Front Control Arm Bushings

[Heavyblaze]

I found that Prothane is making front control arm bushing from someone on Trailblazer SS website. I found them listed on Prothane Suspension Parts - A Dealer of the Prothane Brand of Suspension Parts the part # is 7-242.

 

[Mooseman]

Now you tell us! Where were you when I replaced mine last year? Great find!

 

[gmcman]

Just curious, how much of a PITA are the lower control arm bushings? Can I leave the bracket mounted to the frame or does the entire assembly need to be removed? Can I remove the bolt where the bushings are leaving the bracket on the frame?

 

[Heavyblaze]

I don't know if you can do it that way or not maybe someone who change bushing before can helf that.

 

[Playsinsnow]

Think pressing em out is a PITA, some have and suggest just replacing the control arm. Has new bushings installed. Plug and play. Time consuming to remove bushings from arm, so it is a convenience factor. My .02

 

[The_Roadie]

You need access to a hefty hydraulic press to do your own bushings. Mevotech sells entire replacement lower control arms for around $150 each, and they include the inner bushings AND the one I destroy all the time offroading - the lower strut yoke mount tapered pin bushing. Last repair, I just swapped both arms because I didn't have access to the hydraulic press at work I do now. Bushing pressing is not a driveway sort of repair.

 

[gmcman]

Well my train of thought is having stumbled upon this link for the bushings, I already have replaced the LBJ and just recently had an alignment. These look like a nice set of bushings and I guess I could have them pressed out if the LCA can be removed without the baseplate or whatever the proper name for it is.

 

[ylab]

You CAN remove the lower control arm without the base-plate, they unbolt. The problem is the bushings reside in the mounting bracket (what you're calling the base plate) and not the actual control arm. Ordinarily, you unbolt the control arm from the plate/mount, and replace it to replace the bushings. - The lower control arm to frame bracket (containing bushings) runs around $70.00 on Amazon.

I replaced my driver side in December 2010, the dealer did the passenger side in early '06......I'm squeaking/groaning again, think the passenger side may ready for another replacement. BTW, the Dorman units have what appear to be a poly liner on the bushings, the dealer/OEM installed unit does not.

 

[Sparky]

Hm, making noise already? Mine creak every so often and have been for a while, but they are also the originals from 2002 with lots of miles, so it is expected. Still tight, just a little noisy, so screw it lol. Although, now that I think about it, my truck was 8 years old when I got it and the front passenger was occasionally making a bit of a creak when flexed a lot, so I guess yours being 7 years old and starting to make noise maybe isn't all that far off.

 

[JCJARHEAD]

I need some help with clarification. It appears that the LCA bracket will come off with 3 on top....and 2 on the bottom. Can anyone confirm that the bracket removal is doable. At that point I would simply take the brackets to a machine shop and have them press out/press in my new bushings. Most of the parts down there are less than 2 years and I am on 135k miles so I think it may be the BIG BUSHINGS in the bracket that are haunting me.

It would be great if someone could write in with their success in doing this...or advice on why it may not work as well as I am hoping? I hate to buy a whole LCA assembly just to replace the bushings?

Any thoughts?

 

[blazinlow89]

You are correct, the bracket itself is removable. They do sell just that piece by itself as well, I think they are like $40-$50 each. There arr 2 bolts that mount to the actual LCA, and three that mount to the vehicle. Spray them with PB Blaster and the nuts should come off easy, of course this depends on corrosion.

I have the Prothane bushings sitting in my garage, they laugh at Mr everyday.

 

[JCJARHEAD]

Thanks blazinlow89!....you read my mind....I was on here and saw some of the posts about the prothane bearings....bought them....they look great in the box! Then I wondered if it made more sense to remove and bring to a machine shop....my guess is they have a hydraulic press that would make quick work of this task. That is what I will likely do.....one of my kids is now rocking the Voy more than me and I wanted to get it as tight as possible before winter hits and the creaking every time I go through Mickey D's for my QPC is driving me nuts! I will post what the shop charges me when I get it done so folks can have some comparative data.

 

[blazinlow89]

Thanks blazinlow89!....you read my mind....I was on here and saw some of the posts about the prothane bearings....bought them....they look great in the box! Then I wondered if it made more sense to remove and bring to a machine shop....my guess is they have a hydraulic press that would make quick work of this task. That is what I will likely do.....one of my kids is now rocking the Voy more than me and I wanted to get it as tight as possible before winter hits and the creaking every time I go through Mickey D's for my QPC is driving me nuts! I will post what the shop charges me when I get it done so folks can have some comparative data.

