A guide to Triple 4 Suspension Bush & Bolts Kits

Triple 4 Engineering suspension bushes are made for us to Original Equipment Specifications and are superior to anything else on the market. Triple 4 Metalastic Rubber Bushes are tough and durable, whilst still allowing the suspension to flex. They offer a firm, yet supple ride. They're not fancy, they don't look glitzy, they just do the job superbly. 

Metalastic Rubber Bushes are the go to bush for any serious 4WD owner. Forget the hype, forget the fashionable fancy in trend bushes of the moment. Those who seriously use their vehicles will tell you original equipment bushes are the way to go. Whatever the application, from road car, greenlaner, weekend toy, overlander, even competition vehicles. A proper set of Original Equipment Spec Metalastic Bushes take some beating.

Most people like to follow the trend of fitting expensive and not so expensive Polyurethane Bushes. We have tried all the major brands of Polyurethane Bushes, experienced them first hand, on every type of Terrain, and in our opinion, they just don't make the grade. The 4 main issues been ride quality, splitting, tearing and premature wear. Yes, Polyurethane Bushes do have a place in some applications. But for us, on a Defender / Disco 1 / Range Rover Classic Chassis, OEM rubber wins every time.  

For post 1994 Defenders, Discovery 1 and post 1986 Range Rover Classic we do 2 different bush kits. We do a fast road version and an off road version. The fast road kit is recommended, as the name suggests, for fast road application, and also for heavily loaded vehicles, such as overlanders. The off road kit utilises a slightly different bush and allows more axle articulation. This kit is recommended for normal road use, green laning and weekend toys.

The front radius arm to axle bushes in our fast road kits have an extra steel insert sandwiched in the bush and the radius arm to chassis bushes have a smooth inside wall. This reduces the flexibility in the bush resulting in a stiffer front end, giving a firmer ride and less body roll at the expense of a slight decrease in axle articulation.
The front radius arm to axle bushes in our off road kits have a central rubber core without the steel insert as in our fast road spec bush and the radius arm to chassis bushes have a fluted inside wall. This increases the flexibility in the bush resulting in excellent axle articulation whilst providing a smooth and compliant ride.

A suspension bolt kit is just a bolt kit isn’t it?

Far from it. Suspension bolts must be to OEM spec, this is imperative to vehicle safety. You’d be surprised just how many sellers out there are selling parts that do not meet these critical safety standards.

All Triple 4 bolt kits come with the correct grade of high tensile bolts and nuts for each application. 

Lots of cheaper "High Tensile" suspension bolt kits out there use grade 8.8 Bolts.  Although grade 8.8 bolts are classed as high tensile, most of the suspension bolts your Land Rover left the factory with are the higher tensile grade of 10.9. Land Rover use grade 10.9 bolts for a reason. Any replacements must be grade 10.9, not only for safety but using lesser grade bolts also brings with it insurance implications if anything does go wrong due to a bolt failure.

Triple 4 Engineering metric bolts are Grade 10.9. We also supply you with the correct grade 10 nuts to go with the bolts, something which most suppliers DON'T DO!!! Even if the supplier is supplying you the correct grade 10.9 bolts, we can guarantee that 99.99% of them will supply you with a Grade 8 nut to go with it. Instantly down grading your nut and bolt combination to a Grade 8.8. The chain is only as strong as its weakest link.

All our imperial bolts are to OEM spec of SAE Grade 5. We also make our imperial bolts available in SAE Grade 8, which is the imperial equivalent to metric Grade 10.9.  This allows us to offer you a full kit, with matching spec Grade 10.9 bolts, for use where the suspension bolts are a mixture of imperial and metric on the same vehicle. These kits are designed for competition vehicles where a higher the OEM grade of imperial bolt is beneficial when the suspension is taking some serious punishment.

You don’t sell Stainless Steel suspension bolt kits. Why?

The idea of using stainless steel bolts for the suspension is, in theory a brilliant idea. But in practice, it’s one of the worst things you can ever do. 
The first one is safety related. People will tell you that the high quality marine grade A4-80 stainless suspension bolts are the equivalent to a normal steel “high tensile” Grade 8.8 bolt. And yes, they are correct, they are a similar tensile strength, which is the point at which the material fractures. However, the critical difference is how the stainless steel behaves. In layman terms, stainless steel is a softer material, so its yield strength is lower, which basically means it tends to bend well below its tensile strength, (i.e. well below its breaking point) when it’s put under serious loadings, such as in suspension applications.

Galvanic corrosion is also a major issue, you’re putting a stainless steel bolt into a mild steel bush and steel components. These dissimilar metals create in effect a mini battery, the current flow takes away from the steel to corrode it more quickly. So basically, everything around the stainless bolt will corrode much more quickly than just using the correct OEM bolt in the first place. And if all those facts don’t put you off using stainless, there’s also the issue of A4-80 bolt being the equivalent to Grade 8.8, your Land Rover left the factory with Grade 10.9, so I’m guessing that Land Rover, with the millions they invest in product development and testing, that the bolts need to be Grade 10.9.

And finally, stainless steel can gall when tightening and untightening, (which basically means the thread of the nut and the bolt effectively become welded together), unless you use the right lubricate and tighten everything slowly by hand, and even then, there can still be major issues if anything galls when untightening. This can turn even simple routine maintenance a major ordeal.

So, there we have it, Triple 4 suspension bush & bolt kits, nothing fancy, they don't look glitzy, they just do the job superbly.

Fit the best, fit Tripe 4.