Lower control arm bushings

[alpinecrick]

Hmmm..Have heard of the noise issues.... grease doesn't take care of that with these?
Was more interested in ride quality since that seems to be what people talk about but will look into it further....Poly does seem it would be a bit more of an enjoyable install for me...

I bought extra silicone grease and slathered enough on them to make a Slippy Slide............

My 96 has been fairly well taken care of since new, and the ONLY difference between the polys and OEM was noise and a bit harsher ride with the poly bushings. And I don't expect a pickup to ride like a Mercedes to begin with.

 

[Schurkey]

The grease included with the Energy Suspension bushings--and available separately--is the stickiest grease I've ever seen.

I've put Poly bushing inserts into multiple vehicles, only one squeaked...and I'm fairly sure the squeaking was the rotted OEM lower bushings, not the Poly bushings I installed on the upper arms. Vehicle was totaled before I got around to doing the lower arms.



When I was working at The Bus Company, management instituted "sign-off books". Each bus was issued a book, the book listed every major operation in the build process. The folks who performed that operation were to initial the appropriate line in the book.

Management told us that this was not going to be used for disciplinary actions; only to confirm that each job was performed. They did not exactly lie about that. They did not exactly tell the truth, either.

 

[someotherguy]

When I did full ES poly on my '92 C1500 ECLB (then later transferred the parts to my '94 C2500LD) they did squeak.. a LOT. I probably could have greased the bushings more, but I didn't realize to the extent they would be noisy. The truck sounded like a rolling junkwagon - pretty much like any old Ford truck you hear coming down the road that hasn't died yet. It rode great, though. Firm, but I'm used to that with lowered trucks / low profile tires.

I'd probably go poly again if I did just bushings, instead of replacing entire arms, like my upcoming suspension job on the C3500. But I'd grease them more. A lot more.

Richard

 

[jd33173]

I'd post picks of sticks of dynamite but I'm plumb out--used my last sticks on lower control arm bushings.

Heat the C-arm but don't let the rubber get so hot that it starts popping and spitting--my buddy has the burn scar to prove it.

A ball joint press in conjunction with heat is usually the best bet.

I have the stamped lower control arms. there was much car repair language utilized. I ended up getting the arms out and sent them to the machine shop to do.

 

[caw_86]

i found a forged pair at the junkyard and swapped those bushings instead of having to deal with the metal sleeves of the stamped arms