Polyurethane bushings

Changing my bushings to polyurethane from the rubber ones due to being completely shot. Wondering who all has do the energy suspension polyurethane bushings and how much of a pain was it and how has the difference been.

 

Poly bushings can be noisy/squeaky. The way I look at it these days, the stock OE toyota rubber bushings lasted this long, I'd put them in again. Depending on which bushings you are replacing, they can be relatively easy to replace while others will need to be pressed out/in.

Cheers.

 

Bushings can be a pain in the ass. Easier if you have a torch and a press.

One thing to be weary of: If your bushings were already replaced, say with aftermarket rubber bushings. Then the ES polyurethane bushings might not fit. You have to re-use the sleeves, and aftermarket sleeves aren't the same size as OEM, so they won't fit.

I wound up turning new sleeves on a lathe to install mine, turned a 2 hour job into 2 days. I installed grease fittings too, and have a grease gun dedicated to the sticky clear grease designed for polyurethane. No noise. But a pain in the ass.

 

Becaue of the way the LCA pivots to adjust alingment, Polyurethane bushings often times get pinched and rip. I would go with the whole replacement arm with bushing and balljoints installed. you will buy yourself another 10-20 years. I have even seen cracking on the LCA around the bushing area if you beat on your truck a lot. another reason to replace the complete assy.
even with Total Chaos LCAs the bushungs pinch and rip. Unless you get heim joint uppers and do the major alingment with the upper while the lower bushings are in a "relaxed" position. then make the tiny adjustments on the LCA

 

I installed the ES poly bushings on my factory upper and lower control arms and I would not do it again. It is a serious amount of work, tools and a high potential for a mess up. And yes they squeak. And then there is the ball joints. If you think you need them for your off roading then just pop for up graded upper and lowers. I have been working on vehicles for decades and shy away from nothing but said never again after doing them. If I need to do control arms again I will buy them.

 

So just to clear things up the only bushings I'm gonna replace are the front sway bar bushings. I have SPC upper control arms and as well brand new lower control arms just replacing the sway bar bushings and doing new sway bar links as well.