Paralever bushing advice

[beemermyke]

I'm going to finally get around to doing my paralever bushings on my 56,000 mile 2004 R1150RS, and was wondering if any of you tech guys (i.e., Paul for instance) has had an opportunity to evaluate the bushings offered by Rubber Chicken Racing. They seem to be of a better design, but most of the comments I've seen only this product say things like "I've had mine for 20k without any problems". I know they are more pricey than the stock offerings, but I'll gladly pay the difference if they'll hold up better. Any advice out there? Also, besides the heat gun to remove the 12mm allan bolt and the loctite when it goes back in, any other words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated. Things like: what else am I looking for while i'm in there? What kind of lube, and where, etc.

[bikerfish1100]

Honda Moly 60 on the splines, align u-joints correctly for phasing (search, pics abound to explain- or if you get the bushings a drawing should be included). place a shop rag between the driveshaft & the swingarm housing while sliding the splines back together- it will act as the 3rd hand you don't have.
The job is not that tough, and has been written up in a number of places (Pelicanparts.com's Tech Forum for the R1100S, as well as here and advrider.com)
I've only got 10K on mine- no real comment.

[PGlaves]

I'm going to finally get around to doing my paralever bushings on my 56,000 mile 2004 R1150RS, and was wondering if any of you tech guys (i.e., Paul for instance) has had an opportunity to evaluate the bushings offered by Rubber Chicken Racing. They seem to be of a better design, but most of the comments I've seen only this product say things like "I've had mine for 20k without any problems". I know they are more pricey than the stock offerings, but I'll gladly pay the difference if they'll hold up better. Any advice out there? Also, besides the heat gun to remove the 12mm allan bolt and the loctite when it goes back in, any other words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated. Things like: what else am I looking for while i'm in there? What kind of lube, and where, etc.

I did a Benchwrenching column on them in the October '07 issue of the ON. I have installed them on all 3 of our Oilhead bikes. I can't tell you how many tens of thousands of miles they last because I don't have enough miles on any of our bikes with them installed to wear them out. I can say that simply from observation I would expect an oillight bronze bushing, greased, with a large contact surface inside a hardened steel race to last an order of magnitude longer than the fragile needle bearings originally installed OEM. As the years go by I may be proved wrong but I consider them permanent.

[beemermyke]

Appreciate the input guys! Yep, the bushings seem to be a smarter design. Problem solved.
Mike