Curious...

[Houm_WA]

...how many people on this forum that have had their bushings replaced (or need to) take their LR3 offroad? ...and how many do not?

I wonder if the rigors of off-roading contribute to the degradation of the bushings. Logic would say "yes."

 

[GrahamWelland]

It might be worth also defining 'off road' too.

I just had all mine done (yes, ALL of them) and now have a dramatically improved LR3 to the degree that it feels pretty much like the day I bought it new off the lot.

Off roading? Unsurfaced forest trails, rocky roads, dry creak beds, miles & miles & miles of washboard and abandoned roads of the west in any weather? - sure. Tearing up the forest in mud up to the axles or crawling over rocks whilst balanced on crushable bits of my LR3? - nope.

 

[Houm_WA]

I would define off-roading as anything a Subaru Outback could NOT do. That said, Graham, you bring up a good point as far as washboards go. Though low amplitude jolts, they are very frequent and that could pound the suspension too.

My feeling is that off-roading has GOT to take a toll on the bushings, but I'd be interested to hear if there are non-wheelers on this board who've also experienced the bushes going out. It could be that off-road use is not the sole culprit but just speeds up the wearing process.

 

[Auburn92]

take mine off roading, rock climbing, dirt, sand..., and yes, just replaced front.

 

[Trynian]

I have replaced the fronts on an 06 and I off-road. But they started to knock before I went off-road at about 27,000 miles and slowly got worse until I replaced them at 40k.

I noticed it a little at first ingressing driveways then really noticed it more when starting to off-road on dirt roads.

I don't think the slow off-road stuff would have that much impact on the ware. Some of those higher speed washboard dirt roads seemed to make it knock more.

 

[dantheman1]

Out of the 70k miles on my rig (05 V8 SE), i've only been "seriously" offroading 3 times (intense rock crawling, mudding, etc). I do, however, drive my truck pretty hard and the roads in Austin aren't that great. I had mine done at 68k, but they had been a knockin at about 65k. I only had 1 bushing that needed to be replaced, but went ahead and did both anyway.

 

[roverman]

My '05 bushings are fine with 49000 miles. I don't do any super aggressive off roading, but I would also have to say that a mile of washboard road would be worse than 10 miles of rock crawling, IMO. Fortunately I don't do much washboard roading.

To all who had a factory or extended warranty, was replacement covered with no problem?

 

[jjvd21]

Just had my lower front control arms (which include bushings) replaced and covered by the Ford ESP warranty.

 

[Houm_WA]

Okay...is there anyone on the forum that had their bushings replaced that does NO OFFROADING of any kind?

 

[angasreid]

If I recall correctly... there is a member with 22" Redbourne Saxons. He doesn't offroad or at least I don't think so...