Jammyauto
Senior Member
If you own an older (2006 or older) van with the SMB 4X4 conversion I'd reccomend that you check your rear shock upper bushings and replace them if they are yellow. Here is what can happen
Here are the bushings that SMB sent me to replace the OMEs.
[modedit]OME = Old Man Emu- Aftermarket Lift Company[/modedit]
Here is my correspondence with SMB
Seth,
ARB throughout the entire batch once they found out there was a problem, they think maybe air somehow got into the mold during the process. We switched to the Ford bushings to solve the problem and have not gone back to the ARB bushings. You can switch the bushings if you want, Heber our 4x4 guru feels the Ford bushings are a better fit, the ARB bushings are a generic bushing, and the design of the Ford fits better. All the units we are shipping have the Ford bushings and we have not had any issues with them.
Have not considered switching to a thru bolt style, but I will bring that up and see what everyone thinks.
Thanks for your support, and hope you have many great adventures in your Sportsmobile, Alan
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From: Seth Hatfield [mailto:[modedit]Email Addy Removed[/modedit]]
Sent: Wednesday, April 18, 2007 1:17 PM
To: Alan Feld
Subject: RE: Sportsmobile
Alan, Thanks for the reply. If the problem was a bad batch then why did you send me Ford bushings and not EMU bushings? The Ford bushings are rubber, the EMU bushings are urethane. Should I switch the motorcraft bushings for newer EMU bushings? Are the Ford bushings going to melt next time I drive 40 miles on washboard road? Have you considered using an bracket in the rear to convert the shock over to a thru bolt style like the front? Thanks for giving this your attention, Seth
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From: [modedit]Email Addy Removed[/modedit]
To: [modedit]Email Addy Removed[/modedit]
Subject: Sportsmobile
Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2007 10:07:37 -0700
Seth,
Just saw your post about the bushings on the EMU shocks. We have had less than 5 bushing fail, out of over 2000. We did contact EMU when the first one happened, they said they had a bad batch and were able to switch out most before shipping, there was no way to know which ones in the field could have been bad, and no way to test them. I am sorry you had 1 of the 4 sets that were bad, I cannot think of anyway we could have prevented this.
Best wishes, Alan
Here are the bushings that SMB sent me to replace the OMEs.
[modedit]OME = Old Man Emu- Aftermarket Lift Company[/modedit]
Here is my correspondence with SMB
Seth,
ARB throughout the entire batch once they found out there was a problem, they think maybe air somehow got into the mold during the process. We switched to the Ford bushings to solve the problem and have not gone back to the ARB bushings. You can switch the bushings if you want, Heber our 4x4 guru feels the Ford bushings are a better fit, the ARB bushings are a generic bushing, and the design of the Ford fits better. All the units we are shipping have the Ford bushings and we have not had any issues with them.
Have not considered switching to a thru bolt style, but I will bring that up and see what everyone thinks.
Thanks for your support, and hope you have many great adventures in your Sportsmobile, Alan
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Seth Hatfield [mailto:[modedit]Email Addy Removed[/modedit]]
Sent: Wednesday, April 18, 2007 1:17 PM
To: Alan Feld
Subject: RE: Sportsmobile
Alan, Thanks for the reply. If the problem was a bad batch then why did you send me Ford bushings and not EMU bushings? The Ford bushings are rubber, the EMU bushings are urethane. Should I switch the motorcraft bushings for newer EMU bushings? Are the Ford bushings going to melt next time I drive 40 miles on washboard road? Have you considered using an bracket in the rear to convert the shock over to a thru bolt style like the front? Thanks for giving this your attention, Seth
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: [modedit]Email Addy Removed[/modedit]
To: [modedit]Email Addy Removed[/modedit]
Subject: Sportsmobile
Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2007 10:07:37 -0700
Seth,
Just saw your post about the bushings on the EMU shocks. We have had less than 5 bushing fail, out of over 2000. We did contact EMU when the first one happened, they said they had a bad batch and were able to switch out most before shipping, there was no way to know which ones in the field could have been bad, and no way to test them. I am sorry you had 1 of the 4 sets that were bad, I cannot think of anyway we could have prevented this.
Best wishes, Alan
