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Old 01-26-2018, 09:42 AM   #1
Mr Bear
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Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: All Over
Posts: 54
Poly Suspension Bushings Notes

So, spent the last two weekends working on the 87 GMC Jimmy getting all the suspension work done.

Previous effort included checking the frame horn for cracks and installing a reman power steering box with a borgeson extreme duty intermediate shaft.

Ball joints were fine so was limited to replacing the tie rod ends with moog and the drag link ends as well. Drag link is visually parallel to the ground but shortly ill have an angle finder and can check it for sure. Also installed a new Rancho steering stabilizer shock. No slop in the tilt steer, realigned with slightly increased toe in, about 3/8". Removed the super large 11.5x32 tires and replaced then with factory size.....speedo now correct, ride more stable, plenty of body roll but at least it mostly go's where I aim it.

Last weekend, I used the energy suspension shackle bushing kit for the rear of the front leaves. A couple findings of note. Buy more grease....I used both the energy grease and dielectric grease. The bushings fit snugly into the shackle and frame holes. The energy sleeves require a clamp or bolt and nut to press them thru the poly bushings once the bushings are installed on the truck. Also, note the energy set with its new sleeve is 3.25" wide. this is .25" narrower than the inside width of the shackle with the factory bushings and sleeves. However, there was no issue with the install as the reduced width works fine with my original 2 leaf spring pack. I have yet to install the front spring eye poly bushings, a much bigger job and I'm not yet ready to spend the time drilling and pressing out the factory metal sleeved bushings. Went for a weeks driving, 140 miles daily round trip for work and overall, much improved but still requires a relaxed posture to drive it straight. Very much better on rough single lane country roads. Stiff arm it though and I find myself adding to the body roll and darting left right, especially at night with my aging eyes. Ride is generally a bit firmer/more precise. Hardest part of the shackle bushing job was clearance from my PS side dual exhaust head pipe.....once the frame shackle bolt was out, I had to reverse it, nut inside, to put the bolt back in.

Came home last night and decided to loosen the nuts on the front sway bar ends and install prothane bushing set on it. Fortunately its a southern truck, and a jack on the 1 1/8" wrench easily broke the end bolts free. Again, with the prothane, buy more grease.....I used prothane and dielectric grease. The prothane end bushings were an easy sip fit into the sway bar eyes and the metal sleeve a firm hand push fit into the poly bushings. I removed the sway bar, truck on the ground, level. As hoped, there was no torque on the bar and once broken loose, the end bolts simply backed out by hand. Given I felt no torque on the bar with weight on the suspension, I am satisfied my original 2 pack front leaves are in pretty good shape, no significant sag and the negative arch with weight on must be by design. I have to assume these springs are flat or only slightly positively arched when removed. The prothane bushings over the bar are nicely made, split for install and grooved to hold grease. I installed the same as the egg shaped factory rubbers, split facing the rear of the truck. They fit the clamps and 1.25" bar nicely. Hardest part of this job was breaking the end bolts loose and getting a wrench on to the back side of the upper clamp nuts. I'm looking forward to riding for a week to see what improvements are noticed.

About all I have left to do is get after those front spring eye bushings and sleeves and get to lowes for an angle finder and check my caster. but looking at the axle I can't imagine the angle is less than the factory spec of 8 +/- 1 for the 87 Jimmys.

I know its always going to wander a bit, being short bed, solid axle, elliptically spring and heavy, but the work does make it much easier to drive relaxed. 65 mph on the highway, Beast rolls dead straight hands off the wheel and at lower speeds on rough country roads, pretty much the same straight line performance.
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