I think im going to order new brackets and new UCA's and press out the new bushings, and press in the Prothane ones. Dont forget you will need an alignment after removing the LCA brackets.

 

[04tbottawa]

You need access to a hefty hydraulic press to do your own bushings. Mevotech sells entire replacement lower control arms for around $150 each, and they include the inner bushings AND the one I destroy all the time offroading - the lower strut yoke mount tapered pin bushing. Last repair, I just swapped both arms because I didn't have access to the hydraulic press at work I do now. Bushing pressing is not a driveway sort of repair.

Hey Roadie How hard was it to replace the lower strut yoke the two of mine are shot and I can get a good deal on some moog parts for $16.00 each. Did you use the regular C clamp balljoint kit to do it and do you have a diy or know of one to do the job.

 

[blazinlow89]

Hey Roadie How hard was it to replace the lower strut yoke the two of mine are shot and I can get a good deal on some moog parts for $16.00 each. Did you use the regular C clamp balljoint kit to do it and do you have a diy or know of one to do the job.

I used a ball joint press kit to remove those. I pressed out the center with the rubber and bolt first, then pressed out the outer sleeve. The passenger side came out pretty easy, however the driver side took some convincing. I used a punch (3/16") and a hammer and just went around slowly to get the entire thing to slide out. It took a while but worked. Pressing in was a breeze with the ball joint kit.

 

[04tbottawa]

You need access to a hefty hydraulic press to do your own bushings. Mevotech sells entire replacement lower control arms for around $150 each, and they include the inner bushings AND the one I destroy all the time offroading - the lower strut yoke mount tapered pin bushing. Last repair, I just swapped both arms because I didn't have access to the hydraulic press at work I do now. Bushing pressing is not a driveway sort of repair.

Hey Mr. Roadie can you answer a simple question for me. When I installed my mevo lower control arms and tightened up the 2 bolts that attached the control arm to the bracket. I did it at full droop with the strut connected truck was on a hoist. Were those supposed to be tightened down sitting at ride height, basically control arm level with the bracket. I ask because I installed these arms about a year ago and my lower control arm bushings and strut yoke's on both sides are already shot. With me thinking about it now the bushings being tightened at droop and not level control arm/bracket they would be twisted the whole time shortening the lifespan, same idea for the lower strut yoke to control arm.

You are correct, the bracket itself is removable. They do sell just that piece by itself as well, I think they are like $40-$50 each. There arr 2 bolts that mount to the actual LCA, and three that mount to the vehicle. Spray them with PB Blaster and the nuts should come off easy, of course this depends on corrosion.

I have the Prothane bushings sitting in my garage, they laugh at Mr everyday.

blazinlow89 can you please take a quick look at the bushings and instructions and answer my question below

I know with my pos mustang when I installed prothane bushings all I had to do was melt out the old bushing completely leaving the metal sleeve intact and just press in the new bushings into the old sleeve. Do these prothane bushings work the same way for our trucks if so it would be a quick install burn the sucker out then push the new one in. All I used on the mustang was the typical run of the mill 6" C-clamp.

 

[blazinlow89]

The bushings did not have instructions in the box. I am going to call prothane to verify whether or not I need to remove the metal sleeve and press the new bushing in, or if the new bushing slides into the old sleeve. I did not install them as at the time I needed the truck back together. I am sure they could be pressed in with a c clamp, however removal may require a press. I will most likely just use the press at my uncles shop to press out the old ones and put the new ones in.

They came with washers for both sides of the upper and a metal sleeve that goes into the bushing. They also came with about 6 packs of silicon grease. When I find any thing out I will post what I find out.

 

[Sparky]

If the new prothane bushings don't have an outer sleeve, then yes, you need to reuse the sleeve from the original rubber bushings.

 

[The_Roadie]

Hey Mr. Roadie can you answer a simple question for me. When I installed my mevo lower control arms and tightened up the 2 bolts that attached the control arm to the bracket. I did it at full droop with the strut connected truck was on a hoist. Were those supposed to be tightened down sitting at ride height, basically control arm level with the bracket. I ask because I installed these arms about a year ago and my lower control arm bushings and strut yoke's on both sides are already shot. With me thinking about it now the bushings being tightened at droop and not level control arm/bracket they would be twisted the whole time shortening the lifespan, same idea for the lower strut yoke to control arm.

That's an excellent point, and one I never considered before! Same issue could also apply to the UCA mounting bolts! Hmmmmm.

 

[JerryIrons]

I was under the impression that suspension related bolts should be tightened with the car sitting on the ground. With bushings the logic being that if you tighten them up on the lift, they will rest on the ground in a twisted form, and fail faster. Those bolts do have torque values as well.

