I wanted to report back and a little Henri enforced time inside gave me the opportunity to sit down and type something up…
After repeated failure of the stock Dexter bronze bushings, I decided to try bedding them in epoxy for support to try to extend their life. The experiment with epoxy (Devcon Plastic Steel Puddy) bedding the stock bronze bushings was a fail for the most part. In positions with the highest wear and the most loose spring eyes they failed, similar to without epoxy. In forward positions where I would have expected some damage, but not as much as towards the rear, the epoxy bedding worked well and the bushings were in great shape.
Photo of a failed bronze bushing bedded in epoxy after 6K hardish miles put on in Summer 2020 (passenger rear).
Forward bushings looked good (and better than they would have without epoxy).
I decided to try steel DOM tube bushings. DOM tube is often used for bushing material by the aftermarket off road crowd. There is not a properly sized DOM available, so I bought 11/16" OD and reamed the ID to 9/16.
Stats for the various parts.
Reaming to 9/16 resulted in a bushing with a lot tighter tolerance than the originals.
Bronze
Steel
I knew the DOM would fit in the spring eyes and in some cases be a loose fit, so I opted to bed these in epoxy.
After 6K hard miles this summer (2021), the bushings and epoxy looks great. This is my hardest wearing position (passenger rear).
With tolerances getting tighter and tighter alignment becomes more of a problem to get the shoulder bolts through the front of the bracket, the spring and then the back of the bracket. I made a nifty tool to help with alignment. I ground down a nut to serve as an alignment tool to get the bolt through the springs and bracket. Once through the nut is removed.