Talon A-arm Bushings and my Dealer Sucks

[hondabob]

The Upper drivers side A-arm bushing failed at around 32,000 miles. I replaced them with the aftermarket bushings because the stock bushings are difficult to remove and install. The lower A-arm bushings had a little play so I replaced them too. The passenger side was still like new. My dealer said they had to check everything and make a warranty claim. I told them to replace the leaking water pump too. My steering rack had some slight play. They turned in a few more parts to be replaced under warranty. When I installed the A-arm bushings and found several of the parts were still like new I was pissed. GOAZ just bought out my dealer. The new guys suck. The Honda Tech line manager said they couldn't refurbish to whole front end due to the mileage and turned down the bushings. Tech line also said my warranty is still good. The excellent Honda tech with 7 years of Honda experience just quit so that was the last straw. The new tech replaced the left front dif seal on my 2020 Talon with the improved 2022 seal. He forgot to add dif fluid and I know that happens occasionally. Fortunately I check most of my repair work so no problem. It did have 5 ounces of oil, I had to add 8 ounces to bring it up to the full level. I canceled my extended warranty on both Talons and will be doing all my own repair work. I only bought the extended warranty because I was going to put 50,000 miles on both Talons. The service writer said Honda turned down my warranty and it would have cost around $6,000 or more to do the repair work. they wrote up. I knew better and checked with the service manager and found they turned down the bushings, steering rack, and rear wheel bearings. FYI the Honda steering rack will last around 15,000 miles. I expect installing new bushings will fix it.

 

[JACKAL]

Having a dealership with staff willing to work with customers and deliver good service in a timely manner definitely makes or breaks the customer satisfaction of ownership.

 

[Stilly1155]

That sucks Bob. I bought my Talon when they were Star-Island also. Thanks for the heads up guess I'll try the dealer in Anthem for any repairs now.

 

[SLOWPOKE693]

Nobody has come up with a good solution for replacement bushings yet. Like you said, the stock ones are hard to install without damaging them and all the aftermarket ones I've seen are just delrin or poly bushings with sleeves in them, which suck worse than stock and wear quickly.

Someone with a lathe and some skills could make decent side money machining a tool that could be used in a press to install those factory spherical bearings without damage....

Why doesn't anybody offer aftermarket upper and lower control arms with heims and misalignment spacers in place of the bushings? Camber and caster would be fully adjustable and replacing them would be simple. Almost seems like a no brainer....

 

[HondaTech]

Nobody has come up with a good solution for replacement bushings yet. Like you said, the stock ones are hard to install without damaging them and all the aftermarket ones I've seen are just delrin or poly bushings with sleeves in them, which suck worse than stock and wear quickly.

Someone with a lathe and some skills could make decent side money machining a tool that could be used in a press to install those factory spherical bearings without damage....

Why doesn't anybody offer aftermarket upper and lower control arms with heims and misalignment spacers in place of the bushings? Camber and caster would be fully adjustable and replacing them would be simple. Almost seems like a no brainer....

Their too busy pumping out junk for Polaris.

 

[hondabob]

If the bushings ware out quick they are easy to replace buy lifting the arm up slightly. I replaced several in my Polaris RZR's. For repair or warranty work in Arizona Western Honda may also be a good dealer to get the work done.

 

[wrighteous]

superatv sells the exact ones that are in a arms
manufactured by the same supplier that Honda uses I believe

 

[wrighteous]

the tool comes with them from superatv

 

[hondabob]

Thanks, it looks like the retainers are easy to install. Getting the retainers out is difficult plus the bushings have to be pressed in. I might try the factory bushings the next time.

 

[Jhall728]

Nobody has come up with a good solution for replacement bushings yet. Like you said, the stock ones are hard to install without damaging them and all the aftermarket ones I've seen are just delrin or poly bushings with sleeves in them, which suck worse than stock and wear quickly.

Someone with a lathe and some skills could make decent side money machining a tool that could be used in a press to install those factory spherical bearings without damage....

Why doesn't anybody offer aftermarket upper and lower control arms with heims and misalignment spacers in place of the bushings? Camber and caster would be fully adjustable and replacing them would be simple. Almost seems like a no brainer....

Super atv sells the press tool with their bushings, makes it a 1/2 hour job to do all 8 if your quick. I undo the bolts on 1 a arm and used the press tool with 3/8" all thread and some nuts to push them out. i never take the arms off anymore. the super atv OEM style bushings are okay, better than the poly junk. I get about 1000 miles from the Super atv OEM ones, i emailed the ccty (the manufacture of the bushings) but you cant order 8 you have to order 800.

As far as making aftermarkets with heims, that would be the best for adjustability but i doubt heims would last any longer and cost 4x as much.

 

[hondabob]

If my bushings don't last I will get the Super ATV OEM bushings and tool. My upper A-arm bushings had failed and were broken enough to make it hard to press them out. I will replace the other side before a major failure. The passenger side is still like new with no play at 33,000 miles.

 

[fartsalot]

If my bushings don't last I will get the Super ATV OEM bushings and tool. My upper A-arm bushings had failed and were broken enough to make it hard to press them out. I will replace the other side before a major failure. The passenger side is still like new with no play at 33,000 miles.

Make us a video of that repair,,, some day we all will need to deal with this issue