Get mainway solutions kits, way better money spent

 

Get mainway solutions kits, way better money spent

X2

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We have put Oil Lite bushings in the last 7 sleds, along with the full GnR kits. They have lasted with no issues, no slop. I cant speak for other brands but Oil Lite has been good for us. Once you pull the weak plastic ones out you will just cringe.

 

X3... I had the bronze ones and they lasted about 6,000mi... Not bad but the mainway solutions greaseable bushings are lifetime.

 

I turned a set of bushings for my '07 REV, the difference between the OEM plastic bushings & the bronze bushings was night & day. Checking before & after the R & R, the slop (shocks removed) in the suspension was eliminated.

A heads up though, just before I was to begin machining mine, my brother sent me a link to a thread here where a person had ordered bushings (not sure of brand) & due to wear in the A arm 'eyes', the bushings were loose upon installation.

As a result, I turned each bushing to be a slip fit w/ each individual eye. There was a slight range in the IDs of the eyes.

 

The oil lites ended up failing in our expy sport after 4000km, do it right the first time , get val’s stuff

 

Our race sleds get oil lite bronze. They last longer than stock but also wear out also.

 

The oil lites ended up failing in our expy sport after 4000km, do it right the first time , get val's stuff

That's what -2400ish miles? I've got 6000+ on the stock plastic bushings in my Blizzard and still not a bit of play.

I'm actually amazed how well they're lasting. The ones on my XP had about an inch of play in the spindle by now.

 

It all depends on your budget. Oil lites are great for the price and will outperform the plastic OEM's. I have them and they work well.

Val's at Mainway are a step better than the Oil Lites, but a bit more money.

The length of time that you will keep the sled for may determine the investment you'll make.

 

Any of the Bronze bushings are better the the stock Plastic ones. I have the Oil lites, but when they fail I'll be buying Val's.

 

If your planning on keeping the sled for a while, i would lean toward's Val's kit, Mainway's stuff is high quality, greaseable, and will outlast whatever time you plan on owning the sled, Another vote for Mainway.

 

Any of the Bronze bushings are better the the stock Plastic ones. I have the Oil lites, but when they fail I'll be buying Val's.

Don't buy cheap ones, I had a set fall apart in 2 seasons and I don't ride that hard.

 

Interesting topic. Does anyone using the bronze bushings see any stress effects on the surrounding components? I ask as, in the car rally world, using hard bushings usually beats the daylights out of the surrounding parts and sometimes causes cracks and suspension failures. The snow may be enough cushioning by itself to avoid this in snowmobile use.

 

Never seen an issue with them. Go with Mainway bushing kits, It's more money but well worth it, you will never have to replace them.

 

Since installing the oil lites ive had to check regularly the arm bolts, they loosen

 

Are the oilite bushings turned or a pressed powder metal type of bushing. I have seen the latter 'crumble'.

 

In general (not ski doo aftermarket specific), the material can be machined, but it is pressed together. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oilite

Against my gut feeling, I did purchase a set for when my plastic ones wear out. I should have just waited, and got the Mainway bushings (along with all the other bushings for my skid). I have not installed them yet. Over 8k on the plastic OEM's. There is some slop now. I will be replacing them over the summer.

Oilite bushings are for pump bearings and such. Perhaps even crank bearings for a small model airplane engine. I used oilite bushings to replace the axle/wheel bushings on my lawn sweeper (which is probably abusive). Not the first material I would think to use for suspension bushings. I'm pretty sure the material is designed for spinny things, without too much of a radial/side load.

My professional background is as a Machinist and CNC Programmer/Process Engineer. Also an amateur automotive mechanic (and sled mechanic). I am not a metallurgical specialist, or product design engineer.

 

This is a A arm bushing from Mainway, High quality, no doubt, Yes they are more but you will never have to change them again.

 

We have put Oil Lite bushings in the last 7 sleds, along with the full GnR kits. They have lasted with no issues, no slop. I cant speak for other brands but Oil Lite has been good for us. Once you pull the weak plastic ones out you will just cringe.

Yep

I have Oil Lites that I got from Chris at C&T when I did the GnR bracing on my '17 Renegade XRS (and my son's '12 TNT) when it was new. They're light years ahead of the junk plastic ones from the factory. I was so shocked when I saw how bad the factory ones are, I put off doing the GnR on his TNT for a few days while I waited for another set of Oil Lites to arrive from C&T. Ordered another set for the TNT while I was out in the garage doing my XRS.

I have no experience with the greasable ones from Mainway, but they look like really nice pieces. I know their skid plate mounting hardware is really nice. I'll be ordering another one for my 2020 when it comes in.

 

I do have some metallurgical engineering background as well as machining and fabrication. TRUE oil lite bearings are soft and are designed to work under high speeds as this creates heat and the oil weeps to lubricate. Totally useless material in a sled A arm IMO. The sled shooter bushings I have seen look nice and do not look like oilite. The Mainway brass bushing with grease will work well as maintained and are a nice product. The factory plastic ones are soft and deform easily, the fact they do last a couple seasons indicates a arms dont see much of a load torsionally. The ideal material is Delrin, it's tough and needs no lubrication. Delrin is lubricated by water.

The plastic factory bushings are not Delrin, they may not even be HDPE.

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Amazing that people are discussing the merits of replacing plastic bushings on a $15,000 sled. My '04 rev had 2400 miles on it when I got and spindles that flopped around. So Doo is still #1 and they're still using .50 cents worth of plastic bushings for the high end suspension? How much is a set of greasable bushings? I used some oillite ones in my rev, working fine.

 

I do have some metallurgical engineering background as well as machining and fabrication. TRUE oil lite bearings are soft and are designed to work under high speeds as this creates heat and the oil weeps to lubricate. Totally useless material in a sled A arm IMO. The sled shooter bushings I have seen look nice and do not look like oilite. The Mainway brass bushing with grease will work well as maintained and are a nice product. The factory plastic ones are soft and deform easily, the fact they do last a couple seasons indicates a arms dont see much of a load torsionally. The ideal material is Delrin, it's tough and needs no lubrication. Delrin is lubricated by water.

The plastic factory bushings are not Delrin, they may not even be HDPE.

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Actually from what I can find for materials properties, Oilite's compressive strength is not all that bad.... 11,000 psi for a very low deformation of .001" in a 1.25" x 1" sample. About 40% tensile strength versus a leaded bronze (C632). So for a light unit like a sled, maybe not any real issue. But there are a variety of 'oilite' materials..... even from Oilite themselves.

 

Between my son and I we have both fantastic.

 

One of my oil lites cracked. All mainways in both my sleds now

 

Does anyone have a link to the mainway bushings?