Life expectancy of radius arm bushings?

[Brian1]

What is the life expectancy of polyurethane radius arm bushings under normal driving conditions with several offroad trips a year? I had some installed 2-3 years ago and now I am getting a "thumping" over small bumps which indicates bad radius arm bushings. I dont see how they can go bad so soon. Polyurethane should stand up to more than that. I do have a 2" lift so they are a bit more stressed due to the increased angle but that shouldnt matter much. They started "thumping" about 3 weeks after the lift was installed and only do it on small bumps, not over big bumps like large speed bumps. Do I need to tighten them maybe? Thanks for any help.

 

[skiingsean]

I recently had to replace the radius arm bushings on my 93 exploder. All I have to say is that it was not very brilliant when some engineer decided to put a rubber(poly) bushing approx 1-2 inches from an exhaust pipe (right side) at least on mine. Check em for cracks and or dryness. If they are still pretty soft you should be ok. Also when I went to get mine refitted I was going to use poly urethane but the mechanic I was working with would not install them or suggest that I do. He told me that in his experience poly bushings on the radius arms always fail or provide problems on explorers and only explorers. Its been a few months but I believe that he said something to the effect of the fitting is not precise.
Hope this helps

Sean