New IRO leafs, melted bushing from exhaust?

[DanMan2k06]

I recently tossed out my 6+ year old Pro Comp 3.5" leafs. They did their job for years, had no complaints other than they had sagged a little too much, and stiffened due to contacting the overload leaf excessively.

I have HD's shackle box relocators, and some Zone Offroad 1-1.5" shackles. My exhaust is cut behind the shackle bolt, so that it doesn't contact the shackle or hardware. This worked for the ENTIRE life of the old springs.

I purchased a set of Iron Rock 3.5" leafs, after reading many positive reviews. After install they felt fantastic. I threw them on right before a road trip out to Iowa, 1,250 miles each way. I got back yesterday, and during the end leg of the trip I noticed excessive clunking and squeaking. I also noticed at a few rest stops that the right side had sagged a tad.

After a closer glance tonight, I found my right rear leaf bushing completely melted, and the shackled bouncing around freely in the spring eye. Anyone ever have any similar experiences? My last bushings on the PC's were rubber, these are "urethane" supposedly.

 

[831_xj]

Haha nice! Put a turn down on it from az or some auto parts

 

[DanMan2k06]

I suppose I could, but do you think the hot air would still move towards the rear once the vehicle is in motion, causing it to melt again?

Also, it would have to be one SHORT turn-down. the outer edge of my tailpipe is literally in line with the head of the shackle bolt. If the pipe gets too long they're gonna contact a lot.

 

[ColoradoRaptor]

Your header suggests your bashing IRO and that there is a problem with IRO leaf bushings. After reading and seeing the pictures it is clearly your fault not IRO. I understand your last rubber bushing lasted in the exaust heat but urethane is a different animal. You need to redirect your exaust and replace the bolt and bushing. Your header is misleading!

P.S. I am running the same leaves/bushings and they are darn good.... so far.

 

[DanMan2k06]

Any wording that is transposed to text from speech can be misleading. I thought the header was simply a concise title related to a problem I encountered, no faults imposed. The thumbs down emoticon was for nothing more than situational suckage.

Obviously, the cut exhaust is what caused the bushing to melt. I was not pointing fingers or looking to place blame on anyone. I had rubber bushings before and they were fine. I installed new leafs with urethane bushings, and they melted. These are merely facts, not accusations of poor quality. If anything I'd hope others that have done the same (cut the exhaust, there are plenty) would use this thread as a warning before traveling down the same road, and ending up with melted bushings. If a mod thinks the title is a little too biased, feel free to make one up that might be more accurate.

Anywho, I emailed IRO to see if they'd be nice enough to send me a new bushing, or at least sell me a single one so I don't have to drop another $50 on an entire set.

P.S. I love them as well, at least the first 1,000 miles I got on the solid bushing Looking forward to many more years/miles on them.

 

[Jbh97009]

Lol I cut my exhaust the exact same way, it was hitting my shackle after installing my hd Offroad shackle relo boxes... I worried about this happening but it hasn't..... Yet. I'm actually planning on getting the 3.5" iro leafs (and tnt customs ubolt eliminators) soon, but my cat and muffler are shot so I guess I better replace my exhaust and play with routing first!

Thanks for posting this up, I would have likely done the same thing had I not seen this

 

[DanMan2k06]

Shot Zach an email, he sent out a new replacement bushing today, free of charge. He also prompted me to fix the exhaust, as a third bushing would be out of the question lol. How to gain a repeat customer...

 

[Stitch702]

Had the same issue when I installed my iro lift. I just cut my exhaust back and bought a turn down from o Reilly. No more problems after that