i replaced my bushings with urethane bushings!!! now i have a question about popping

[baehan]

the X rides so differently now. i love how much tighter everything feels. after i got my radius arm bushings replaced, i started to get a lot of spueaking from that area, especially when i go over bumps. there is also a popping sound that i am getting when i go over bumps. was i supposed to have grease put on them before i put them on? or now that one thing is fixed, did it cause a problem somewhere else?

for anyone else that has replaced the axle pivot bushings, did you have to take apart the whole suspension?

do i need to get an alignment after this? i replaced the radius arm bushings, axle pivot bushings, and spring/shackle bushings.

big thanks goes out to hank for the bushings...thanks bro for the advise and help. oh and let me know when i can order the sway bar bushings.

 

[X-1]

How did you get the old spring bushings out? I am having a hard time with those, also you should have greased bushings with a teflon based grease before install on the areas that contact metal. Mine pop alittle on occassion but not enough to worry about.

 

[Josh S.]

Hey, I recently replaced my axle-pivots, radius arms, and front swaybar bushings. The axle-pivots are a pita. First you gotta get the old ones out. This is a ***** cuz you gotta like drill holes all over the old bushing, then kinda pick it all out of there. After all the pieces of the old ones are out, then the new ones need to be put in(obviously). This is also a pain in the ass cuz there's no room underneath to get a nice swing on a mallet. Then, you finally have to put the axle-pivot bolt back through the bracket and axle. This was easy on one side for me, but the other side was a little ho. Me and a buddy had to use 2 jacks to manuever the axle up into place and a lot of muscle to get it right.

Oh, by the way, you do have to drop the axles down from the brackets to put the new bushings in. I don't know if the rad. arms have to be down at the same time, but mine were to replace those bushings as well.

 

[Josh S.]

oh and yah you need to get an alignment now to compensate for the old worn out bushings replaced by the new, firm, all-there new ones

 

[baehan]

EXPLODER-1...i used a blow torch to burn them. then i used an air hammer to knock them out. i had to do that with all the bushings except for the radius arm bushing.

Josh S....did you also replace the rear swaybar bushing?

if i'm not mistaken, isn't grease only used to get the bushing in? i thought that idealy you weren't supposed to use grease.

 

[Josh S.]

No I didn't replace my rear swaybar bushings. I believe when I put on my lift, the extended links cam with polys already in them. Its ok, I'm going to take off my rear swaybar as soon as I get my extended brakeline in the rear.

About the grease, the instructions just said to grease all the places where the bushing touches the metal, so yah I guess its just for installation purposes.

 

[Phat_Bastard]

So to understand it, the Radius arms bushings are easier than the axle pivots?? I got some clunking going on when i hit bumps in the front end.

Can someone tell me how long the ra arm took and what you needed to remove?


I tell my old lady its a 10 minute job and she flips when i am outside for 6 hours, heh.

 

[X-1]

It is time consuming, I was lucky I had no rivets to grind, all bolts. And you might as well do pivot bushings while you have it tore apart. You just about have to take apart your whole frontend. I didn't need an alignment, but others did. Bsically took me about 4 hours with hand tools, and goofing around.

 

[Josh S.]

The rivets are definitely going to be a big pain in the butt. I did this about six months ago when I installed my lift, so it didn't take as long. I was getting the clunking a lot before too. It happens every so often now, but not nearly as much. Just do it, get it over with, and just consider it routine maitenance.

 

[baehan]

dang it...i'm getting some sort of harsh squeaking sound coming from what seems like the radius arm bushing area. do you think that it's cuz i didn't grease them? it wouldn't make sense cuz the packaging didn't even come with grease. the noise happens when i go over speed bumps. it also happens when i step on the gas and the front end kicks up. any suggestions? could it possibly be the shocks?

 

[X-1]

They will settle in a bit, mine have gotten alittle quieter, you can spray them with some wd40 and see if it eliminates the sqeek, if it does, try some teflon based grease. Instructions call for using this inbetween bushing and where they rub on metal, the poly's are more rigid and I think they sqeek like a tennis shoe on a hard floor.

 

[baehan]

Originally posted by EXPLODER-1
the poly's are more rigid and I think they sqeek like a tennis shoe on a hard floor.

that's exactly what they sound like. i'm going to put some grease on them this weekend. i'll let you know if the sound persists. thanks.