Energy Suspension control arm bushings

My question is if anyone has successfully used the energy suspension control arm bushing kit WITH aftermarket bushings.

I've read a few comments where guys have said the poly bushings did not fit with aftermarket bushing sleeves. You have to reuse the outer shells and inner sleeves for the lower control arms and I have MOOG bushings installed. I don't want to go through the job of burning a bushing out only to learn the new poly ones won't fit.

I emailed energy suspension about it but was told their kit was made to OEM specs so cannot comment on aftermarket products.

 

This would be a good thread to poke around in, ask questions, etc.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/lca-bushings-oem-energy-suspension-whiteline.394935/

 

Please do yourself a giant favor and order whiteline. I have energy suspension upper and lower control arm bushings in my OEM arms. I hired a machine shop to complete the job. Between 2 super experienced machinists(~50 years between them) they said that the job was a total nightmare. They plain wished they had turned me away when I walked in with the work. This stuff is certainly possible to do if they fit your application. I was hardheaded and had to see for myself on the ES bushings... I learned the hard way by paying that shop more than I should have.

 

I wouldn't even think about doing the ES kit if this was my first time doing the bushings. I know the issues of cam bolts being seized into the bushings, bushings seized into arms, etc because I went through it all 12 months ago. My Moog bushings are already worn so I figured the ES kit would be a fairly easy job seeing how everything is still relatively "fresh" and shouldn't be seized.

 

You need to find a different shop then...

You burn out the oem rubber (time consuming? yes, but the flame does all the work, you just sit there with a beer and watch it), clean it up with a wire wheel. Lube and push in the ES bushings.

The hardest part is probably dealing with the OEM sleeve/washer thing, but even that was pretty simple to press back in place with a vice.

It's not rocket science...

 

I went through the Energy suspension LCA bushings swap deal. I feel like I have the tools and skill to do it, but I had already swapped in Moog LCA bushings. They ended up being too soft and wouldn't hold an alignment.

So I pulled the Moog bushings out, burnt the rubber off, and went to put the bushings together and the Moog inner sleeve was to thin. It just slipped in the bushings with no effort. The OEM bushings took a lot of lube, and was all I could do to get them together. However, I didn't have all 4 inner sleeves from my OEM bushings because some of the cam sleeves where stuck and had to be cut off.

Anyway, I assembled the ES bushings on the Moog sleeves. Same thing. Play in the lower bushings. Enough to be able to see it in how the tire was angled.

I finally ordered the whitelines, and dude... So easy. No burning anything, they come ready to go. And they are only cost a little more.

 

The one OEM inner sleeve I had, would barely fit the bushing. And I could not get the washer to line up with the sleeve to save my life.

 

I did the energy suspension about a year ago and it took me an afternoon to complete. I am very happy with them.

 

I haven't heard of whiteline until now. They don't list them for the first gen tacoma but judging on the link posted above it seems part number

$101 W53377A - Control Arm - Lower Inner Bushing - Front

W53377A will fit?

 

Yep that's the set.

 

Time consuming = pain in the ass. Time is money. For just a few more dollars I could’ve saved a lot of time(money) on my overall install. These guys are as good as it gets. I would be comfortable saying these guys completed this job much faster than any Joe in his garage.... With real shop tools. The work I paid for was performed by people with a good professional sense of how to do this kind of stuff. If you’re doing this yourself and just really enjoy extra frustration in life just to pinch a penny then energy suspension is a good option, but it seriously doesn’t make sense to use them otherwise. Just because you can doesn’t always mean you should. That was my firsthand experience with these bushings and I just wanted to share my opinion. Take it or leave it, but I felt obligated to try to save someone else the nonsense.

 

Most of time time "spent" on my ES bushings was spent drinking beer watching a fire - kinda like camping. Not actually working.

You said in your previous post that "Between 2 super experienced machinists(~50 years between them) they said that the job was a total nightmare."

All I'm saying is that if I - some goober with an internet connection - can figure out how to do it with very little sweat or frustration, maybe your mechanics aren't as good as you think...

 

Why burn them? Different vehicle but I just drilled them full of holes and twisted the stockers out of their sleeves.

 

This guy knows his ish. Don't burn plastic or rubber unnecessarily. Way2Go Crux!

 

Everyone has a little pyro in them...

I burned only enough to get the rubber melted enough to be able to pull the sleeves out.

The other benefit I failed to mention earlier (vs. going with other press-in bushings) is that changing them WHEN they wear out again is a 10 minute job now. No special tools, (obviously) no burning, etc... Just remove the LCAs, push old ones out, lube and push new ones back in. Done.

I have nothing against whitelines or any other brands, this just worked well for me..

 

Get the Whiteline. They are, hands down, the best LCA bushings for our trucks.

The part number

$101 W53377A - Control Arm - Lower Inner Bushing - Front

W53377A is not "listed" to fit our trucks but it DOES fit our trucks. I did mine in November.