-Jerry

 

[Heavyblaze]

I have install the prothane bushings the UCA bushings use the outer sleeve in the arms the uppers arms weren't to bad to change because the bushings are really thin on UCA. The LCA brackets I had to remove the outer sleeves in them make sure you don't put the sleeve in the bushing before you install it in the bracket slide in easier without the inner sleeve in bushing then when the arms are put on the brackets they are a tight fit it was a pain in the butt to do.

 

[blazinlow89]

I have install the prothane bushings the UCA bushings use the outer sleeve in the arms the uppers arms weren't to bad to change because the bushings are really thin on UCA. The LCA brackets I had to remove the outer sleeves in them make sure you don't put the sleeve in the bushing before you install it in the bracket slide in easier without the inner sleeve in bushing then when the arms are put on the brackets they are a tight fit it was a pain in the butt to do.

Ok cool, might try to do this some time soon then. At least the upper for now.

 

[Midnyteryder196]

did anyone buy this kit? is it for both sides or just one side? getting ready to pull the trigger on these, but wanted to make sure i didnt have to buy 2 of em also according to prothane website they say they are for the ss, but is there any difference from ss to an ext?

 

[Heavyblaze]

I bought them they are for both sides.

 

[Midnyteryder196]

I bought them they are for both sides.

:thumbup: thanks heavyblaze! Will be ordering them tomorrow then!

 

[blazinlow89]

I ordered them direct from Prothane I want to say it was like $85 shipped.

 

[Midnyteryder196]

That's bout what I found them for blazinlow. My stock ones are shot, so figured mite as well go poly then, on the site I found them it didn't show that many pieces so just wanted to make sure I only needed one kit for both sides

 

[BoldAdventure]

I need some help with clarification. It appears that the LCA bracket will come off with 3 on top....and 2 on the bottom. Can anyone confirm that the bracket removal is doable. At that point I would simply take the brackets to a machine shop and have them press out/press in my new bushings. Most of the parts down there are less than 2 years and I am on 135k miles so I think it may be the BIG BUSHINGS in the bracket that are haunting me.

It would be great if someone could write in with their success in doing this...or advice on why it may not work as well as I am hoping? I hate to buy a whole LCA assembly just to replace the bushings?

Any thoughts?

You are not saving that much money, I know you think you are, but you aren't.

I just did all this myself, upper bushings, lower bushing, ball joints, etc.

However, the Movetech aren't really that good, a few guys have had them wear out in under a year. Steer clear.

If you don't want to take it to a shop and are trying to save some money becuase you don't want to pay $100+ per side for lower control arms, you can buy the back half and the UCA for around $30-$50 and then do the ball joints yourself.

 

[blazinlow89]

8 bushings, 4 metal sleeves for the uppers, 4 large washers for the bottoms and like 6 packs of grease.

I ended up just buying new UCAs which had bushings already installed, figured I would worry about the lowers later. I sold the kit to the Roadie (not sure if he installed them yet).

 

[davenay67]

You are not saving that much money, I know you think you are, but you aren't.

I just did all this myself, upper bushings, lower bushing, ball joints, etc.

However, the Movetech aren't really that good, a few guys have had them wear out in under a year. Steer clear.

If you don't want to take it to a shop and are trying to save some money becuase you don't want to pay $100+ per side for lower control arms, you can buy the back half and the UCA for around $30-$50 and then do the ball joints yourself.

You mention that the Mevotech's aren't that great. How do they compare to the Dorman and Moog brands that both sell on RockAuto for quite a bit less than the Mevotech's..??

 

[BoldAdventure]

You mention that the Mevotech's aren't that great. How do they compare to the Dorman and Moog brands that both sell on RockAuto for quite a bit less than the Mevotech's..??

Moog is really good. I just replaced all my parts with Moog, solid reputation.

 

[JerryIrons]

Just an FYI, I ordered the lower control arms from rockauto within the last 4 months, the dorman ones. One of them was wrong, even though part numbers were correct, I ordered correct, it looked like mfr packaged it wrong. The bracket was a little thinner, enough so that I re-used the older one. Also the hole for the end link bolt was too small, but I made it work by drilling it out a little bigger. If I didn't need to get the vehicle back on the road I would have sent it back, but I made it work.

I looked at it when it came in to verify I had the right one, but didn't look close enough...they were very similar not sure what the deal was. The one that was correct seemed beefy and just as good as the original btw. Surprising how heavy they are.

-Jerry

 

[davenay67]

Moog is really good. I just replaced all my parts with Moog, solid reputation.

