Total Bushing Replacement

[brinker88]

Thing you have to watch out for with Polyeurethane bushings is running them dry ( no grease ) I had a problem with my radius arm bushings drying out so I drilled and inserted a grease fitting to fix the squeeks. Polyeurethane NEEDS grease or they will fail quicker for some reason.

 

[upnsmoke]

Well that looks like a pain in the ass. I am hoping to order parts in the next few weeks. So far the list is:
Radius arm bushings
Body mounts
Tie rod end dust boots
Front and rear sway bar
Axle pivot (there is an option for HD and non HD?)
Ball joints
Leaf spring and shackles
Am I missing anything else? What about all the other bushings on the tie rod? Are those only replaced with the tie rod itself? It seems like everytime I hit a bump there is a rattle somewhere in the front end. At first I thought the upper shock mount was loose and it was rattling around but that's not the cause.

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Sounds like a good list to me. You can always go back and do steering parts later. The only wear items in the steering on my truck are where the one inner tie rod attaches to the pitman arm, where one inner tie rod attaches to the other, and where the two outer tie rods connect to the knuckles. Yours may be the same, but you will have to check it in person to be sure. The joints themselves are more like ball joints than bushings, and excess movement is easy to spot by jacking the truck up and pulling on the tires. Any more than a very slight amount of play in any joint is cause enough for me to replace it. I do not know of any option on the pivot bushing aside from whether it is urethane or rubber. I assume by HD you mean heavy duty, and there could be such an option, but none of the manufacturers I am familiar with list more than one part for the application. Sway bars can rattle when bushings and/or end links wear out, and ball joints can rattle when they get really bad. If the ball joints are that bad though, you would almost certainly be able to feel the play in the wheel with the truck jacked up. Sometimes there is no way to isolate an issue when there is more than one part worn out or causing a problem. To replace all wear components in the suspension is the surest way to make the truck function correctly and be safe. You should check your lower spring seats as well. Mine were pretty well deteriorated. I think I bought replacements from lmc truck.

 

[upnsmoke]

Thing you have to watch out for with Polyeurethane bushings is running them dry ( no grease ) I had a problem with my radius arm bushings drying out so I drilled and inserted a grease fitting to fix the squeeks. Polyeurethane NEEDS grease or they will fail quicker for some reason.

This is a very good point and certainly can prove true. It is rare to see urethane wear quickly but I have seen it happen. The normally included whale jizz (if you've used it you know why I call it that) seems to work well most of the time. Energy sells it separately as well. I believe they call it prelube. I used lithium grease once in the past. It worked well and did not appear to damage the bushings, but the bushings were only run about 6 months before the car I had them in was put back to stock and rubber bushings reinstalled. I have heard good things recently about di-electric grease and will probably try that next time. I know for a fact that pretty much any silicone grease works. I have read that petroleum greases can eat urethane bushings, but I have never been witness to this occurrence myself. Brinker, where did put the grease fitting on your RA bushings, if you don't mind me asking? Did you drill through the bushing itself? I am considering doing this with my own truck as I foresee having similar trouble myself.

 

[daniel3507]

You know where I can find those joints for the steering? Mine is the same set up but I have not been able to find replacements. All I've seen are complete new tie rods

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[upnsmoke]

You know where I can find those joints for the steering? Mine is the same set up but I have not been able to find replacements. All I've seen are complete new tie rods

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If your setup is like mine, the joints are part of the tie rods and can not be purchased separately. As far as I know, you must purchase the entire tie rod.

 

[daniel3507]

If your setup is like mine, the joints are part of the tie rods and can not be purchased separately. As far as I know, you must purchase the entire tie rod.

I kind of figured that may be the case. I did find out what the rattling was coming from the passenger side. Apparently, my hood prop wasnt latched so it was rattling around every bump i hit . It was an easy fix haha. I ordered new body mounts and started soaking the bolts in PB today.

 

[upnsmoke]

It was an easy fix haha. I ordered new body mounts and started soaking the bolts in PB today.

Nothing wrong with an easy fix. Let us know how the work goes. I'm sure you will get through it quick and easy enough. Let us know if you have any hang ups.

 

[daniel3507]

Just to check, the front two mounts can be taken out from the bottom right? The driver side one would be a pain in the ass from the top. They both have the nut on the top side and Im worried about them spinning since it would be hard to reach the top side of them.

 

[upnsmoke]

If you mean body mounts, I'm not sure, but I would like to know myself.

 

[daniel3507]

If you mean body mounts, I'm not sure, but I would like to know myself.

I'll be able to report back with an answer next week I guess haha.

 

[upnsmoke]

How's this going so far ?

 

[marauderx]

I just put the P-S-T.com poly graphite ones on the '91, and they have some nice complete kits- They were $40 delivered for the front bushings only on the '91...

 

[daniel3507]

How's this going so far ?

Horrible. Im to the point where i want to burn the truck down and dance on top of the ashes. I cant get those little damn sleeves out from the old bushings so i havent even been able to get an old mount out. Ive soaked them in pb and threaded the bolt up into the bottom nut/washer assembly and tried punching it out with a screwdriver and hammer but so far ive only managed to mangle the screwdriver. I tried heating it with mapp gas to the point where its cherry red and then tried to beat it out but all that accomplished was a terrible smell. Is there any secret trick I dont know about? If i decide to cut them, where do i make the cut?

 

[upnsmoke]

The best thing I can up with is to cut the sleeve in half near the middle and pull one washer and part of the sleeve out the top, and one part out the bottom. It have read that some people are running bushings without sleeves, and some have made replacement sleeves out of tube or pipe. I believe you will have to find suitable replacements for the washers as well. This is the most relevant thread I have come across so far-link. I know this kind of work can be frustrating, but some persistence will get you through it.

 

[daniel3507]

Well spring break is over so I went to try and put my truck back together since I failed at replacing the body mounts and i decided to give it one last try at the front two mounts. I was actually able to replace them today. Got the old trashed ones out and slid in the new prothane ones. It was a lot easier than the ones under the cab since they dont have that stupid sleeve thing. I was happy I got them replaced because they were the worst ones by far. This is the very front driver side before I started.