Polyurethane bushing worries?

[nico]

I recently acquired my dad's old 1984 SWB Silverado and am planning a full resto-mod for this winter... When I received it, there is little more than the cab bolted to the frame, the bed sitting on the frame and all other sheet metal in the bed.

Since the body is nearly removed as is, I am wondering what bushings I should use... Polyurethane or rubber? What brands have other board members had good luck with? Prothane vs. Energy Suspensions?

I have heard horror stories of welds breaking and glass cracking when poly bushing have been used for many miles... Are these true? Is rubber necessary to allow the truck to bend and not break?

Any suggestions?

[Captkaos]

All the trucks I rebuild eventually get PST bushings.
Never heard any cracking glass stories. That is funny.

[beaterC10]

I've had Energy Suspension boly bushings in the suspension of my lowered short bed for several years. Only issue is that last year the bushings started squeaking when the temps dropped into the 30's. I still have the stock rubber body bushings in place.

[79gmcsierragrande]

Not to hijack- Someone told me to put antisieze on the poly bushings to keep them from squeaking. Has anyone tried this? I don’t see how it could hurt, but he says it lasts a lot longer then the silicone. I usually ignore stuff like this but it came from one of the rock crawling gurus around here so….



I’m in the process of replacing all the rubber with Energy Suspension, the truck’s still on jack stands so I can’t tell you how it rides yet.




I wish I’d seen this page before I bought all red bushings, not a big deal though I probably would still gotten the red. Just would have been nice to have all the info before I bought them.

http://www.energysuspensionparts.com...=Color&optid=1

[rod86]

hmm very interesting, i just bought a full set of energy suspension bushes and mounts... look like good quality...

[crawdadfox]

Here in the "Deep South" i find you only get 2-3 year's of use out of poly bushing's, before they become brittle...crack....and then fall out!! Must be the heat!

[bigblock73]

pOLYGRAPHITE AND POLYEURETHANE ARE TWO DIFFERENT MATERIALS. (oops, cap locks were on)

PST I believe carries polygraphite. I have them on my 73 and had no issues what so ever.

[GMBowtie79]

I have the PST polygraphite's on my Burb they squeek a little bit when cold but they are quiet after a few miles. The Energy Suspensions polyeurothane's that I had in my 72 Camaro squeeked like crazy all the time. Every little bump it would creak or squeek.

[nico]

I am leaning very heavily towards PST's full rebuild kit for the front end as well as their leaf spring bushing kit and body mounts... The truck is basically a frame and cab, so now is the time to do it right...