Broken Bushings

I replaced these just under three years ago when I was doing some other front suspension work. I am presently replacing the upper damper mounts and found that 3 of the 4
bushings were broken as shown.

I am surmising this is a lube (or lack of) issue. I torqued the upper bolt to specs (about 100 ft. lbs) and there was definitely grease in the bushings.

My question is; should I have packed more grease in there? If so, any particular type?

 

Yes you definitely should have packed them with grease. I just replaced my "replacements" after another 50K and they were still intact and greasy. And I chose to use copper grease.

If you installed them with only the grease they used during bushing assembly then they seem to fail like that. My original factory bushings were replaced at about the first 50K and were worn, dry and crumbly.

You need to disassemble the new bushings and get the grease inside so that the actual bearing surfaces all get covered.

Probably obvious but worth saying that you should clean the inner surfaces of the control arms too.

FWIW I think these bushings have a life of about 50K before there is enough wear to start affecting ride quality.

 

Copper grease. Will do!

Thanks for the info.

 

The proper torque on the upper bolt is not anywhere near 100ft lbs, as I recall it is 60-80N-m.

 

You are correct. I should have said 45 Ft/lbs