Old Man Emu CALR2 Caster Kit - Heavy Duty Suspension Upgrade for Off-Road Vehicles | Perfect for Jeep Wrangler & 4x4 Adventures

This product is a clever solution to castor problems related to 2-3" lifts. Because of the off-center holes there are some special considerations to install these. If you do not have access to a press, you may want to have these installed by a professional shop. It really should not possible to use threaded rod solutions because most of those rely on concentric holes to function correctly. You must maintain exact spacing between the holes. To achieve this I built a jig with some flat bar and 5/8 rod. I used a 5/8 center punch through the old bushings still mounted in the radius arms to locate my holes accurately on the flat bar. Once satisfied with fit I welded the rod square from the backside and ground it smooth. I followed the directions locating the centers on the vehicle with some help of a string and plumb bob measuring to be certain they were correctly positioned and marked. It was now time for the press work. I removed the old bushings, it took between 5-11 tons of force to remove these. This is normal from my experience. When it came time to press in my new bushings, I could simply line the marks on the arms with the mark on the holes and press away, trusting my jig to maintain spacing, and that part was flawless. Unfortunately these pressed in with hardly any effort. This worried me some. I thought I may have just got a bad bushing, but as I continued pressing them all in, none of them took much effort. They did not even register 1/2 ton on my press gauge. Not correct for a part that is supposed to be an interference fit. After I was done, I had my radius arms set on the ground lining up the holes one last time to be sure they all lined up correctly. As I stood up, I bumped one of the radius arms knocking it on it's side, and one of the bushings pushed out approximately 1/4". That is an awful lot to push out under a flop on it's side. With the type of forces applied to these radius arms under operation I fear these will not maintain correct position in the arms very long. I do not feel this is a correct interference fit, and I have concerns about the safety of these. Hopefully I just got a bad batch. It is beyond my return window as my project was delayed some, so it may be awhile until I can afford another option probably throwing good money after bad. As it stands I can not recommend this product to anyone if my experience is the norm. By the way, I was able to realign the bushing with my hands with about as much force as it takes to unscrew a stubborn jar of jelly. That raises some serious concerns for me. I expected better from Old Man Emu products.