Front Axle Spring Bushings

Something that had been wrong on our bus since we bought it was a funny clunk when turning corners, usually at an intersection. It was coming from the front end, and after a little investigation I determined that the spring pins and bushings were completely trashed, especially the passenger side ones.

There was a large step worn into the pins and when turning, the binding would walk up onto the step, then drop it off making an audible thunk that could be felt too.

Nobody I could find wanted to work on the bus, probably for a pretty good reason – it was a total pain in the ass. There’s some magic tool that can press these out but it’s thousands of dollars – I made do with 7/8″ threaded rod and a trailer bearing replacement kit from the auto parts store. It worked but was a real fight to install the new bushings.

After replacing them it rode SO much better though. While the front end of the bus was sitting on a crib, I took the opportunity to pressure wash and chip away the asphalt crud that had grown over all the running gear on the front axle. I have no idea what deposited it there other than thousands of miles of dirt roads and grease, probably. It actually was interfering with the brakes.

Lots of deferred maintenance…

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