OFT racing Steering bushings

[kinger]

Well I have been testing these for around 850 miles now and thought I better write a review.

I'll cut right to the chase, people were claiming these reduce slop so I set up a jig to verify or disprove this and these are my results:

Stock bushing front to back play (the one most complain of) 3/4"
OFT front to back 3/8"

Stock post deflection (if you hold the bars straight and push forward or back how far do they deflect or move) 1/8"

OFT post deflection 0"

Ok so I was skeptical here but they actually did help the 'play'

Last thing I wanted to verify was the vibration as I am a trail rider. I first rode 500 miles on stockers, then switched and have 850 on these. They do transmit a slight amount more vibration through the bars. For the first 100 miles when I would stop my hands are tingly but after that say the next 100 miles its gone. On a couple rides I had no vibration so I would say its very slight and actually makes sense since the factory plastic ones were not fully touching the steering post. I am picky and this doesn't bother me in the slightest.

Lastly a surprised improvment was my steering effort was reduced, granted my factory ones were bone dry no grease at all, these made a world of difference and the sled more enjoyable.

Overall this is a fantastic product and I was not expecting them to be anything different when i got them.

I give them a 7/8 out of 10 on the mod list of things to do to the sled.

BTW my sled had 3000 miles on it during the test. If your are a highmiler these should show even more improvement.

Hope this helps anyone looking at buying these!

 

[rxrider]

Amen brother to your findings. I don't have the mileage but I find the steering more precise and with less steering effort even if the blocks hardly have any wear yet. Darting is also reduced when virtually all slop was taken out of the steering system, I can imagine even better results with oilite bushings in the front A-arms as well. I still run 05 A-arms with the stock bushings in them.

 

[scmurs]

Thanks for posting your review Kinger!

The real world is always the best place to get our feedback from.

Stay well.

Scott

 

[APEX 06]

Thanks I was thinking about doing this over summer but didn't know if they would work or not.

 

[KevinS]

How hard was the install?

 

[kinger]

Physically removing the old bushings and replacing with these was easy. Getting to them takes some time, I had to remove the gas tank. About a hour in total. I really like them they work great!

 

[mulot30th]

On my mid mount turbo apex mtn, the steering got progressively harder to turn each day of riding...

Right now it is really hard to turn even with skis off the ground...

Maybe they dont like the heat from the turbo being so close to them.

Not sure what to do to make them work again? maybe just re-grease?

 

[kinger]

Did you use grease when you initially installed?

 

[yamahaboy701]

Lets not forget about how much they help on the Nytro too. I put 1200 miles on the bushing/relocater last year and never looked back at my stock bushings. My stock bushings were junk at 2000 miles!

 

[BlueByYou2000]

I have a bud who wants me to install these on his sled. I assume you have to remove the tank? Dont see any way to get them in there without doing so. Sled is an Attak. Also it sure would be nice if instructions were included. Never could understand why you wouldnt include instructions when selling aftermarket parts, especially when you need to remove the tank to get to it!

 

[Hammer 1]

Yes gas tank needs to be removed to get two of the locations and the third can get done by turning the ski's and believe I removed (loosen) oil tank. Yeah, I received no intructons s well.

 

[Irv]

Just received mine in the mail and they are quality pieces.

Looking forward to getting them installed.

Thanks OFT

 

[02xtreme]

How many steering blocks are required for the Apex? Just 2?

 

[Super Sled]

3 of them if you replace them all. That's what did. The third is behind the oil tank.

 

[low slung]

Got my bushings today for mine and 7skulls nytro.Also got two really cool OFT stickers(big skulls).Hope to install these this fall.Many thanks.