3/4 Ton of fun - ‘95 Sierra

[Keeper]

Love it. I use an old commercial ss double-door fridge in the barn for tools and stuff I don't want exposed to outside humid conditions. Two Damp-Rid gallon buckets are in that fridge. When I open the fridge in mid-summer, I can feel the cold dry air inside.

 

[fancyTBI]

Love it. I use an old commercial ss double-door fridge in the barn for tools and stuff I don't want exposed to outside humid conditions. Two Damp-Rid gallon buckets are in that fridge. When I open the fridge in mid-summer, I can feel the cold dry air inside.

The damp-rid is a great idea. In fact I think I’ll pick up two - one for the fridge and one for my ‘94.

 

[fancyTBI]

Well I need to give an update. I thought last weekend was going to be fruitful - it was not. Fought with the passenger LCA for way too long, got it in, tore up the poly bushings pretty bad (despite my best efforts) upon install into the frame pockets. Then pressed in the new poly into the upper arms, destroyed those by getting a little overzealous with the press.

Frustration got the best of me. So I’m getting rubber pressed into the LCAs and the passenger upper (drivers is unmodified from Mevotech) and just going to be done. The rubber bushings in the Mevotech arms put up hardly any fight sliding into the frame pockets when I test fit them.

Maybe in the future when I have the right tools and less of a time crunch I’ll give the poly a shot again. It seems that the Energy Suspension poly is just a bit oversized compared to OE bushings. I don’t know if that’s by mistake or design. That was part of the issue.

 

[someotherguy]

I had issues getting the LCA's back into my '92 C1500 when I went with poly bushings. The pockets in the frame looked beat up like someone had been in there before and had possibly tightened up the bolts in an attempt to get a few more miles out of it (truck was 225K or so by the time I went in after the suspension) ... but considering I bought the truck at 170K it's hard to know for sure. Anyway I punted and used a porta-power with the claw attachment to spread the pockets a little bit at a time, test-fitting the LCA's, until success.

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Memory is kind of fuzzy on it but I don't recall having those problems when I later transferred that whole setup to my '94 C2500LD. I swapped everything out between the two trucks, in my driveway, after working a 12+ hr shift each night. Only took me a couple days IIRC and no real drama.

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Richard

 

[Orpedcrow]

I used a pry bar on most vehicles I’ve changed arms on. I’ve seen other people has success using a bolt or all thread and a couple nuts to force them open. Only need a blonde one usually.

 

[fancyTBI]

I had issues getting the LCA's back into my '92 C1500 when I went with poly bushings. The pockets in the frame looked beat up like someone had been in there before and had possibly tightened up the bolts in an attempt to get a few more miles out of it (truck was 225K or so by the time I went in after the suspension) ... but considering I bought the truck at 170K it's hard to know for sure. Anyway I punted and used a porta-power with the claw attachment to spread the pockets a little bit at a time, test-fitting the LCA's, until success.

You must be registered for see images attach

Memory is kind of fuzzy on it but I don't recall having those problems when I later transferred that whole setup to my '94 C2500LD. I swapped everything out between the two trucks, in my driveway, after working a 12+ hr shift each night. Only took me a couple days IIRC and no real drama.

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Richard

I wish I had a port-a-power to use. My dad suggested the same thing and I remember reading a post of yours in another thread about using one. I’m just not that lucky, I guess. But that’s ok. The rubber has been good enough for me when it was stock. I will have poly sway bar bushings and end links. I think that will help some.

 

[fancyTBI]

I used a pry bar on most vehicles I’ve changed arms on. I’ve seen other people has success using a bolt or all thread and a couple nuts to force them open. Only need a blonde one usually.

I used a manifold spreader on the uppers and it worked pretty decent. The all thread is a good idea.

I’m not super upset that I don’t get to use the poly, just frustrated by the time loss. Can’t do anything about it though! Just keep pushing forward.

 

[Caman96]

God works in mysterious ways.

 

[someotherguy]

God works in mysterious ways.

He saved you from listening to that eternal poly bushing squeak. I don't care how much assembly lube you use when installing them, they sound terrible. My trucks with poly bushings sounded like rolling junkwagons.. kinda like how a lot of Ford products sound after a few years.

Richard

 

[Caman96]

He saved you from listening to that eternal poly bushing squeak. I don't care how much assembly lube you use when installing them, they sound terrible. My trucks with poly bushings sounded like rolling junkwagons.. kinda like how a lot of Ford products sound after a few years.

Richard

Agreed and I think divine intervention led him to rubber bushings.