Thanks, Mike..!!

Both of my front hub bearings are Moog, and they are both going strong after nearly 40K miles (hope this doesn't jinx me ). Still on original LCA's, upper and lower ball joints. Moog will be my choice when the groaning fronts finally get too much to bear....

 

[ylab]

I've replaced both of my LCA brackets with the Dorman units, which fit perfectly. The right (passenger) was replaced under extended warranty in '06 by the dealer, the left (driver) in '09 or '10 by me. Both were shot, although the left driver side was probably corroded by anti-freeze. If you pull the stat or disconnect the lower hose, it gets soaked. Running nice and tight again for the last few months and no squealing when making a turn!

Buying the bushings themselves isn't much cheaper than buying the entire LCA Bracket, and you really need a hydraulic press to swap them out. Replacing the entire bracket is MUCH easier, toughest part is pushing it around to get the alignment close enough to drive to a shop for a proper alignment. - Just my $.02 worth.

 

[Mooseman]

Just my own experience with Mevotech, they are about on-par with eBay CCC and wouldn't use them for anything worth keeping.

 

[cstern71]

That's an excellent point, and one I never considered before! Same issue could also apply to the UCA mounting bolts! Hmmmmm.

Hey Mr. Roadie can you answer a simple question for me. When I installed my mevo lower control arms and tightened up the 2 bolts that attached the control arm to the bracket. I did it at full droop with the strut connected truck was on a hoist. Were those supposed to be tightened down sitting at ride height, basically control arm level with the bracket. I ask because I installed these arms about a year ago and my lower control arm bushings and strut yoke's on both sides are already shot. With me thinking about it now the bushings being tightened at droop and not level control arm/bracket they would be twisted the whole time shortening the lifespan, same idea for the lower strut yoke to control arm.

I was under the impression that suspension related bolts should be tightened with the car sitting on the ground. With bushings the logic being that if you tighten them up on the lift, they will rest on the ground in a twisted form, and fail faster. Those bolts do have torque values as well.

-Jerry

Jerry would be correct here. You have to preload rubber bushings by tightening down at ride height. The center sleeve can't rotate in the bushings so it leaves them twisted if you tighten down at full droop. You can see how this works when you have the suspension apart (no shock/spring and bj's separated). If you try to push down on a lower control arm, it will only go so far then push back at you. It wants to reside where it was when the bolts were tightened down. You don't have to do this with poly bushings since the center sleeve can rotate.

 

[WarGawd]

blazinlow89 can you please take a quick look at the bushings and instructions and answer my question below

I know with my pos mustang when I installed prothane bushings all I had to do was melt out the old bushing completely leaving the metal sleeve intact and just press in the new bushings into the old sleeve. Do these prothane bushings work the same way for our trucks if so it would be a quick install burn the sucker out then push the new one in. All I used on the mustang was the typical run of the mill 6" C-clamp.

The bushings did not have instructions in the box. I am going to call prothane to verify whether or not I need to remove the metal sleeve and press the new bushing in, or if the new bushing slides into the old sleeve. I did not install them as at the time I needed the truck back together. I am sure they could be pressed in with a c clamp, however removal may require a press. I will most likely just use the press at my uncles shop to press out the old ones and put the new ones in.

They came with washers for both sides of the upper and a metal sleeve that goes into the bushing. They also came with about 6 packs of silicon grease. When I find any thing out I will post what I find out.

Here's a link to a pdf of the instructions that should probably have accompanied the parts... http://www.prothanesuspensionparts.com/Installation_instructions/Prothane/7-242.pdf

Per the intsructions, you do indeed burn out the bushing and reuse the old sleeve for the UCA, but on the LCA they are pressed out

I'm still trying to get my head around everything I need to do, but hopefully that that helps

FYI @04tbottawa, I need to do this soon, so once I figure out all my parts, I'll be doing a run to Ogdensburg to pick them up at my US drop spot....PM me if you wanna coordinate anything...

 

[WarGawd]

.... You don't have to do this with poly bushings since the center sleeve can rotate.

Can you clarify a bit? Are you saying that the particular parts under discussion in this thread aren't subject to the restriction of torquing down at ride height, because the center sleeves can rotate in their bushings? Is that the function of the grease or are the poly bushings just less "grippy" naturally?

Thx

 

[Apcapt]

Any suppliers out there? Need to do both sides UCA's bushings. Prothane bushings seem the way to go but the install looks like a bear.

 

[blazinlow89]

Any suppliers out there? Need to do both sides UCA's bushings. Prothane bushings seem the way to go but the install looks like a bear.

Summit, direct from Prothane.