Saturday, Oct 09, 2004 at 19:39
G'day Ken,
Possibly ... but in my opinion ....
The pins/bushes wont wear without a load as compared to with a load because the greater the load... the greater the arc the pin/bush travels over wallows in the road etc. The greater the arc (movement) the greater the wear. The greater the load the greater the wear from increased applied friction between the pin and the bush contact area. I would assume, loaded, it would wear more from increased friction than potential arc increase though. It depends on the springs "rate" characteristics.
With the vehicle unloaded the pin travel through its arc is very small by comparison and the friction is much less at contact area because less is applied by no load.
The rear shackles are subject to dirt and crap thrown up from the rear tyres and eventually wear from crap getting in the pin/bush and acting like grinding paste. Lack of lubrication just causes wear from friction. The friction can also increase from lack of lubrication to an extent that it interferes with the action of the spring. Water ingress will cause corrosion which with act like grinding paste.
Shackle pins with grease nipples were invented to stop this happening. You pump grease in every now and then and water, dirt come out and the pin/bush is free to move ...less friction from being lubricated.
The F250 pin/bushes aint no baby sizes I can tell ya !! The pin diameter is 16mm ... thats 16mm !!!! HUGE !!! The pin takes a 21mm socket to undo it !! There is also two of these on the rear of each spring that spreads the wear rate .....the pins are usually surface hardened. A 1mm wear measurement probably wouldnt be picked up even ..just because of the sheer size of the thing.
I'm not saying ARB are not finding worn pins but I am saying it must have been unusual circumstances (manufacturing fault aside) especially when we see the stuff the boys get up in the
BOG with F250's ....
More info is needed from ARB/vehicle circumstances as to the cause ?
Anthony
FollowupID:
843937
