After the Tall Boi mod, I wanted to address a couple of issues with my drivetrain. The front shifter bushing was a design that made it difficult to remove the shifter stay. The bushing was so tight, that I needed to thread the bolt into the bushing first to install it. Which is annoying as hell when there is limited room to work. The other issue was the driveshaft carrier bushings. I personally hate 2-piece driveshafts, and I plan on picking up another carbon fiber driveshaft eventually, but CF prices have gone way up so I will have to work with the 2-piece for now.
My initial plan for the shifter bushings was to go with Delta Motorworks as they make a lot of high-quality shifter parts. However, they are sold out of the Solid Billet Shifter Stay Bushings for a while. I found a small company called SOKÜ that sells solid shifter bushings and driveshaft carrier bushings. Green is definitely not my color, but I wanted to give these guys a try.
They are on the west coast, so shipping was about as expected. For the price, these pieces are nice and arrived better packaged than I expected. I also ordered the extra grease.
Solid Driveshaft Carrier Bushings
I decided to install the Carrier Bushings first since they are easier to access. Just two 12mm bolts and the carrier is free.
My bushings were pretty rusty, so I used a pair of channel locks to pull the bushings out. They are a two-piece design. Since this is an STi driveshaft, the bushings aren’t as soft as the WRX bushings.
Install is pretty straightforward; the tapered piece goes on the bottom of the carrier. Mine is a bit rusty, and this would be a great time to clean it up, but this is a temporary mod for me.
Driving around on this setup, I noticed that the typical bucking at low RPMs is lessened quite a bit. I didn’t notice any additional NVH with this mod, but I also don’t mind NVH so take that for what it’s worth.
Shifter Bushings Install
I don’t know what brand of bushing this is; if I had to guess I would say it’s probably an Energy Suspension bushing. Either way, I am not a fan of it. The bushing is poly, but it almost feels like jello.
It was easier to pull the whole stay out since the bushing was pressed in pretty tight. If you are running stock bushings then you can probably leave the stay in place. I needed to use a vise and a socket to press the ES bushing out.
The Suko shifter bushings fit great. I used a bit of grease for the install, but they slipped right into place. I like how the bushings center the stay in the mount.
The shifts feel a lot cleaner, especially with my tall shifter. I need to find a replacement for the TS U-Joint that was already on the 6MT when I bought it. It has some play in it, but I think that will have to wait until the next version of the Tall Boi.
Cheers!
B.黒曜石 
Looks great and good to hear the new bushings made a difference. How did you hear about SOKU? While I am not a fan of Torque Solution nowadays as they seem to be the Gimmick Motorsports 2.0 knocking off every single part possible on the market, they were the first ones that came out the solid carrier bushings over a decade ago and SOKU may have just copied their design as they look exactly like TS’ – is this irony? TS also has those solid front bushings. When I did my research a year or two ago, I couldn’t find any other company with solid front bushings so I bought them and threw them in my “parts to install” pile along with the Delta Motorwerks U-joint. I would’ve purchased the SOKU ones if I came up on my search.
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I was trying to avoid TS and I just happened to stumble across them. I know the driveshaft bushings are a Beatrush clone but I don’t think BR makes them anymore. I had a set of BR driveshaft bushings on my 09 WRX. I really want to buy the Beatrush rear diff brace before it goes away. I’m afraid these JDM parts are going to disappear very quickly in the next couple of years.
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LOL, I stand corrected on the originators of the DS bushings. I found part number S76010PMB and I see a few vendors are still selling them.
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Yeah, I’m not sure they have an original part in their catalog but I could be wrong.
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I bought these bushings. I’ll save the front shifter bushings for whenever I get to my 06 WRX and the driveshaft bushings for my 09 FXT. I seriously thought TS was the originators from over a decade ago but now that I know it was Beatrush, I’m going to sell off the TS ones I bought for the Forester.
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Good deal! Let me know what you think. And yeah, if TS sells something I assume they got the design from elsewhere until proven otherwise. 😂😂
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