Rear Shock Bushing

[Jhollowell]

I'm rebuilding a set of 2.5 Fox rear shocks and just got done replacing the upper and lower bushings where the shock mounts to the truck and that was a HUGE PIA. Not sure if anyone has tried this but man was it a nightmare. Its a rubber bushing with a metal inner sleeve but when you press the bushing in, it just squishes out and does not want to go in. Major muffin top. What are your thoughts on using a 2 piece polyurethane bushing? From what i can tell King, Icon, and maybe the Fox 3.0 use a shperical bushing/bearing in the lower mount so i can't see how using a poly bushing in the 2.5's would hurt anything. I ended up getting them in but in the future it would be a lot easier to just press in a solid poly bushing instead. thoughts?

 

[SGifargis]

Just curious how did you get the bushings in? I have been fighting this for a bit now and cant seem to get it to go... just squishes out...
I thought the fronts would be difficult and it turned out to be super easy in comparison.

 

[Jhollowell]

Just curious how did you get the bushings in? I have been fighting this for a bit now and cant seem to get it to go... just squishes out...
I thought the fronts would be difficult and it turned out to be super easy in comparison.

Its a nightmare for the rears. I basically put a nut and bolt through and do exactly what you're doing, but i tighten it a little bit until it starts to squish and then take a small flat screwdriver and try to stuff the muffin top into the hole. work your way around and then tighten another quarter to half turn and repeat. do that 1000 times and you should be good. its a nightmare and that's why i don't replace those bushings anymore. If i HAD to do it i would probably make a sleeve that fits into the shock eye a little bit and has a tapered hole that the bushing would slide in and keep it from squishing out as you pressed it in, or you could just cut it in half and put it in from each side. I'm not sure if cutting it would decrease the life span but it would make it easier to install. good luck.

FYI I've tried freezing the bushing for a few days and heating up the shock...didn't work. Tried putting a hose clamp around the bushing to keep it from squishing... didn't work. if you find a better way post up what you did.