Yesterday a mechanic that primarily does mods on 4 wheel vehicles installed the Daystar bushings on our 2001 Explorer Sport that has 143,000 miles. All of the original lower Ford bushings had disappeared or almost disappeared, and most of the upper ones were still intact, but these crumbled easily when removed. The front ones were in great shape, but were made of a rubber material. I told the mechanic to go ahead and replace all of the bushings with the new Daystar bushings, so that the same type of bushings would be in all locations, including the new Ford bushings that were replaced about 2 yrs. ago.
It took the mechanic about 4 1/2 hours for the job and he used a lift, a small block of 2x4 wood to separate the body from the frame, propane torch, and air impact wrench. He did not remove the front seats, as I had expected him to do to be able to get to the the second and third row of bushings. He said the front bushings were easy to remove and replace. The sleeves and bolts on the old bushings were in very good shape after removal. The Sport has always been in Atlanta, so there was minimal rust on the sleeves and bolts. He applied heat to the bottom sleeves to get the bottom bushings/bolts to let go of the bolts. He put silicone grease on all new bushings and did not put any locktite on bolts, as he said the bolts still had plenty of the original Ford locktite. I do not know if that was wise decision or not. He did not torque each bolt, but said the air impact wrench would have torqued the bolts to 100-150 ft. lbs. in his judgment. He suggested that I might want to retighten the bolts in 500 miles, as the instructions said.
Well, the good news is that in the 40 mile drive back home the awful noise from the front bushing near the drive side footwell is gone and it overall rides so much better than it was - even takes speed bumps better. There is a creaking sound coming from the rear end when going over bumps, but I am not sure that is a bushing problem, as I think I was hearing a similar sound before the installation. Except for the front footwell bushing on driver side, before the new bushings were installed, there were not any noises coming from the other bushings yet, but it was only a matter of time due to the badly deteriorating bushings. By the way, the mechanic originally quoted $430 labor for the job, as he predicted it would take him about 6 hrs. He reduced it down to $300 and I happily paid him and was on my merry way!!
) and it should free itself. They say nothing works better than a 20 lb. sledge and that is right. LOL Anyways took it for a 20 minute trip last night and it was amazing at how quiet that Sport Trac was. Even went over some speed bumps at a low rate of speed (5 to 10 mph) and had no squeaking and/or creaking.
