on the wheels and had someone get in and start the Jeep.
I got under it and looked at it while they rocked the steering wheel and it seems I may have about 1/8" of play maybe alittle less. I
need to try and do it again.
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That is not acceptable. I see you have 265 tires, are you running a budget boost with the stock trackbar or did you upgrade? If aftermarket, you will want to replace the bushing before death wobble sets in.
just 3/4" spacers DW is partly there. If i hit a bump the steering wheel will start to shake (not uncontrolable).

Most of the wobble is from the rim that just got put back on the front, its out of round which Im thinking of taking the spare and remounting that one. I need to take a measurement with a tape and make sure of my measurement (I might be off on that I hurt my back in process so I was hurting while looking and still am).


Everything else is stock with no changes.
I ended up posting in another section but this seems to be my problem as well. I am running the JKS track bar and it is pretty new. Anyone else having this problem too?
06moneypit said:
I ended up posting in another section but this seems to be my problem as well. I am running the JKS track bar and it is pretty new. Anyone else having this problem too?
I sugest you look at the Clayton bushing replacement. It is a 9/16" bore bushing. I used the RE 1687 bushing in my JKS which takes some modification to fit correctly, but it seems tight.
You want zero movement in your track bar. Any movement is a substantial contributor to death wobble.
I still have yet to get back under mine and check again, back is still hurting :( . I know it had some movement in there. I dont think its more than 1/8".
It is more noticeable now that I have a rim up there that has a slight warp in it.

Ok so no movement in it (or little as possible), how do you change it out? I have check some prices on it seems to be under 19$.
Does the old one have to be pressed out as well as the new one?
I was looking at this one.
http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/moreinfo.php?pk=202626
I dont know if it needs to be pressed in or not. They had others that didnt look as if they needed to be pressed in.
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Chris04 said:
Ok so no movement in it (or little as possible), how do you change it out? I have check some prices on it seems to be under 19$.
Does the old one have to be pressed out as well as the new one?
For a better mousetrap look at the Clayton site. They make a bushing that has a 9/16" bore instead of the 10MM. Much more substantial. It's not bad for price either. You'll need to weld a tab on the back of the new nut as it is really hard to get a wrench in there. You'll see what I am talking about if you look at the stock set-up. I always thought the stock bolt is a little wimpy in there.

Getting the old bushing out is a bear! To remove mine I drilled the rubber out as much as I could then used a punch to beat the sleeve out. I actually used a Rubicon Express 1687 bushing in mine with a grease zerk. The RE bushing needs to be modified to fit.

Here you can see 2 RE bushings side by side. I had to cut it down to fit in the track bar housing and the washer is a spacer so the whole works fits snug in the axle bracket. The inner sleeve does not need cutting, just the poly bushing.



So it ends up looking like this.

When the bushing halves are installed in the track bar there is a 1/16" or so gap between them to accept grease.
Note the washer fits over the inner sleeve. Also note the grease zerk.
I installed the washer on the back (rearward) side of the bushing, but it really does not matter which side it's on.
This works pretty good, but I think the Clayton bushing is a better deal. I just did not know about it when I did mine.

BTW, the RE bushing uses a 1/2" bolt.
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To get the OE bushing out, I used a regular gear puller. Put a socket against the bushing (slightly smaller than the bushing), put a bolt down the middle of the socket so the puller has something to push against, add 20 seconds with an impact wrench (slightly longer the manual way). If the rubber separates from the metal sleeve you will need a chisel and a hammer to get it out, but mine came out in one piece.
I used a Prothane poly bushing that was very similar to the Clayton, but used the original bolt. Mine rides better than new now.
WOW. Welding is probably out of my equation, I dont know anyone that has a welder. Wait I think my mechanic might beable to do that for me.
No clue tho till I ask him.
Bob1340 - I like what you did and will have to look into it more. This seems to be the answer I was looking for. JKS only allows you to buy San OEM bushing as a replacement on my trackbar. Sorry for the hi-jack btw
06moneypit said:
Bob1340 - I like what you did and will have to look into it more. This seems to be the answer I was looking for. JKS only allows you to buy San OEM bushing as a replacement on my trackbar. Sorry for the hi-jack btw
It works good. Time will tell. But like I said, if I knew about the OEM style 9/16" bushing Clayton has I'd gone that way.
Will the HD Trackbar Busshing from Clayton press right into the JKS trackbar? Or are there modifications that need to take place in order to make it work?
06moneypit said:
Will the HD Trackbar Busshing from Clayton press right into the JKS trackbar? Or are there modifications that need to take place in order to make it work?
I am pretty sure it will. You may want to talk to them on the phone, but from reading the web site info I'd say yes.
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