Broken Front Suspension Bushes
July 2016
OK…. must admit that I was not 100% sure of just what I was looking at here on the Mitsubishi Canter FG 649, nor had I realise how bad the suspension bush was. All we could see was a little flat rubber on the edge of the grease part of the bush. It was not until we had replaced the bushes that we saw how much they had worn. This was not a job we wanted to do ourselves beside the road, but when your home workshop is 15,000km away you don’t want to risk damaging expensive suspension components…. you just have to do it.
Broken Front Suspension Bush
Broken Front Suspension Bush
First, we selected a relatively flat piece of ground and inserted the original truck jack in front of the axle on top of the spring and up against the chassis. With a little pressure on the jack, we pulled the pin (after undoing the nut). Eventually, after much wriggling the second half of the bolt came free from the suspension bush we then avoided using our fingers to remove the bush just in case something moved. Next, we inserted that half of the pin and lowered the jack. The second half of the pin was a pain and it was not until we started the engine and turned the wheels that the springs straightened up and the pin went straight through.
Front suspension spring of canter FG649 waiting return of pin.
We applied some grease and were then back on the road and heading north from Alice Springs.
Post Story Note – Mar 2017.
Finally, Steve had some time to spend with the guys up at SSA regarding the above issue. The lesson we learnt today was you should only use lithium-based grease on polyurethane. Petroleum-based greases will soften a bush. Also, suspension components should be greased regularly (that can be daily when the vehicle has been used off-road and in water). Must admit, not sure what grease we used and when purchasing grease, salespeople have not been knowledgeable, so there is a big chance that contributed to early failure.
Thanks, Greg and Brian, your support is always awesome.