Panhard Rod Bush Fail

[Onrei]

I had a scary moment the other day when I lost the steering on my Series 8 GU at 80km/h. The steering wheel started shaking violently. When I stopped and had a look under the truck I realised that the panhard rod was dragging on the road. The bush had given way and the rod had come loose.

I took it to my dealer and they repaired it under warranty (I only had the 40,000km service last week) which was good.

I was wondering if anyone else has had this problem before and will it be ongoing? Is there an after market option that I should consider? Until now, replacing panhard rods were low on my priority list.

It would be great to hear from anyone who has had a similar problem and what they did about it.

Cheers

[MudRunnerTD]

Very very surprised mate!! Has it got a lift? Has it done much Offroad? Have you got a pic of the wrecked bush? It should have a big washer over it, did you loose the nut? The chassis end bush has like a rose joint in it, which end failed?

You should not be worried about this as an ongoing issue. Is there any damage to the Panard? Did they replace the Panard or just the bush? I have never heard anyone ever have one come off!

[Onrei]

No lift yet and not a huge amount of off road. Once a month off road at best. No pics unfortunately. Should have got some pics but didn't think of it at the time. The nut was still on. That's what I can't understand. There is a metal tube inside the bush isn't there? This must have sheared off. Pretty strange. They replaced the whole panhard not just the bush. It failed on the axle not the chasis.

Thanks for your thoughts.

Cheers

Onrei

[Patrolling Paddy]

As said there should be a large washer that is bigger than the pan hard eye. If the nut was still in place then the washer should have retained the pan hard to prevent complete disconnection, in the event of a bush failure.
The bushes are not everlasting but don't fail in such a manner on any sort of regularity that I have heard of.
I recently had a similar situation under comp condition but the nut fell off and allowed the pan hard to come a drift, the bush was missing as was the nut and washer so unsure what condition the bush was in when we parted ways.

Make sure you have the large washer fitted and the nut should be a nyloc nut to prevent it from rattling loose, if you're still worried you could always loctite the nut as well.

[mudnut]

And make sure the dished side of the washer is facing out toward the nut, so the centre bites onto the metal sleeve. Otherwise the rubber bush will undo the nut. The mech that did the roadworthy on mine had it the wrong way and the panhard came adrift when I swerved to miss a roo.

[happygu]

As Darren ( Mudrunner ) has already mentioned, this is not a usual fail - not one I have heard of at all.....

My bush has a destroyed outer seal on my aftermarket panhard, as when I ordered it in, it was already perishing from the supplier, which I wasn't too happy about.

When I contacted the supplier, they said to use it as is, and it has now lasted over 5 years, but it will be my next item to replace.....