Uniball vs. bushing links

[Chancegoodman]

Alright Ik people are a lot smarter than me soooo… what are the advantages and disadvantages of both a uniball set or bushing for link? I understand price will be one but is the performance of a uniball link that much better than a bushing link?

 

[the bodj]

Uniball offers more misalignment, more robust, and I'd imagine is less forgiving if anything in your link setup is binding. I went with a bushing for the front and heim at the rear to keep noise and cost down. 3 seasons in and no noticeable wear on the front bushings. My bushings are mounted square with the truck and the links have a kick built in so they mount wider at the axle.

 

[85Yota]

I have uniballs on my 68 ford links but that truck isn't done and won't be for many years. I know a few guys that don't like uniball anti wobbles because the delrin anti wobble inserts crack and break apart. I did a ranger and the TT links it had ran uniballs BUT had some machined billet plates that bolted to side of uniball cups so the links could only move side to side not roll at all. I liked those since all metal and the wear would be minimal and a part you could change if necessary but I don't see it breaking during a trip causing any issues. I've always ran bushings mounted square the the chassis and never had a problem or excessive wear on the bushings ever. Cost for minimal benefit isn't there for me with uniballs. I got the BMS anti wobbles for free so figured I'd try them out on my truck.

 

[the bodj]

I have uniballs on my 68 ford links but that truck isn't done and won't ever be.

FIFY

 

[RW81]

Uniballs vs heims is another good topic too. Did all uniballs on my links after seeing Bryce Menzies heim links fail

 

[84Prerunner]

Mine are bushings. You have to use poly, not Delrin and like above you need to build the kick into link and mount the bushings square to the truck, not square to the link.
The bushings have held up well, only replaced them once in the last 10yrs.
I do wish I had done uniballs though. Bushings are notoriously noisy and any bushing deflection lets the axle move around under the truck.

 

[marcytech]

I had bushings front heims back on both my trucks (crew cab Silverado and ranger) the front bushings always last WAY longer than the rear heims. Like years
No failures here

 

[Giant Geoff]

I get 7-9 hard years out of bushings. I like the extra "give" it has that takes stress off of the mounts.

 

[Hi-Desert Motorsports]

been running bushings on our GIANT links, 4 years of use and there was no noticeable wear on the bushings or the sleeve, when we converted the pickup to a tundra we had JuberaFab kick out the links more for more triangulation and opted to just keep the bushings instead of going to a uniball. Bushings also help prevent the link from rolling if your shocks are above centerline.