is james duff reliable?

[silver]

i am interested in buying some james duff components for my 94 exploder sport, namely a replacement bumper and a set of radius arm bushings, but i really haven't ever heard much about their product strength and reliability. anyone who knows these things from experience should reply please.

 

[pope_face]

I don't have any JD parts myself... but if you look around the forum there are plenty of people that have the parts and seem perfectly happy with them...

As for the radius arm bushings, you don't have to go with James Duff. That topic has been covered several times before, and I think which type of bushings you go with will really depend on the type of ride you want... I have the Moog bushings and I'm happy with them, but I think a couple people on here have the Energy Suspension bushings... I think the general consensus is poly bushings over rubber...

 

[glfredrick]

James Duff has been out there in the off-road world a lot longer than a lot of late-comers and has a very reliable line of products.

Some guys don't care for their shock absorbers, but that is personal choice. Their springs are also sort of stiff, but again, personal choice. Otherwise, their stuff is built heavy and will take abuse much better than Rough Country, Tuff Country, etc.

You might also want to check out BDS, by the way -- lifetime warranty on all their stuff - even springs. Hard to beat that. Both of my kids work in off-road shops and have done a ton of BDS installs. Stuff is solid and it works.

For TTB bushings, I like poly. The TTB arms only need to move up and down, so poly is a good choice. Duff is as good as anyone, but like was said above, MOOG and others are just as good.

Stick with rubber for the radius arm mounts though. They have to move against the bushings, not just twist in line with them. The poly ones are OK for street use, but limit flex off-road. Rubber moves better there as it can squish - and worn out rubber is best for max travel...

The design of Ford's radius arm front end makes the arms act like a huge sway bar when they are tightened up with poly bushings. The tighter and harder the bushings are on the end of the radius arms, the less down travel you will have. I'm getting close to 18" on my carefully selected junk yard rubber parts.

 

[410Fortune]

James Duff stuff is EXTREMELY STRONG yes
I agree 100% with glfredrick

The RUBBER radius arm bushings are getting HARD to find, they all seem to be urethane these days

 

[Calvynandhobbs]

I just ordered my first James Duff part the other day. I've only had my Explorer for about a month now, but I'm just going over everything really well and found one of my rear shackles has rusted through and it is twisted. James Duff is having some kind of moving sale and has a bunch of stuff on clearance so I picked up a new set of rear 1" lift shackles for $19.95. They are supposed to arrive today.

 

[Dan Whitaker]

I just wish they made stuff for 2ng gen Explorers
They have some sweet pre-runner bumpers & light bars for 1st gens, B-II's and Rangers.

 

[unclemeat]

I run a James Duff steering stabilizer and am completely satisfied wit it.

 

[whitetrash96]

I just ordered my first James Duff part the other day. I've only had my Explorer for about a month now, but I'm just going over everything really well and found one of my rear shackles has rusted through and it is twisted. James Duff is having some kind of moving sale and has a bunch of stuff on clearance so I picked up a new set of rear 1" lift shackles for $19.95. They are supposed to arrive today.

I just got their shackles as well, they aren't as pretty as some but will definately hold up. I've got their 5.5" kit too and it is plenty stout.

 

[MoabB2]

They make some tough stuff, bumpers especially.

However instructions aren't the best, and they are very expensive!

 

[Maniak]

We have had the front part of the Duff 2.5" lift on our X for just under 200k miles (180 or so).

We bent a drop bracket when the sterring (tie rod adjuster) got hung on it when wheeling. I called James Duff and they not only sent us another one, but asked for a pic of our truck and put it in their printed catalog.

Since then, no problems, but it is time to replace the front springs (they have sagged some over the miles).

~Mark

 

[james t]

I cant speak for their Explorer/Ranger stuff but their early Bronco stuff is top notch. I had their front winch prerunner type bumper and it was all .120 DOM tube and .250" plate.

 

[Anime]

I have the Duff Prerunner bumper, and am pretty pleased. Still the best deal going for a hand-built steel tube bumper that bolts right up, and very, very strong. The fog lights don't hang behind the bumper and show through the tubes like they show in the catalog (maybe for the ranger one they do), but I've learned to live with it.

As for bushings, I like the Energy Suspension polyurethane since they make the black ones with graphite impregnated into them, so they don't squeak like regular urethane bushings. Still a good idea to use the grease they come with, though. You can get a whole Energy Suspension polyurethane bushing kit for the 91-94 for about $100, which has the radius arm bushings, sway bar bushings, axle pivot bushings, leaf spring bushings, and more. Well worth it IMO, especially if you're looking at doing a few bushings anyway. Not as much flex as rubber, as mentioned, for an off-road ride, but for a daily driver or 50/50 on/off road, they're a big improvement. The Duff ones are okay too, but I still don't like the blue color.

 

[Arthur]

I did the complete energy suspension hyperflex kit on my 93... It is a worth the 150 bucks and day of labor. Energy suspension specializes in this kind of thing and James Duff doesn't so I would go with energy suspension if I were you.